The Values Debate

Richard Cizik was the vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals from 1998 to 2008. He left that group and started the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good. He understands the political issues relevant to evangelical voters at a very detailed level. So I was interested in his Washington Post editorial titled "The values debate we’re not having". Here are a few clips from it:

As an evangelical Christian who believes the Republican Party does not have a monopoly on moral values, I believe this discussion is long overdue. The “compassionate conservatism” espoused by President George W. Bush and many prominent evangelical leaders has been supplanted by a Tea Party ideology that bears more resemblance to the anti-Christian philosophy of Ayn Rand than it does to the Gospel.

Whether the Christian duty to love our neighbors is compatible with a political movement that embraces radical individualism and rejects the ethic of collective responsibility is a central question as the GOP attempts to cement the Tea Party and the religious right into a cohesive base. Tea Party activists and Republican leaders have consistently targeted for cutbacks vital government programs that protect the poor, the elderly, children and other vulnerable Americans. Yet calls for shared sacrifice and proposals to modestly raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans in order to fund investments and protections that promote the common good are derided as “class warfare.” This is what passes for family values?
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At a time when our nation is plagued by the worst poverty rates in decades, religious leaders are not buying this narrow ideological agenda. In fact, evangelicals, Catholic bishops and Protestant leaders are leading a “Circle of Protection” campaign to defend government programs that provide a basic measure of dignity and security to those struggling to make ends meet. We are also urging a balanced approach to deficit reduction that doesn’t put the greatest burden on those hit hardest by the economic crisis.

I suggest you read the rest of the article here. And if you are one who says that the government should not be involved in the welfare of the poorest I suggest that you point me to religious institutions (i.e. churches, mosques and synagogues) that spend more money on the poor than they do on brick, mortar and salaries. They may be out there but most of these institutions look more like fraternal organizations than advocates for the poorest amongst us.