Posted on 07/02/2006 7:06:06 PM PDT by xzins
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' " - Matthew 25:40.
Churches and faith-based groups in Toledo are joining state and national efforts to raise the minimum wage, asserting that they have a moral obligation to combat poverty.
"You can't continuously give handouts to folks, you have to deal with the systemic problems that create the need," said the Rev. Larry Clark, executive director of Toledo Area Ministries. (Snip)
The proposal to boost the Ohio minimum wage to $6.85 an hour has been endorsed by a number of regional denominational leaders, ...Evangelical Lutheran Church in America... the United Methodist Church, ... Catholic Archdiocese.
Ohio recently raised the state minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15, but that is still far below the federal poverty line for families, Mr. Ballinger said. At the current rate, working 40 hours a week, the minimum wage would earn a worker $10,712 in a year.
On the national level, a nonpartisan organization called Let Justice Roll, comprising 70 faith-based and community-based groups, is pushing to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.
Mr. Ballinger, in a letter from the Ohio Council of Churches, said 60 percent of minimum-wage workers are women and 71 percent are over age 20. ....."Among the key principles found in the Holy Scriptures is the importance of paying workers fairly for their labor and the rights of workers to perform their responsibilities with dignity," he said.
He said the current minimum wage has not been raised since 1997 and when adjusted for inflation is at its lowest level in 50 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at toledoblade.com ...
He said Jesus preached on the importance of helping those in need."If you don't take care of the sick, don't feed the hungry, don't address people who are in prison, then you stand outside the kingdom of God," Mr. Clark said. "So central to Jesus' message is this idea that we are accountable for the poorest among us."
Proclaiming "Jesus the Social Worker" to whomever will listen.
"The Widow's Mite" would've been a great place to teach this lesson of required minimums.
Did He?
Oh, so now libs LIKE religious groups getting involved in matters of state?
:>)
Depends on whose group it is.
Isn't the Toledo Blade a "gay" publication?
Oh, so now libs LIKE religious groups getting involved in matters of state?
------
They like ANYONE who promotes their brand of SOCIALISM.
The "Gay Blade?"
Nope.
But good humor. :>)
It's their paper of record.
Communists always liked Christians as long as they did their bidding. I need only refer to the KGB-controlled Russian Orthodox Church of the Soviet era or the "Peace Priests" of the Polish Roman Catholic Church who collaborated with the Communists.
These folks are liked because they are about helping the Church to become irrelevant in the minds of the laity.
Yeah, systemic problems that may or may not have anything to do with a heroin addiction problem or the like.
Solution: Give more money to teenage employees working after school at the GAP.
***"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' " - Matthew 25:40.
Churches and faith-based groups in Toledo are joining state and national efforts to raise the minimum wage, asserting that they have a moral obligation to combat poverty. ***
Why not be really compassionate and raise the minimum wage to $35 an hour? And why stop comapassion here in the US?
Take ALL of our money via taxes and give it to the poor? We can all work 3, 4 or 5 jobs so they will ot have to pan handle and buy cheap wine to forget their troubles.
I'd like to see the budgets of these churches and see what percent of all revenues goes to the poor. Would it be higher than a productive citizen's tax rate?
He didn't need to. He talked an embarassingly lot about the moral imperative to help the poor in other contexts - as did the Old Testament.
WHy not at least be reasonable and put the minimum wage at a level where you can buy food, clothing, and medical care for you and a small family? I challenge any poster on this board to support himself on $5.35 an hour in a 30-hour work week.
And why stop comapassion here in the US?
That's a moral imperative too.
Take ALL of our money via taxes and give it to the poor? We can all work 3, 4 or 5 jobs so they will ot have to pan handle and buy cheap wine to forget their troubles.
That's damn insensitive. While too many people are poor because of drugs, a lot are poor because someone else is on drugs. Many more are poor because they have no marketable skills and no education.
Jesus didn't tell the rich young ruler to give his money to the nice poor - he told him to sell all he had and give his money to the poor. We're supposed to help the down-and-out - even though that's a very dirty, nasty, stinky, unpleasant thing.
In a free market raising the minimum wage is all to often counter-productive. The very people it purports to help are those who become the losers when the innovation of management develops automated methods of getting the work done that are in fact less labor intensive. Cutting off the bottom rungs of the ladder is not a good way to improve the economic status of the economically deprived, but this is just what happens. The minimum wage should be perceived as a starting place for those who need to develop work skills to give them an opportunity to advance. The development of additional skills will enable them to establish a "living wage". Raising the minimum wage won't accomplish that.
He talked about YOU helping the poor.
Did He talk about YOU helping the poor in the context of YOU being forced to help the poor?
BTW, go to the link at #9 above....it's by a Buffalo State Univ professor. I thought about you when I saw it. (You are Univ of Buffalo -- a diff institution, aren't you? But, I thought you'd appreciate it.)
*** I challenge any poster on this board to support himself on $5.35 an hour in a 30-hour work week.***
THIRTY HOUR WORK WEEK ???
heck they can work 60 hours and double their take home. And have less time to father or birth babies they can not afford to provide for.
Excellent link, my friend.
I have thought that for years: double the labor force and halve the wages. It's simple economics.
It is the same with illegal aliens: increase the labor force and lower the salary all around.
My guess is that the alien workforce and the female work force have more to do with competive pricing in a global market than with compassion and equality.
Yes. Many employers like Wal-Mart don't let you work 60 hour weeks, or even 40. They keep you at 30 or 32 so that they don't have to give you full-time benefits.
Furthermore, most retailers and service jobs give you a floating schedule, making joggling a second job all but impossible.
Spend some time working retail before you start pontificating about lazy bums.
. And have less time to father or birth babies they can not afford to provide for.
Nothing like smug, arrogant, condescending moral superiority, eh?
***Nothing like smug, arrogant, condescending moral superiority, eh?***
Getting personal now?
***Spend some time working retail before you start pontificating about lazy bums.***
And you know that I have not???
This works only if your starting wage is liveable. I'm not saying that the minimum wage should be enough to buy into a high-living lifestyle. I'm saying $5.35 an hour on a typical work week doesn't get you enough even to buy food, rent, and medical insurance. That's just a half-step above slavery.
The very people it purports to help are those who become the losers when the innovation of management develops automated methods of getting the work done that are in fact less labor intensive. Cutting off the bottom rungs of the ladder is not a good way to improve the economic status of the economically deprived, but this is just what happens.
Well, I'd prefer nobless oblige or enlightened self-interest (like Henry Ford paying his men enough so they could buy his car). But, failing that, and in the light of irresponsible employers paying peanuts, do you have a better alternative?
If the shoe fits.
And you know that I have not???
Either you have not, or it has been sufficiently long enough that you are unaware of the current prevailing practices. Either way, you judge from prejudice rather than an informed viewpoint.
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