In Thursday's Op-Ed section of the Arizona Republic, someone named Michael Slater assumes the poor are poor by choice. What an amazingly uninformed opinion. Research studies (like Peter H. Rossi's classic "Why People Move" and the follow-up "Why Families Move") show the poor don't even like living next to each other. It amazes me people believe some choose to be poor. It's as if a husband and wife sat down and said "Let's be poor and live off the public. Let's live in high-crime areas. Let's live where the school's are crappy." Amazing ignorance.
He also presumes the rich are that way because they work hard. I wonder exactly how Mr. Slater is using the words "rich" and "work." Maybe he should read the Bible for a little perspective.
Deuteronomy 14:21-29 mandates that food be shared with "aliens, orphans, and widows." Hebrews 13:5 states "Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you...” Lack of support for the poor and needy is what got Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed (Ezekiel 16:46-50), not just being selfish. Matthew 25:31-45 describes how we will be judged for how we treat the less fortunate.
God and Jesus tell us we are to care for the poor. I can’t tell whether Mr. Slater is a Christian, but he’s certainly a Conservative. I wouldn’t want to be him or others like him on Judgment Day.
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