Letter: Government must care for the needy
I was interested to read that The Right Reverend Mark Rylands is to speak against the Government's austerity measures in Shrewsbury Abbey (Shropshire Star, March 8).
He quoted Deuteronomy 15:11b: "I command you to be open-handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land". This was a divine command addressed to the governing body in Israel (The Qahal) on how they should treat the common people of Israel. If applied today in modern day Britain it would place all responsibility for caring for the poor and needy upon Government alone. This is how it should be.
Judging by its current record, I'm sure our Government would love to abandon the poor and needy to Church groups and charities. I don't wish to belittle the work of Church groups and charities but if the Government fulfilled its obligations to the poor there would be little need for charitable organisations to exist.
Another very important point in the verse above is that government should only be responsible for the poor and needy in its own land, not other lands. We would all be better off if government paid heed to Deuteronomy 15:11b. As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am praying that one day we will get a government that puts the interests of its people before the interests of bankers and multinational corporations.
J Clift, Shrewsbury
