wth?!? wrote:
Seems to me that government is a better vehicle for helping the needy than private churches. Strings come attached with churches. You have to listen to their sermons. They wont help you out if you want birth control.
The Govt doesnt impose those strings. those strings are bad for this country and bad for society.
You're right, the church is not doing a good job of helping others. But, that doesn't mean it's automatically the government's responsibility. It's the people's responsibility. The government has only begun to do it in the past few generations because people are greedier, churches are less people oriented, and, government is taking over what the church SHOULD be doing. Hopefully, this trend will reverse, but, sadly, it's unlikely. People are getting less and less connected, therefore, feel less responsible for others. This situation naturally lends itself to government action...since, no one else is filling the gap. Should it work this way? Absolutely not. Does it? Sadly, yes. Unfortunately, the "power" of the government is taught whereas the power of the people (in the form of the church) is not. Remember, the original Greek meaning for the word we now use as church is eklesia which means "a group of people gathered together for a common purpose". It is only associated with Jesus, but, is not etymologically the case. That being said, the people (the group gathered together for a common purpose) should be doing this. When they fail to, only by force of law and legislation, state authorities take over. In other words, people won't act independently and of their own free wil, so, we will take action on their behalf. The government IS imposing strings. They are just different strings than the church has. And, for the record, most churches don't make you do anything to get support. Also, do you really expect churches to help with birth control?