Yesterday I wrote on The American Street blog about Call To Renewal’s Bus Tour To Overcome Poverty. The tour kicked-off this week and is visiting swing states to promote the idea that fighting poverty is a religious issue.
They’re hoping that voters and candidates will endorse the Isaiah Platform:
The biblical prophet Isaiah offered us God’s vision of a good society. His words are as relevant today as they were 3,000 years ago, and show us the way forward. Isaiah envisions a society where:"No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live a lifetime…They shall build houses and inhabit them: they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit: they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear their children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord….” (Isaiah 65:20-25)
The platform developed by Call To Renewal reflects some of the contemporary issues we can understand the Isaiah text speaking to:
1. We recognize that budgets are moral documents that reflect our values and priorities. All tax policies and spending proposals should be evaluated with a publicly available analysis of how they assist people in overcoming poverty and strengthening families and communities.2. As a society we must commit to supporting all who work and those unable to work by providing:
a. a living family income
b. affordable housing
c. educational opportunity for their children with the goal of reducing the number of children in poverty by half in ten years
d. quality healthcare
e. adequate nutrition3. We must commit to significantly reducing the number of people worldwide who experience extreme poverty, in cooperation with other nations, through a foreign policy that sees just trade, effective international aid, and reducing the debt of impoverished nations as central to our national and global security.
I COVENANT TO raise the Isaiah Platform in the public debate and to ask all candidates for public office to propose and support policies that would accomplish these goals.
Click here to endorse this covenant for yourself, your church, or organization.
(Thanks to Marh for sugguesting this post)
