WELFARE
God, who endows us with life, liberty, property, and the right to pursue happiness also authorizes individuals to care for the needy, the sick, the homeless, the aged, and those who are otherwise unable to care for themselves.
America's and NC’s welfare crisis is a government-induced crisis. Government social and cultural policies have undermined the work ethic, even as the government's economic and regulatory policies have undermined the ability of our citizens to obtain work.
Charity, and provision of welfare to those in need, is not a responsibility of the federal or NC government. Under no circumstances should the taxpayers of NC be obligated, under penalty of law through forced taxation, to assume the cost of providing welfare to able-bodied individuals. Nor should taxpayers be indentured to subsidize welfare for persons who enter the United States illegally.
The message of Christian charity is fundamentally at odds with the concept of welfare rights. In many cases, the delivery of welfare by government is not only misdirected, but morally destructive. It is the intended purpose of civil government to safeguard the people's lives, liberty and property not to redistribute the people's wealth, which is contrary to the Biblical command against theft.
We encourage individuals and families to fulfill their personal responsibility to help those in need through tithes, offerings and other acts of charity. The nation's churches and synagogues should manifest their faith by supporting effective programs to assist those who are in need. The SPNC will provide information about problems and needs and make recommendations of how best that the private sector might meet welfare needs
No able-bodied citizen has a right to existing public welfare without working. We support requiring individuals to work to receive public assistance. Because a citizen who works should be free to spend his or her money as he or she sees fit, all spending restrictions on workfare workers should be abolished. Our computerized society now allows the administrative ability needed for the gradual removal of welfare benefits, so that one would be better off working in the private sector than in a workfare program. The SPNC believes in working to move from a welfare state to an opportunity society, we support such a gradual withdrawal.