Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Religious Leaders Stand for International Aid



The battle over federal spending is far from over, in fact, it’s about to get ugly.  Religious leaders are coming at Congress with full force lobbying for the preservation of foreign aid.  Their approach, it’s a moral obligation.  “Part of the discussion centered on the importance of reminding the American people that hunger and poverty around the world has a human face – that we’re not just talking about statistics, but real people,” states Reverend John McCullough, Director of Church World Service.  It is much easier to sympathize to a face than it is to the idea of giving monetary aid to the poor.

The limited amount of the federal budget already allocated to foreign aid has proven to make a huge impact on millions upon millions suffering from sever poverty.  The United States should see foreign assistance as much more than “tangible benefits to the world’s poor,” but an investment for the growth of our own economy as well as raise our international standing among other wealth nations.  

Can we turn the other way and ignore these desperate people in this crucial time of need?  Allow them to starve?  Leave them to die because they weren’t able to receive the necessary medical care?  We simply cannot.

“We’re talking about lives – great numbers of lives that are saved with minimal input on our part.”
-Reverend Denis Madden
Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore and Vice Chair of Catholic Relief Services

-Georisa Chang