Who Are People on the Margin of Society?

Sister Simone Campbell appeared on the “O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel last night to complain about Paul Ryan being named as a running mate to Mitt Romney.  Apparently she believes that the Ryan budget demolishes the social safety net of our society.  This is totally bogus.  As soon as she came on I knew we were dealing with a radical feminist nun.  Click here to watch her on the Colbert Report.  This is a very liberal woman who only follows what she wants and not the Catholic Church in which she swore allegiance and obedience to when becoming a nun.   Liberal nuns such as Sister Simone follow  “Liberation Theology” which is a Marxist/Socialist interpretation of the Scriptures, stressing government responsibility for everyone.  All they care about is taking care of the people  “on the margin.”

If you follow people such as Sister Simone, you will find that “people on the margin” never include the unborn, only what they define as “the poor.”  Over 1.2 million babies are killed each year in the United States alone but Sister Simone does not notice.   I don’t know what she means by “the poor.”  Back to her original complaint about Paul Ryan.  Liberal Catholics, or liberal Christians, for that matter, believe that only the government can provided for the poor.  How have they arrived at this conclusion?  They believe it emotionally, not based on any facts.  Sister Simone believes that the way to help the poor is for government to give money to them non-stop, without restriction.

Here is the great divide between conservatives and liberals when it comes to helping the poor.  Liberals believe that this is the job of the government, conservatives believe that we help the poor by providing a sound economic policy that enables all people to prosper and be self-sufficient.  Conservatives believe that the individual should care for the poor.  Watch this video of Nobel Laureate Economist Milton Friedman explaining how this works.  According to Liberation Theology, government should take care of you from birth to death.  Conservatives believe that empowering people economically will lift them out of poverty; liberals believe in a socialist type of system where no one is rich and everyone is equal.

Let’s look at history to prove our point.  In 1965 President Johnson announced “The War on Poverty.”  Since then, the government has spent more than $15 Trillion dollars and we’re no better off than we were then.  In 1965, the now famous Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan raised the alarm in his historic report:  “The Negro Family: A Case for National Action” that it was a tragedy that 23% of Black children are born out- of-wedlock and that this could not be sustained.  Today over 70% of Black children are born out-of-wedlock.  We will never get out of poverty if this keeps up no matter how much money the government throws at the poor.  Has government helped the poor?  No.  Sister Simone mentioned giving people a “living wage.”  What is a living wage?  Does minimum wage count as a living wage?  I have a test for you:  Go out on a street corner where illegal aliens wait for work and offer them the minimum wage to work for you.  No one will go with you unless you pay them, say, $15 to $20 per hour.  In California minimum wage is $8 per hour.  Additionally, economists in the U.S., Canada and Europe have studied the minimum wage and have found that it produces the opposite effect:  It hurts those it tries to help by increasing unemployment.  For a further study of this I refer you to Thomas Sowell’s book “Basic Economics.”

Who are the “The Least of These”?

The book of Matthew 25 is universally regarded as our instructions from Jesus Christ to take care of the least fortunate and vulnerable in our society.  In Matthew 25 Jesus makes these statements:

³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Talk to most people about this and they will all tell you of our need to take care of the poor.  I agree; that is correct, however, some in the church have taken this to the extreme such as promoting  a Marxist/Socialist ideology as does the South American-born theology known as “Liberation Theology,”  usually followed by most liberal Christians.  Followers of Liberation Theology believe that taking care of the poor is nearly 100% of what Jesus taught and is the responsibility of government.  What are most people missing here?  The earlier passage refers to vulnerable, poor people, but whom among the human family is most vulnerable? Few probably will think of the unborn.  Perhaps this because the unborn are unseen.  I will submit to you that, for sure, the unborn are vulnerable human beings and they are part of what Matthew 25 is talking about, as well as the poor.

The unborn are the most in danger of extermination in our world, much more than the poor.  In the United States alone between 1.2 and 1.5 million human unborn babies are killed each year.  In Los Angeles County alone, about 150 unborn babies are killed each day between sunrise and sunset;  they’re killed in the most gruesome way imaginable – dismembered inside their mother’s belly.  The doctor rips up the tiny infant by pulling and tearing the limbs inside the womb.  After he’s finished he counts the parts to be sure he did not leave any in.   Click here to see a short 60 second video called “Raise Your hand if You’re Against Abortion” to see what abortion looks like

Father Frank Pavone, Director of Priests for Life,  says that we will not end abortion until we see it.  Most people object vigorously when anyone shows any abortion images, why?  They choose not to know.  You can say that Mt. Everest does not exist until you’re blue in the face, but when you open your eyes it will be there, no matter how long you’ve denied it.

The Bible does not mention the unborn, but whom among us is the least of us?  Surely the unborn fit this description.  Jesus, many times in his sayings compares and contrasts.  One who is a good steward of what he’s given and one who is not, such as in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30.  In the former quote from Matthew 25 Jesus makes this statement of the one who is not a good steward:

Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

I believe that those who do not protect the unborn, even though they think they are good people will be the subject of this curse; I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.  This includes those who are pro-abortion or those who support, or vote for politicians  that promote or do nothing to prevent abortion.  Edmund Burke, the famous 18th Century British statesman famously stated:  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”