Need overwhelms charity

Regarding the Rod Foss Dec. 17 letter:

1) “Liberals” do not hold unified opinions on anything. Generalizations fail.

2) Labeling non-Christian opinions as “religious tripe” blocks any real discussion.

3) Even Christians disagree on scriptural interpretations. You quoted Paul addressing, not Congress, but a specific, first-century, Christians-only community. Our Constitution does not include Paul’s letters.

Jesus made no command to form a secular welfare state; neither did he forbid it. He commanded nothing at all related to government.

4) Our Constitution allows Congress to levy and spend taxes for the “general welfare,” an ambiguous term argued over from the start. Supreme Court rulings clarify it somewhat. Never have our Social Security, welfare services or jobs programs been ruled unconstitutional.

5) If charitable organizations had ever, in the history of the world, been able to gather voluntary donations enough to save the poor, disabled and elderly from lives on the streets, in hunger, workhouses, or under abuses of all kinds, they would have done so by now. If you don’t know the horrors many honest, hard-working people faced without a safety net, from prehistory into the 20th century, I can provide you with many accounts.

Katie Brooks

Spokane