Churches were RIGHT to refuse to help women posing as needy mothers begging for formula who went viral. No one else will say it, says QUENTIN LETTS… but this is why – and the Bible backs me up

Welfare cuts are not immoral, churches are not cash machines, and Christians are not public caterers unless they can feed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two Galilean sardines.

These facts are worth pointing out because welfare policies have become religious. If pursued and stated clearly enough in the coming days, they could take the right tone out of the Budget debate and rebalance the economy towards parents working to make ends meet, rather than parents expecting everyone else to cover their bills.

Kemi Badenoch caused a stir this week by suggesting that her stance on the two-child allowance cap (which she would retain) was more Christian than that of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, who criticized it.

Ms Badenoch argued that a spiraling national debt was immoral because it would bankrupt us, making lower welfare payments unaffordable. Archbishop Mullally, who had not yet taken the podium, did not immediately respond.

Meanwhile, on the Internet, TikTok was shaken by the claim that two churches were indifferent to a young mother who called them claiming to have a baby in need. TikToker Tawana Musvaburi demanded that churches buy powdered milk for her baby. They refused. The noise may have won him some social media followers, but it doesn’t tell us anything useful about Christian values ​​or economics.

Let’s take Ms. Musvaburi first. She claimed that her (non-existent) baby ‘hadn’t eaten in days.’ The attendant of the first church he called could not or did not want to hear him clearly and hung up. The second one told him to call back later. TikTok later claimed that she had spoken to a mosque, which told her it would distribute two cartons of powdered milk.

I must admit that I found the mosque’s immediate enthusiasm to help a bit suspicious. We know nothing about Ms. Musvaburi or her affiliation.

Some TikTok users asked ‘how can such churches call themselves Christian?’ he will ask. Didn’t Jesus say ‘blessed are the poor’? So, what about the parable of the Good Samaritan who encounters a mugger victim and offers help without hesitation? Moreover, the New Testament letters of John encourage mercy ‘in deed’ and not just in words.

Sarah Mullally will be the first female Archbishop of Canterbury when she takes office in January

TikToker Tawana Musvaburi demanded that churches buy powdered milk for her baby. They refused. The noise may have won him some social media followers, but it doesn’t tell us anything useful about Christian values ​​or economics, writes Quentin Letts

But still St. Paul could have given Mrs. Musvaburi a dusty reply. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, read in many Anglican churches last Sunday, Paul said that being self-sufficient before God is a virtue. Paul wrote, ‘If anyone is useless, let him not eat either.’ As our kind and admirable, non-political Rector later stated in his sermon, this is not an argument against all charity. We should have pity on those who are truly poor. But those that don’t work are a different matter.

The Book of Proverbs rails against the ‘slackers’ who lie in bed instead of going to work. Such ‘evil’ people are ‘an abomination’ to the Lord. In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul again writes, “Let each man prove his own work.” Successful people should never arrogantly assume that their good fortune depends solely on their intelligence. Talents are God-given. But it is not impossible that St Paul would side with Ms Badenoch rather than the left-leaning bishops of the Church of England.

What would the great saint think of churches being pelted with cabbage on TikTok right now? Ms. Musvaburi seems far from hopeless in her post. More lethargic and spoiled. She’s not an actress.

It can also be noted that our country has a large and arguably extremely generous welfare system. Some unemployed welfare recipients now have better money than people with jobs. How moral is this? It’s too bad the two churches Ms. Musvaburi called were of little use, but perhaps she wasn’t the first scammer to call and ask for help.

The assumption is normally made by people who are not interested in religion that churches are dispensing stations, places of immediate shelter and financial aid. Some people go out of their way to be generous, and that’s their prerogative. I know of at least one bishop’s palace where vagrants frequently knocked on the door. They are given a sandwich but never money. The Bishop and his team are savvy enough to understand that money is often used to sustain drug or alcohol addiction.

We won’t win brownie points at the Pearly Gates for giving the scammers a soft touch. Who is the sinner here? Churches wary of a stranger contacting them out of the blue and demanding a free meal for their “child”? Or is he just a shy faker on TikTok yelling wolf to get their views? There are indeed desperate young mothers in our societies; girls who are often let down by their boys or their own incompetent parents. Ms. Musvaburi was not one of them.

As for John’s letters and his instruction to Christians to show compassion ‘in deed’ and not just in word, let the passage be quoted more fully. It encourages compassion ‘in work and in truth’. Honesty works both ways.

The rich must recognize that poverty is not always someone’s fault; This is basically the ‘I go there for the grace of God’ argument. Likewise, people who will request social assistance must also be real. The man the Good Samaritan was helping had clearly been attacked. He wasn’t a scammer looking for clicks on social media.

This isn’t the harsh truth you’ll hear from politicians afraid of appearing rude yet, but food banks don’t just attract those who are truly in need. Some ‘customers’ are opportunistic. If you give away free food, be prepared to be taken around by some disreputable people. Jesus did not say ‘blessed is every stranger who calls your church’s landline and asks for free money.’ In the 1st century, tax collectors in Judea were less popular than they are today. Jesus would probably have been stunned if he had been told that tax rates would one day rise above 50 percent.

Priests have a duty not to waste their limited funds. They exist for higher purposes than distributing alms. Churches are places of reflection where parishioners can worship, sing, and attempt to contemplate death. Let us hope that when Archbishop Mullally steps onto his new throne he will apply his mind to such spiritual matters and leave the debate over tax rates to the politicians. And let’s hope politicians stop this nonsense that higher welfare payments are somehow virtuous. There is just as much piety in balancing books.

The story is told in the Acts of the Apostles of a paralyzed beggar outside the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. He asks the apostles John and Peter for money. They tell him they are weak, but they have something better: knowledge of Jesus. The man recovered. Paste this on TikTok and smoke it.