c. 2005 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ President Bush’s proposed $2.57 trillion budget for 2006 that now awaits action on Capitol Hill is coming under blistering criticism by some churches for what they see as unjust treatment of poor people.

In separate critiques, mainline Protestant leaders and the head of Catholic Charities USA say the nation’s most vulnerable stand to suffer because of $214 billion in domestic spending cuts while wealthy Americans will benefit from tax breaks.

“The prophets said God doesn’t judge us on the eloquence of our preaching or the beauty of sanctuaries,” the Rev. Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said Tuesday (March 8).

“God will look at the condition of the poor in our midst and judge the quality of faith of God’s people. And based on this year’s budget, God would find us guilty.”

The White House, pointing to multibillion-dollar increases for homeless programs and community health clinics, disputes the criticisms, and at least one religious watchdog group says the left-leaning churches are politically motivated.

The multiple attacks represent a direct challenge to the president from faith leaders who say his frequent religious rhetoric and embrace of “moral values” are out of step with his spending priorities.

For a president who once said his favorite political philosopher was Jesus Christ, the Bush budget “takes Jesus’ teaching on economic justice and stands it on its head,” Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said on behalf of five mainline churches.

Hanson and Griswold were joined by top officials of the Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church and United Church of Christ in a pointed critique of Bush’s budget proposal. Together, they represent 20 million U.S. Christians.

In a letter to Congress, the Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, said Bush is attempting to rein in a growing deficit by cutting domestic programs for the poor. “At a time when the United States is spending more on defense and homeland security, a question arises about who will pay for it,” Snyder said. “It should not be our nation’s poorest citizens.”

One grass-roots group that emerged in last year’s election as a center-left Catholic voice, Catholics for Faithful Citizenship, accused Bush of pandering for Catholic votes while cutting money to the Department of Education that provides computers and other resources to Catholic schools.

Soon after Bush sent his budget to Congress last month, progressive-minded religious groups such as Call to Renewal, an anti-poverty lobby, and the anti-hunger Bread for the World said the budget “misses the mark” in caring for the poor.

Specifically, the five churches criticized changes that would remove 300,000 people from food stamps, cut child care for 300,000 children and reduce funding for Medicaid _ health coverage for low-income Americans _ by $45 billion.

In addition, the churches said Bush’s proposal to make permanent tax cuts that were first approved in 2001 is a policy that “rests on dubious economic assumptions.”

In general, the churches welcomed Bush’s faith-based initiative, which assists religious groups in providing social services. Lutheran Services in America already receives 90 percent of its budget from the federal Department of Health and Human Services. But the church leaders said the initiative does not come close to plugging the gap caused by spending cuts.

“Believe us when we tell you that neither we, nor our evangelical brothers and sisters, nor our friends of other faiths have anywhere near the resources to turn back the rising tide of poverty in this country,” they said.

The White House said Bush does not want to cut Medicaid but simply slow the growth of spending. Noam Neusner, a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget, also pointed to $1 billion in additional spending on low-income housing, $4 billion in new spending on homeless programs and $2 billion for community health clinics.

Neusner defended the tax cuts as a key in stimulating the economy. “What we’re focusing on is the kind of growth that all Americans want to see, which is job growth,” he said.

“We had 2.4 million new jobs in the last 12 months. There is no better anti-poverty program than a good economy.”

Mark Tooley, a spokesman for the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative think tank that keeps a wary eye on the mainline churches, dismissed the criticisms as political.

“Neither side should claim to speak for God on this issue, since he has not told us which presidential candidate he voted for, or which budget policies he would prefer,” Tooley said.

MO/PH END ECKSTROM