Charity — Work Of Individuals, Not The State

Here's a great rebuttal to all the 'social justice' fans out there:

ROME, March 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Care for the poor and vulnerable is the concern of individuals, motivated by genuine charity, rather than the exclusive concern of the state, Pope Benedict XVI has said in a pair of addresses this weekend. In an address to a group of bishops from Uganda, the pope praised their efforts to defend the sacredness of human life and of the family, and urged them to help their flocks resist the “seductions” of materialism.

Speaking to a gathering of Italian Civil Protection Service (ICPS) on Saturday, March 6, the pope commended their voluntary service and said that Christians are called to help their neighbours “concretely,” and called on ICPS volunteers personally to become “living icons” of the Good Samaritan.

“There is no just order in the state,” he said, “that eliminates the service of charity.”

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When the state tries to do charitable work, it ends up creating a bureaucratic machine that, in the name of charity, does everything in its power to perpetuate the problem. Because, just as everyone else, they want their jobs to be permanent. And, just as every other establishment, they're interested in expanding their customer base, not reducing it. So, if the poor are their clients - why would any of them be interested in ending poverty? Their ideal is - an all-pervasive bureaucratic structure that will impose austerity on all - in the name of "social justice".

Socialism is not about charity, but rather about what is called "justice." Socialists actually tend to despise charity as an impediment to justice. Now, justice in a socialist worldview is not what it has traditionally been in past centuries. Justice for socialists means the rightness of the state taking from the rich(er) and giving to the poor(er). In other words, justice does not mean respecting private property and forbidding stealing (as the Bible does), but rather no respect for private property and the institutionalization of stealing as government policy.

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No wonder we see the ultra-left government in the UK formulating its "social justice" policies in a way that actually drives Christian charities out of charitable work. The bureaucracy, that was given the monopoly on charitable work in the name of "social justice", doesn't like competition.

P.S. Meanwhile UK loses £41Billion a year because of family breakdown. Fix that - and you won't need the mammoth bureaucracy to "fight poverty".