What is government welfare, and how necessary is it? Is it a biblical practice in light of God’s call to care for others as a visible sign of His love in us (1 John 3:17)? Or does public assistance unwittingly perpetuate the very injustices that it seeks to address? The articles and books below explore the historical background of the government welfare system in America, revealing how it has either helped or hurt the poor in the past and how it might be improved upon in the future. Learn about the influences that welfare can have on giving as well as the sociological impact that welfare has left on our nation.
Not Yours to Give
Edward Sylvester Ellis. From “The Life of Colonel David Crockett” (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884).
In this story, Congressman Davy Crockett opposes a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to aid the widow of a distinguished naval officer. Although Crockett wanted to help the widow, he argued that this should be done through private contributions from the congressmen themselves, instead of through public money. To pass the bill would be “an act of injustice to the balance of the living.” When asked why he chose to do this, Crockett responds with the story of a man who reminded him that the Constitution does not allow for charity, rather leaving the matter to the private sector. The money entrusted to Congress belongs to the citizens of the United States and is not the government’s to give.
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Welfare Helps to Depress Giving by the Poor
Arthur C. Brooks. The Chronicle of Philanthropy, May 30, 2002.
Brooks, an associate professor of public administration from Maxwell School of Syracuse University, argues in this essay that income from welfare depresses charitable giving by the poor, while income from wages increases it. This explains why charitable organizations focus on the wealthy: "because we know that a relatively few well-off people are the source of most charitable giving."
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Is Welfare Scriptural?
Larry Burkett. Crosswalk, 2002.
Biblically the issue of welfare is very clear: We are to help those in need. There may be disagreements about how much help is necessary and who should receive it, but there should be no disagreement on the necessity to feed, clothe and shelter the poor. 1 John 3:16-18 uses the lack of concern for the needs of others as evidence of the lack of love. Therefore, we know that the true purpose of welfare (meeting the needs of others) is to prove (demonstrate) God’s love through us. But the truth is that Christians are doing a miserable job of caring for the physical needs of the poor. In this article, Burkett offers advice on how Christians might begin to more faithfully demonstrate God’s love through welfare.
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Welfare—Is It Necessary?
Larry Burkett. Crown Financial Ministries.
All but the most calloused Christians favor caring for those who truly are in need of help. However, most Christians also recognize the abuses and excesses in the current U.S. federal welfare system, evidenced by children in $100 running shoes, whose families are supported by government welfare and food stamps, and men who father children and are nowhere to be found when it’s time to support the children they have fathered. So, although most Christians agree that, from a biblical perspective, it is not only important but it is mandated to care for the poor, the involuntary transfer of wealth from one group of taxpayers to another is not the type of care that God had in mind.
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It Took 30 Years to Unlearn Acts of Charity: The Cause of America's Self-Absorption? The Great Society
Daniel Henninger. The Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2002.
Columnist Daniel Henninger argues that American self-absorption is a legacy of the Great Society. Since about 1965, the biggest charitable organization in America has been the Congress of the United States. Americans donate to the Internal Revenue Service, and Congress, on behalf of us all, helps as many needy groups as anyone could ever imagine. Private charity, says Henninger, is bound to dwindle in a country in which one is taught for years that social goodness is a government function.
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