Should able bodied and minded adults really qualify for food stamps?
Is the pope a commie? If so...are all catholics commies?
Lots of good questions from this article.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/1 ... 93982.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;WASHINGTON -- Republican and Democrats sparred this week on where Jesus Christ would stand on food stamps, a federal program that supported 47 million Americans last year.
On Wednesday, the House Agriculture Committee approved Republican legislation that would reform farm subsidies and trim the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by roughly $2.5 billion a year. Republicans want fewer Americans to qualify for food stamps simply because they receive benefits from another safety net program. Under the new legislation, more people would have to pass income and asset tests to be eligible for food stamps. Nearly 2 million fewer people would qualify.
Rep. Juan Vargas, a California Democrat and former member of the Jesuits, a Catholic religious order, said he favored a Democratic amendment to undo the cuts because Jesus made himself clear on feeding the poor.
"Jesus kinda fools around and gives you parables. He doesn't oftentimes say exactly what he means," Vargas said. "But in Matthew 25 he's very, very clear. And he delineates what it takes to get into the kingdom of heaven very, very clearly. And he says how you treat the least among us, the least of our brothers, that's how you treat him."
In Matthew 25, Jesus describes those who will enter heaven as anyone who gave him food when he was hungry, invited him into their homes when he was a stranger, clothed him, cared for him while he was sick and visited him in prison. "The extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me," Jesus says...
Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) said during the hearing that he, too, is a follower of Christ.
"I read this chapter of Matthew 25 to speak to me as an individual," Conaway, a Southern Baptist, said. "I don't read it to speak to the United States government. And so I would take a little bit of umbrage with you on that. Clearly, you and I are charged that we do those kinds of things but [our government is not] charged with that."...
While religious leaders in the U.S. have thrown their weight behind food stamps and government assistance programs, Pope Francis also spoke more broadly Thursday on his views on "cult of money" in his first address at the Vatican global finance.
Addressing new ambassadors to the Vatican, Francis described the prevalence around the world of an "an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal," resulting in people who "have to struggle to live and, frequently, to live in an undignified way."
"In circumstances like these, solidarity, which is the treasure of the poor, is often considered counterproductive, opposed to the logic of finance and the economy. While the income of a minority is increasing exponentially, that of the majority is crumbling," Francis said. "This imbalance results from ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the right of control to states, which are themselves charged with providing for the common good."
the fed doesn't have that kind of backing. 
JFC!