Obama Meets With Christian Leaders, Commits to Protecting the Poor

[undeterred]

This is not from The Onion, I swear to it.

The Christian Post > Sat, Jul. 23 2011 01:17 PM EDT

President Barack Obama met with Christian leaders Wednesday to talk about the economic crisis and its impact on Christian values and the poor. In the ongoing budget debate, of which Obama wants to reduce deficit by $3.7 trillion over ten years, Christian leaders of the Circle of Protection urged the president to protect programs and projects for the poor.

The Christian leaders at the meeting were part a group called the Circle of Protection, which consists of five major organizations: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC), National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), Bread for the World and the National Council of Churches.

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, a member of Circle of Protection, explained to The Christian Post that the Christian leaders told Obama that they supported the stance that the deficit problem should be fixed. He said, "We are 100 percent supporting the idea that we must eliminate the deficit and debt and have to put the fiscal house in order."

However, the core concern is that the poor, domestically and worldwide, are the ones who will suffer the most-severe consequences. Rodriguez explained that during the deficit reduction period, projects and programs in line to be eliminated included those that deal with poverty domestically and globally. "As Christians we are committed to Matthew 25 and Luke 4 to bring the good news to the poor and we do not want those programs to be compromised or sacrificed on the altar of politics," was the message that Rodriguez and the other leaders handed over to President Obama. Rodriquez said that the non-partisan group had no political motives but only a completely Christian agenda.

The conversation with Obama took approximately 30 minutes and the religious group also met with other representatives who are addressing the issue, Senior Advisory Valerie Jarrett, Director of Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes and Director of the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Joshua DuBois.

The Christian leaders are also planning to meet with leaders of the Republican party to give the same message.

During the conversation the president "has committed, said and endorsed the Circle of Protection," pledging to do everything possible not to allow the programs and projects that address the poor to be harmed. Next week, the Christian leaders will hold a press conference with Obama, aiming to send the message to all members of Congress: "The Christian people want the financial matter to be resolved but do not want to sacrifice the poor."

http://www.christianpost.com/news/obama-meets-with-christian-leaders-commits-to-protecting-the-poor-52738/

I really, really hope he means it.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Republicons Condemn Christian Concern for the Poor

"What's all this bullshit about taking care of the poor? Screw that kinda kristian krap. More more more more more more more for us FatCat RepubliGluttons. Too bad about you smelly poor people. Pull yourselves up by your own Swiss Bank Accounts the way we RepubliCon Eeeleetes do. Sneeer."

- RepubliCons

[MannyGoldstein]

2. "Make no mistake: I'll help the poor by

making more of them"

[midnight]

3. We would not have an epidemic of poor to protect if the rich would stop robbing us...

If the govt. can't provide economic security for working Americans the way they do the rich, we will continue to breed poverty quicker than anything else in this economy. This is a matter that extends past the churches, but thankyou to the churches for speaking up, and more to do with shared prosperity....

[Jenny_92808]

4. I do not understand why many repub's spend 1 day (Sun.)

praying for the needy and poor, then spend the other 6 days fighting for the rich to become richer at the expense of the poor and middle.

[undeterred]

5. Huge internal contradiction.

I think they see "the poor" as existing in sweet Sunday School bible stories about Jesus and they sure as hell don't want the actual present day poor anywhere near their own neighborhood. They're willing to spend good money to live as far away from the poor as possible.

[demosincebirth]

8. "faith without works is dead." They overlook this lil' piece when they read the bible.

[aquart]

6. Because there will be so many more of them if he caves?

[undeterred]

7. Weird to think this meeting was going on in the middle

of all that other stuff. Of course it got no media coverage.

[piratefish08]

9. how about meeting with the Poor and commit to protecting the Poor?

leave the middlemen out of it.........

[undeterred]

10. Do the poor ever get invited to the White House?

I know the Obamas go to food kitchens occasionally, but I can't see the poor being invited to a place at the debt limit discussion table.

[piratefish08]

14. my question was mostly rhetorical, but I find it very challenging that 'religion' gets a seat in the

discussion, but the affected poor do not.......


i'm feeling exceptionally cynical this weekend.

[Hand_With_Eyes]

11. Lemme guess...

...a 'faith based' system?

[undeterred]

13. You could try reading instead.

[Proles]

12. Unfortunately.

Unfortunately, the poor have no voice.