Moral of budget story
They are a new coalition of New York religious groups who call themselves “Moral Mondays in New York”. Tomorrow (Monday) they will travel to Albany to tell Gov. Andrew Cuomo exactly what they think about his proposed state budget. It is not pretty.
“In the face of an immoral state budget, our faith calls us to act. The current Cuomo-proposed budget would make New York’s worst in the nation income inequality even worse. It is morally shocking how tilted this budget is to helping the rich and hurting the poor,” said the Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, the dynamic Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan, a member of the coalition, who says they intend to address the budget hearings.
Inspired by a similar and politically successful initiative in North Carolina, Moral Mondays in New York plans to hold a prayer service at the Legislative Office Building to “call on the governor and the legislature to pass a faithful budget that prioritizes jobs, schools, essential local services and rebuilding the safety net to reduce poverty and hunger and expand opportunity for all New Yorkers.
“We are trying to inject moral language into the budget story. Enough is enough, we can’t take it any more, it is hurting poor people too much,” Schaper said.
“We intend to speak with the governor and although we are uninvited we will hold a prayer service both outside and inside the building,” added Schaper, who says they expect about 100 people to participate. “We have done it before.”
Besides Judson Memorial Church, other members of the coalition are Faith for a Fair NY, Occupy Faith and allies from around the state.
“Moral fervor,” Schaper said, can create political success like it happened with the Moral Mondays Movement in North Carolina where, according to her, “the current legislature doesn’t have a chance of keeping their stingy seats.”
“What is moral fervor?” she said. “It is being fed up, instead of fed, by a few having way too much and the many having way too little. Seventy percent of what Jesus said in the Bible agrees. The Bible is a moral document about the economy. Blessed are the poor.”
Something is certain: Schaper and her group are not the only ones who believe the proposed state budget shortchanges poor New Yorkers while being unduly generous to wealthy ones.
“Right now, we cannot afford to spend a $2 billion surplus on tax cuts for the wealthiest New Yorkers,” said Ron Deutsch, of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness. “Our state can’t afford a billion dollars a year in new tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires and Wall Street.”
“Why are the rich getting another bailout?” Schaper asks and quotes Pope F Francis’ i ’ statement that trickle-down i economics are “a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power.”
“We don’t want just morality on Mondays in New York. We want morality,” Schaper said. “This budget proposal misses that mark.”
Those readers interested in being part of the Moral Mondays in New York prayer service in Albany tomorrow should contact the Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper at DonnaSchaper@judson.org or Paul@judson.org to make transportation arrangements.