Caring for the Poor: Churches and Public Policy – The Law of God and Public Policy

Caring for the Poor: Churches and Public Policy
The Law of God and Public Policy

“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.” Deuteronomy 14:28, 29

Neighbor-love requires that communities accept responsibility to care for the needs of the poor among them. This is a responsibility we should expect churches, first of all, to embrace. And, indeed, most churches recognize caring for the poor, if only among their own members, as an important part of their ministry.

Local charities also exist to help in this area, and they depend on the gifts of individuals and corporations to fulfill their missions.

But public policies should be adopted to encourage the practices we have outlined in this and previous installments. Local governments especially have an interest in seeing to it that the needs of the poor in their communities are cared for in a manner designed to meet all their needs, and not just their temporary needs.

However, public policies transgress the bounds of justice when they (1) treat the poor indiscriminately, on the basis of income or wealth only, (2) deny the dignity of the poor by failing to support opportunities for work, (3) make the poor dependent on government largesse, (4) transgress the property rights of the non-poor (as through taxation), (5) create a class of people who make their living on the poor or on being poor, (6) create a political environment which either encourages poverty or links it to political power, or (7) bypass or supplant local agencies in offering solutions to the needs of the poor.

It is the duty of government to highlight the presence and needs of the poor and to encourage a public policy framework for individuals, corporations, and private charitable agencies to do the work for which they are best fitted.

Visit our website, www.ailbe.org, and sign up to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, featuring writers from the period of the Celtic Revival and T. M.’s reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. Does the Law of God still apply today? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, and study the question for yourself.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.