Press Release from the National Council of Churches
Washington, November 29, 2010 -- Representatives of 19 Christian church bodies today called upon the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Senate approved child nutrition bill.
"As leaders of faith communities, we see first-hand the suffering that food insecurity causes, particularly for families and children," said the letter addressed to House Democratic and Republican leaders and to all members of the House.
"Our children cannot wait any longer for improvements in nutrition programs. We regard passage of Child Nutrition Reauthorization as essential to combating the poverty that is engulfing growing numbers of children in the United States. One in five children in the United States now lives in poverty in our nation, the wealthiest nation in the world. Our faith compels us to speak out and to act on behalf of "the least of these" (Matthew 25: 40)."
The leaders expressed disappointment in the Senate bill, S. 3307, because it had been "weakened by compromise." Even so, they said, "it is the best remaining hope for some relief for hungry children who face dim prospects for lives of abundance if their early years are compromised by childhood hunger."
House members were also implored not make additional cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), once known as Food Stamps.
Healthful child nutrition and food for families and individuals living in poverty are equal responsibilities in a society where resources are abundant and the common good is our aim. They are not competing objectives; rather they are worthy and complementary expressions of a national commitment to care for our neighbors. We urge you to find ways to restore cuts to the SNAP program as earnestly as our religious convictions move us to press for your action to pass this bill for the benefit of our children."
The full text of the letter can be downloaded at www.ncccusa.org/pdfs/childnutritionletter.pdf.
Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 37 member faith groups -- from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches -- include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.
