2 of 2

That's where your Guaranteed Job Opportunity Program comes in.

Yes, and it would apply not only to those on welfare. One of the mistakes we make is that we don't help people until they become paupers. Under my program, if you're out of work five weeks, you would be eligible for assistance, for a temporary job, four days a week. The fifth day, you have to get out and try and find a job in the private sector.

If poverty cannot be eliminated, how can we Christians know when we've done enough to fight it?

It cannot be eliminated any more than murder can be eliminated or disease can be eliminated. But I don't want to set a point where we say we've done enough to stop disease or murder. We keep assaulting the problems. I would add that it's pretty hard to read the prophet Amos, for example, and believe he would not be standing up and saying we ought to be more responsible in being of assistance and giving opportunity to the less fortunate among us.

LaVonne Neff is a free-lance writer and editor living in Downers Grove, Ill.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Today's Weblog remembers Paul Simon

first page |  2 of 2

share this page

December (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47