Charity is Not Enough

Right now, on June 9-10, Bread for the World is holding its 2014 National Gathering as well as its 40^th anniversary celebration.

Most of you are probably familiar with this humanitarian organization. Bread for the World is a non-partisan, Christian citizens’ movement in the United States. Its goal is to end hunger.

Rather than feeding the hungry directly, however, it describes itself as a collective Christian voice urging the nation’s decision-makers to end hunger at home and abroad.

Bread for the World was launched in 1974 under the leadership of Art Simon (b. 1930), a Lutheran pastor in New York City. From 1985 to 1997 his older brother, Paul Simon (1928-2003), was Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois.

The Simon brothers co-authored “The Politics of World Hunger” the year before Bread for the World was initiated.

David Beckmann, also a Lutheran minister and missionary as well as an economist, has been president of Bread for the World since 1991.

Beckmann and founder Art Simon together wrote “Grace at the Table: Ending Hunger in God’s World” (1999). That book is now 15 years old, so many of the statistics are somewhat dated. But what they write about the problem of, and solution to, worldwide hunger is still true.

Many of us make charitable contributions to organizations that directly help needy people. And giving to such charities is certainly commendable.

But “charity is not enough,” to cite the title of Beckmann and Simon’s 21^st chapter.

They emphasize that “effective help for hungry people walks on two legs—the leg of charity and the leg of public policy” (p. 149). Bread for the World is related primarily to the latter.

Decisions made by Congress can and do help hungry people more than the combined efforts of all the charities in the country. On the other hand, some decisions have a negative impact. That is the reason Bread for the World engages in extensive advocacy activities.

Such activities are also called lobbying, a term that often has a negative connotation.

Nonetheless, Bread for the World is up front about what they do. In their appeal for funds they state clearly, “Bread for the World members lobby Congress on behalf of hungry and poor people, so gifts are not tax deductible.”

Yesterday, those who attended the first day of the National Gathering at Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center spent from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. “worshiping, listening, and learning together.” The theme was “Working Together to End Hunger and Poverty by 2030.”

Today, June 10, is Bread for the World’s “lobby day” for this year. The day will be spent mainly on pre-arranged visits to members of Congress on Capitol Hill. 

However, perhaps even charity and advocacy together are not enough. Attention needs to be given also to why people are hungry. This is where things begin to get sticky.

Consider again the oft-cited words of Archbishop Dom Helder Camara of Brazil: “When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, though, rightly said, “When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, ‘Now is that political, or social?’ He said, ‘I feed you.’ Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.”

Won’t you join me in supporting the work of Bread for the World?

_____

Note (added 11/23): Art Simon died on November 14, 2023.

Coffin Speaks from His Coffin

William Sloane Coffin, Jr., was senior pastor of historic Riverside Church in New York City for a decade in the 1970’s and ’80s. Many, though, remember him primarily because of his earlier activities at Yale where he was a very vocal civil rights and antiwar advocate.

After his death in April 2006, the New York Times referred to Coffin as “a civil rights and antiwar campaigner who sought to inspire and encourage an idealistic and rebellious generation of college students in the 1960’s from his position as chaplain of Yale University.”

Coffin was born ninety years ago, on June 1, 1924, into a wealthy and elite family of New York City. He originally planned a career as a concert pianist and in 1942 enrolled in Yale University’s School of Music.

But those were war years, so in 1943 he enlisted in the Army. Then in the early 1950s he spent three years working for the CIA. But he grew increasingly disillusioned with the role of the CIA—and the United States—in international affairs.

The year 1956 was a big one for Coffin: he graduated from Yale Divinity School, was ordained a Presbyterian minister, and married Eva Rubinstein, the daughter of pianist Arthur Rubinstein. (His marriage to Eva ended in divorce in 1968.)

In 1958 he became the chaplain at Yale, a position he held until 1975. Then, Coffin began his highly influential ministry at Riverside Church in November 1977, where he remained through the end of 1987.

Two years after his death, Coffin’s Riverside sermons were published in two large volumes under the title “The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin: The Riverside Years” (2008).

I probably won’t read them all, but since the middle of last month I have been reading one of Coffin’s sermons each day. Even though some were preached more than 35 years ago, Coffin’s sermons speak to me today. 

Coffin’s message for 11/13/77 (his second sermon as pastor at Riverside) was “It’s Easier to Be Guilty,” based on Mark 6:25-34. He avers, "God’s love casts out fear. The opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is fear. So faith means courage."

Then a little later in the same sermon: “The trick in life is to die young as late as possible” (p. 9).

The following week he declared that “while love seeks the truth, fear seeks safety. And fear distorts the truth, not by exaggerating the ills of the world, which would be difficult, but by underestimating our ability to deal with them” (p. 11).

On 2/5/78 Coffin’s sermon was “On Changing Water to Wine.” I was surprised to find that 36 years ago he publicly said, 

I know exemplary Christians who happen to be gay. Are they to be attacked for something over which they had so little choice? Before rushing in with easy judgments, it would seem to behoove those of us who are not gay to listen very carefully to what our fellow Christians who are have to say about the matter (p. 41).

In addition, as the New York Times article says, Coffin “used his ministry [at Riverside Church] to draw attention to the plight of the poor, to question American political and military power, to encourage interfaith understanding, and to campaign for nuclear disarmament.”

Referring to Abel, the writer of Hebrews declared, “. . . he died, but through his faith he still speaks” (11:4, NRSV). Can’t the same be said for WSC? Through his faith, and his published sermons, he still speaks—from his coffin, as it were.

Fascism--Then and Now

Eighty years ago was a very significant time for the faithful Christians of Germany. At this very time, on May 29-31, 1934, members of the Confessing Church were meeting in Barmen, a part of the city of Wuppertal, Germany. There they approved The Theological Declaration of Barmen.

Theologian Karl Barth was the principal author of the Barmen Declaration. In addition to Barth, the best known signers include Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller.

The Barmen Declaration was primarily drafted in opposition to the fascism of Hitler, who came to power in 1933 and who was supported by the Nazis (those who belonged to the National Socialist German Workers Party).

Hitler became the totalitarian leader (Führer) of all segments of German society—including the Church as he co-opted the support of the “German Christians.” But Pastor Niemöller declared, “Not you, Herr Hitler, but God is my Führer.”

That was the sentiment of all who signed the Barmen Declaration.

Our situation in the United States today is much different than that of Germany in the 1930s. There are those who, ludicrously, try to link the policies of the President with Hitler.

However, in this country now the movement toward fascism is not political but primarily economic.

Interestingly, in an April 29, 1938, message to Congress, President Roosevelt warned that the growth of private power could lead to fascism. He declared that

the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.

It seems evident today in the U.S. that large corporations raise and spend huge amounts of money on the political campaigns of the Presidents and congresspeople. They also spend huge amounts of money hiring former government officials to lobby Congress to pass laws that mainly benefit their interests.

These corporations are not an organized group plotting to control the country. Nevertheless, even though acting independently, the wealthiest corporations seem to have considerable control over what takes place in the halls of Congress and even the White House.

The power of the corporations has been abetted by the “Citizens United” Supreme Court ruling in 2010 saying that corporations are people, having the right to funnel unlimited amounts of cash into political elections anonymously.

Back in December 2010, outgoing Congressman John Hall (D-N.Y.) warned that the massive changes to campaign finance law prompted by the “Citizens United” decision could lead to fascism. (Check it out here.)

Others are suggesting that the country is becoming a “fascist corporate state.” One such person is Ray Pensador, who until earlier this year regularly wrote for Daily Kos. On April 18 of last year he wrote,

The fascist corporate state, like the one rapidly ascending in the United States today, focuses on extracting the maximum amount of profit from the citizenry, and from the environment (natural resources) for the benefit of a tiny ruling elite.

In June of last year Ralph Nader was interviewed on Democracy Now! He is quoted as saying,

It is not too extreme to call our system of government now “American fascism.” It’s the control of government by big business, which Franklin Delano Roosevelt defined in 1938 as fascism.

Faithful Christians, and others, today need to declare much more definitely their staunch opposition to this kind of fascism: government unduly influenced by a “tiny ruling elite.”

57 Years for a ’57 Marriage

Tomorrow, June and I will celebrate our wedding anniversary. We were married in 1957, hence the title of this article.

Many of you remember the year 1957, although there are some readers of this blog who were born after 1951-52 and so don’t remember ’57. But for those who remember that year well, you probably also recall how then 1900 seemed like a very long time in the past.

Well, now it is as many years back to 1957 as it was in 1957 back to 1900!

Do you “old timers” remember some of the following things about 1957? The top two hit songs of the year were Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” and Pat Boone’s “Love Letters in the Sand.” (I liked the latter much more than the former.)

The movie that won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1957 was “Bridge on the River Kwai.” Many of you probably remember the touching 1957 family movie “Old Yeller.”

Although it came out toward the end of 1956, Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” was popular in 1957, and June and I saw it on our wedding trip.

The New York Times bestseller list for May 26, 1957, indicated that John F. Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage” and Grace Metalious’s novel “Peyton Place” had been on that list for the most weeks in the non-fiction and fiction categories, respectively.

L & J Seat (5/26/57)

The most popular toys that year were Slinkys and Hula Hoops.

Many things were quite different in 1957 than they are now. After we married, we had only one landline, rotary dial telephone. Long-distance calls were expensive—and rare.

And since we were students and didn’t have much money, we didn’t even own a television set for several years.

The summer we got married, I worked at the shoe factory in Windsor, Mo., where I was also pastor of a small mission church. Most of that summer I earned only the minimum wage of $1.00 an hour—plus the $25 a week received from the church.

That fall after we enrolled in William Jewell College, I was happy to get a good-paying job in downtown Kansas City: it paid $1.17 an hour when I started, if I remember correctly.

Granted, a dollar went further back then. When we moved to Liberty at the end of the summer, we were happy to find a two-room apartment for $50 a month, including utilities. The average cost of a new house was just over $12,000 then.

Gasoline averaged about 24 cents a gallon—although I remember buying some for 17.9 cents during a “price war” in Liberty.

One of the top-selling cars in 1957 was the Chevrolet Bel Air—and the price of a new two door hardtop, like the one pictured, was $2,300. (The one in the picture is priced at $139,900 now!)

In January 1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated for his second term as POTUS. In September he sent federal troops to Arkansas to provide safe passage into Central High School for the Little Rock Nine.

In October 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. That event sent a shock wave through the American public, as it seemed to indicate the technological superiority of the USSR.

Yes, it is interesting to look back to 1957 and to remember the way things were then and how different things are now.

But for me, personally, the best thing about 1957 was getting married to a wonderful woman who has been willing to put up with me for 57 years—and counting.