I doubt if the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has seen a copy of my book Providence, Piety and Power. This is a pity, for if he had read it, he might have not begun his period in office with such an unfortunate statement as yesteday's criticism of Iain Duncan-Smith's benefit reforms. Mind you, it seems he's not the only one. Some 43 bishops wrote a letter to the Sunday Telegraph criticising the proposals to cap benefit increases at 1% per annum.
Let's be clear - the Bible is full of admonitions to help the poor. It supports wealth redsitrubtion, but not compulsory state-enforced welfare redistribution, and for several good reasons. Firstly, as F.D, Roosevelt (of all people) pointed out in 1932, state welfare is " a narcotic.....a sublte destroyer of the human spirit." Getting something for nothing sounds like a good thing, but it can actually degrade the dignity of man. This is what our welfare state has done. In her book Below stairs, Margaret Powell described how her parents, although poor, regarded "charity" as very much a last resort. To the poor of 100 years ago, brought up to "make do and mend" it carried a stigma. Now it is seen as a right, even though the poorest in society are in absolute terms far better off than their equivalents 100 years ago.
Another reason why state-funded welfare is so unbiblical is that is fails to distinguish between the deserving and undeserving poor. The Bible is quite clear about the existence of these two categories of people. In 1 Timothy 5, Paul instructs his young friend to make sure that the church supported only those widows that were really incapable of support from any other means. He also wrote to the Thessalonians, "If any would not work, neither should he eat."
The Dutch Pastor Abraham Kuyper, who became Prime MInister of the Netherlands just over 100 years ago said in 1891 “The holy art of ‘giving for Jesus’ sake’ ought to be much more strongly developed among us Christians. Never forget that all state relief for the poor is a blot on the honour of your Saviour.” Amen to that! However, we couldn't just scrap the welfare state overnight. It would cause acute poverty for some people. It needs to be wound down gradually, and the most sensible first step in this direction is to decentralise it down to town or village level with the administrators being allowed a far greater discretion as to whether or not a recipient is truly deserving. This is more Biblical, and is basically what the Swiss have done. Welfare is handled by the local commune, and paid out of local taxes (the equivalent of our Council Tax). James Bartholomew, author of The Welfare State We're in - one of the top 10 books to influence my political thinking - has researched the Swiss model, and points out that in Switzerland, the "localism" of welfare keeps its costs down. "Instead of feeling you have impersonal legal rights, as in Britain, you are taking money from people you might meet at your local café. No wonder single parenting is less common."
The Left has only one answer to poverty - more benefits, more compulsory wealth redistrubtion. In other words, either you and I have to surrender more of our money, or else the government borrows more and passes on the tab to generations yet unborn. The Welfare state in its present form is unbiblical and unaffordable. How sad when church leaders can't see this and instead behave like a pale reflection of the Labour Party! If Archbishop Welby really wanted to help the poor, perhaps he should have spoken out again green taxes, which are a form of reverse compulsory wealth redistribution, as it's rich landowners who build wind farms and poor people who suffer disproportionately from "fuel poverty". Perhaps he should have suggested leaving the EU with its free movement of people. Tim Congdon's recent booklet Europe Doesn't Work suggests that migration from Eastern Europe has cost 135,000 British jobs. How sad too, bearing in mind his background in business that he can't recognise that the State, like any private company or individual, simply cannot live beyond its means. I guess we are all bombarded with requests to help some unfortunate individuals or group of individuals. These people may be suffering, but we all only have a finite amount of cash, so some appeal letters for very worthy causes have to go straight into the shredder.
With welfare amounting to over 20% of government spending, I question whether we can even afford a 1% increase in benefits. I'm sure that Dr Welby has a real concern for the poor, but we are still recovering from Labour's 2007-10 spending binge. The cupboards are bare, and any more borrowing, far from "making poverty history" will ensure that it returns with a vengeance to blight a future generation who will have to pick up the tab.
Let's be clear - the Bible is full of admonitions to help the poor. It supports wealth redsitrubtion, but not compulsory state-enforced welfare redistribution, and for several good reasons. Firstly, as F.D, Roosevelt (of all people) pointed out in 1932, state welfare is " a narcotic.....a sublte destroyer of the human spirit." Getting something for nothing sounds like a good thing, but it can actually degrade the dignity of man. This is what our welfare state has done. In her book Below stairs, Margaret Powell described how her parents, although poor, regarded "charity" as very much a last resort. To the poor of 100 years ago, brought up to "make do and mend" it carried a stigma. Now it is seen as a right, even though the poorest in society are in absolute terms far better off than their equivalents 100 years ago.
Another reason why state-funded welfare is so unbiblical is that is fails to distinguish between the deserving and undeserving poor. The Bible is quite clear about the existence of these two categories of people. In 1 Timothy 5, Paul instructs his young friend to make sure that the church supported only those widows that were really incapable of support from any other means. He also wrote to the Thessalonians, "If any would not work, neither should he eat."
The Dutch Pastor Abraham Kuyper, who became Prime MInister of the Netherlands just over 100 years ago said in 1891 “The holy art of ‘giving for Jesus’ sake’ ought to be much more strongly developed among us Christians. Never forget that all state relief for the poor is a blot on the honour of your Saviour.” Amen to that! However, we couldn't just scrap the welfare state overnight. It would cause acute poverty for some people. It needs to be wound down gradually, and the most sensible first step in this direction is to decentralise it down to town or village level with the administrators being allowed a far greater discretion as to whether or not a recipient is truly deserving. This is more Biblical, and is basically what the Swiss have done. Welfare is handled by the local commune, and paid out of local taxes (the equivalent of our Council Tax). James Bartholomew, author of The Welfare State We're in - one of the top 10 books to influence my political thinking - has researched the Swiss model, and points out that in Switzerland, the "localism" of welfare keeps its costs down. "Instead of feeling you have impersonal legal rights, as in Britain, you are taking money from people you might meet at your local café. No wonder single parenting is less common."
The Left has only one answer to poverty - more benefits, more compulsory wealth redistrubtion. In other words, either you and I have to surrender more of our money, or else the government borrows more and passes on the tab to generations yet unborn. The Welfare state in its present form is unbiblical and unaffordable. How sad when church leaders can't see this and instead behave like a pale reflection of the Labour Party! If Archbishop Welby really wanted to help the poor, perhaps he should have spoken out again green taxes, which are a form of reverse compulsory wealth redistribution, as it's rich landowners who build wind farms and poor people who suffer disproportionately from "fuel poverty". Perhaps he should have suggested leaving the EU with its free movement of people. Tim Congdon's recent booklet Europe Doesn't Work suggests that migration from Eastern Europe has cost 135,000 British jobs. How sad too, bearing in mind his background in business that he can't recognise that the State, like any private company or individual, simply cannot live beyond its means. I guess we are all bombarded with requests to help some unfortunate individuals or group of individuals. These people may be suffering, but we all only have a finite amount of cash, so some appeal letters for very worthy causes have to go straight into the shredder.
With welfare amounting to over 20% of government spending, I question whether we can even afford a 1% increase in benefits. I'm sure that Dr Welby has a real concern for the poor, but we are still recovering from Labour's 2007-10 spending binge. The cupboards are bare, and any more borrowing, far from "making poverty history" will ensure that it returns with a vengeance to blight a future generation who will have to pick up the tab.