May 31, 2017
Page 7
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O PINION
It’s Worth Asking: What would Jesus cut?
A budget that takes
aim at the poor
J iM W allis
What would Jesus cut?
Several years ago, Sojourn-
ers asked that question, lead-
ing a campaign to remind
our leaders in Washington
that a budget is a moral doc-
ument. Our faith tells us that the moral
test of a society is how it treats the poor.
As a country, we face difficult choices,
but whether or not we defend vulnerable
people should not be one of them.
As we look at the priorities outlined
in the Trump Administration’s 2018
budget, we know what Donald Trump
would cut. His budget calls for more
than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid,
which takes away health care from
about 10 million people. His budget
would slash the Children’s Health In-
surance Program, the Social Security
Disability Insurance program, Meals on
Wheels, and federal funding for Habitat
by
for Humanity. It would worsen hunger
in America by cutting SNAP (formerly
food stamps) by more than 25
percent and eliminating federal
funding for subsidized school
lunches.
Before he began his public
ministry, Jesus fasted for 40
days. When he returned to Gal-
ilee, he proclaimed in his first
sermon that “The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he has anoint-
ed me to bring good news to the poor.”
The word in the original language for
“good news” is “evangel” from which
we get the word “evangelical.” So as an
evangelical, I know that good news to the
poor is at the core of Jesus’ message.
The budget released by the Trump ad-
ministration is anything but “good news”
for the poor. It would be terrible news
for those whom Jesus called “the least of
these,” the central focus in his final ser-
mon that also calls upon “the nations” to
protect the most vulnerable.
Leaders in the faith community must
stand up to these deeply flawed priori-
ties, to say that the choice to protect the
rich instead of the poor in the name of
deficit reduction is an immoral one. De-
monizing the poor and slashing programs
that benefit low-income people — while
refusing to scrutinize the much larger
subsidies we provide to the wealthy — is
hypocritical and cruel.
Many of us, across our Christian fam-
ilies, believe that global health programs
that save children’s lives and food aid to
nations about to experience famines are
more important to Jesus than tax cuts for
the rich.
President Trump calls for a $43 billion
increase in military funding next year,
reversing the biblical instruction to beat
our swords into plowshares. Instead, the
proposed budget cuts would beat plow-
shares into more swords.
Some argue that the biblical mandate
to protect the poor is meant to apply only
to individuals, or to the church – not to
governments. The Scriptures say other-
wise. In the Old Testament, the biblical
prophets consistently condemn injustice
to the poor and frequently follow their
statements by requiring the king (the
government) to act justly.
We as Christian individuals – and we
as a nation – will be judged by our ac-
tions. We should all commit to improv-
ing the effectiveness of government pro-
grams, including those serving the poor.
But the Trump budget is not an at-
tempt at reform; it’s a heartless knife-
slash to those who are struggling just to
feed themselves and their families. The
priorities of this budget are not consis-
tent with Christian, Jewish, or Muslim
values. They are not only bad economics,
they are also bad religion; as we say in
the evangelical community they are un-
biblical.
It is now up to Congress to set their
own priorities and to present their own
budgets. It is therefore time once again
to ask our elected officials – especial-
ly those who call themselves people of
faith: What would Jesus cut?
Jim Wallis is president of Sojourners
and author of America’s Original Sin:
Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge
to a New America.
Students Get the Last Word on Commencement
During the same week of the
DeVos speech, Texas Southern
University removed Republican
Sen. James Cornyn as its com-
mencement speaker after a petition
circulated on Change.org with al-
most a thousand signatures from
students demanding someone else.
Perhaps looking to prevent
a similar scene from the one at
Bethune-Cookman, the school
said it had asked Cornyn to visit
“another time,” in part “to ensure
Celebrating academic
achievement means putting
the achievers — and their
values — first.
ing a commencement speech
is a privilege. It lends speakers
the prestige of the colleges they
speak at. For that reason, students
at institutions of higher learning
should have a much greater voice
in choosing their own commence-
ment speaker.
The way it is now, after four or
more years of hard work, thou-
sands of dollars invested, and
countless hours spent studying and
building a vibrant campus culture,
these students get no input in de-
ciding who speaks on what many
call the biggest day of their lives.
So now, many are demanding
that right.
that our students’ graduation day
is a celebratory occasion and one
they will remember positively for
years to come.”
Celebrating academic achieve-
ment means putting the achiev-
ers — and their values — first.
By providing a voting process for
students to participate in picking
their speaker, schools could show
that the event is more about the
students than institutional rela-
tionships with powerful people.
Some schools are already using
this process to ensure a great ex-
perience for the students. Seniors
at Manhattanville College in New
York, for example, receive an
email survey of suggested speak-
ers — a list jointly developed by
the Student Government Associa-
tion and administrators.
In New Orleans, graduating
students at Dillard University are
able to submit a list of 10 person-
alities to speak at their graduation.
More than ever, we should push
ACCESSORIES
K enneth W orles
“Don’t let complexi-
ty stop you,” Bill Gates
once told graduating
Harvard seniors. “Be
activists. Take on the big inequi-
ties. It will be one of the great ex-
periences of your lives.”
These days, college students
have no trouble transforming into
activists to address big inequities
— including from their own com-
mencement speakers.
Recently, over 100 Notre Dame
graduates walked out of their
graduation ceremony in protest
of their commencement speaker,
Vice President Mike Pence. The
students explained that they were
walking out to express solidarity
with the vulnerable communities
targeted by Pence’s harmful poli-
cies as Indiana governor.
Two weeks before, students
at Bethune-Cookman University
booed and turned their backs on
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
as she gave their commencement
speech, in protest of her policies
on public education.
Some people complained that
the students simply didn’t want
to hear “challenging” views from
by
speakers they disagreed with — or
even somehow violated the free
speech of the power-
ful people speaking
to them, simply by
speaking back.
But commence-
ment isn’t the class-
room, where gradu-
ating students have
spent years being
challenged by all
kinds of views. Giv-
for all institutions of higher learn-
ing to implement processes like
these. If their voices aren’t heard
before commencement, students
will continue to make sure they’re
heard on graduation day itself.
Kenneth Worles is the Newman
Fellow at the Institute for Policy
Studies.
Cambridge
Tradition
APPAREL
Give graduates
a voice in
choosing
speaker
In short “Cambridge” is for the excellence
and “Tradition” is for the consistency.
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Cambridge Tradition