This Lent — Looking Inward, Looking Outward – Jim Wallis – God’s Politics Blog

Another great, thoughtful article from Jim Wallis at “Sojourners”…

Emphasis, below, is mine…

While the White House has done much better than Congress in protecting critical international aid, President Obama’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2012, which he just released this week, shows deep cuts to domestic anti-poverty programs. Grants that state and local governments use to fund the most effective anti-poverty programs in their area would be cut by $300 million, including assistance for low-income people with heat and energy bills, which would be cut up to $2.5 billion. Obama’s proposed budget left me asking, should poor families have to survive harsh winters without heating oil because politicians are not willing to take on much bigger and far less effective areas of exorbitant spending?

Both the fight around the rest of the fiscal year 2011 budget and Obama’s proposal for the fiscal year 2012 show the bad priorities of Washington. If the Republicans go through with these cuts to international aid, they should stop talking about family values and being pro-life. And if the Democrats don’t fulfill their historic role of defending low-income people, we must ask, what good are they as a party? When I read the gospels, the narrative is clear: Defend the poor and pray for the rich. But our political leaders have taken to defending the rich, and if the poor are lucky, they might get a prayer.

via This Lent — Looking Inward, Looking Outward – Jim Wallis – God’s Politics Blog.