The Democrats and liberal Christians have insisted that fighting poverty is a moral value. What is little known is that evangelicals agree with this assessment. In the New York Times piece, One More 'Moral Value': Fighting Poverty, Glen Stassen finds the common ground between evangelicals who are pro-life and liberals who are concerned with poverty and social justice. He also links poverty with evangelism.
Glen E. Stassen, a professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., said his students, who were largely conservative, agreed that poverty should be part of the moral values discussion. "A lot of Christians who are worried about abortion see poverty as a pro-life issue, because if you undermine the safety net for poor mothers, you'll increase the abortion rate and infant mortality rate," Dr. Stassen said. "We've seen that happen since welfare reform, just as the Catholic bishops predicted."
Dr. Stassen, who describes himself as "pro-life," added that many evangelicals, including his students, want to change the current moral values rhetoric because they think it drives people from, rather than to, the church. "They're both offended and worried that it will persuade people concerned about justice that they should not be Christians," he said.
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