One of the most consistently brilliant blogs out there right now is written by my friend Mike Burns. The last three posts at his blog are worthy of mentioning here, but you need to go there yourself, book-mark his blog and read him often.
ILLEGAL TO FEED THE HOMELESS? (from Mike's blog):
"For a little background, the city of Orlando has recently passed a law making it illegal to feed anyone in a prominent city park where much of the city's homeless population congregates..."
"This legislation was passed last spring, and as far as I know, not one local Church or religious leader has done anything to stand against this unjust law. The only groups that have publicly stood against this law have been social rights groups and the ACLU..."
(more in this link)
http://emergingmission.blogspot.com/2007/09/breaking-law-by-feeding-hungry.html
Why have Christians and followers of Jesus (not always the same thing, mind you) done nothing to protest this? Is it because they are not actively serving and feeding the hungry? Is that why they've not noticed the change?
Are we willing to be arrested for feeding the poor?
ORLANDO BANS FEEDING HOMELESS DOWNTOWN
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/25/AR2006072500835.html
Once again, city governments respond to homelessness by making it a crime to be homeless. This is not a solution. Criminalizing homelessness does not make it go away, it does not help those who are in need. Criminalizing those who help the homeless is the worst response of all. Let's discourage people, everyday citizens, from getting involved in the process. Let's divorce ourselves from the resource of human compassion.
Yeah...that's a great solution.
I ask you to forward this info to your friends. This will come to your hometown soon, you can count on that. Speak up now or it will be something all of us will have to face soon enough.
Let's spread this news around. Let's speak out.
How can we call ourselves follwers of this radical Jesus and sit quietly in the face of injustice?
kg
thanks for the mention keith!
ReplyDeleteSadly, only 3 hours ago the city of Orlando passed a new law which now makes it illegal to panhandle when it's dark out.
here is the article:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-beg1107sep11,0,1319983.story
A group of us are going to go break the law later this week by feeding people, and luckily we can be assured Christ will be there breaking the law with us.
The legality of a similar ban in Dallas was challenged not too long ago. I've yet to hear to hear any results
ReplyDelete