Church Told to Stop Feeding the Poor
UPDATE: Today the AZcetnral.com news site picked up this story. Some of the quotes in the article are priceless.
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Crossroads United Methodist Church in Phoenix feeds the hungry, but today they were told they can no longer continue this practice because in doing so they constitute a “charity dining hall” and, as such, are breaking local ordinance.
Even though this hateful decision has been masked in a facade of local code issues, Rev Escobedo-Frank rightly identifies at the root issue:
“Or, are we just discriminating against people who are poor and who don’t have homes, because we don’t like what we feel when we see them? The real issue, is not that there are hungry people out there, or that we serve food in church, the real issue is that we are afraid. Afraid to reach out a helping hand; afraid to see what the economy could do to us; afraid to face our worst fears…”
Afraid indeed.
Last year I wrote over at Twoshirts.org about the case of a Detroit teenager accused of murdering a homeless man: Continue reading…
