"Christians must more creatively advocate and implement policies that empower and dignify the needy, not treat them as chronic victims." -- Mark Tooley, IRD President

Contact: Jeff Walton, Institute on Religion and Democracy, 202-682-4131, 202-413-5639 cell, jwalton@TheIRD.org

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- As U.S. lawmakers debate federal budgets, debt and taxation, Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) President Mark Tooley is endorsing Christians for A Sustainable Economy (CASE), a new coalition committed to serving the Biblical "least of these."

In a letter President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner, CASE distinguishes between protecting federal "programs for the poor" and protecting the poor.

The letter questions groups in the Jim Wallis led "Circle of Protection" that reject limits on government welfare spending and portray an expansive welfare state as the main Christian remedy for poverty. The "Circle," whose representatives met with President Obama during the debt crisis, include the National Association of Evangelicals, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches, the Salvation Army and Sojourners, among others.

"We believe they have not fully represented the large and diverse community of Christian faith...and have conveyed less than the full biblical witness and the counsel it provides in the current crisis," the letter says of the Circle. "To the question, 'What would Jesus cut?', we add the question, 'Whom would Jesus indebt?' The Good Samaritan did not use someone else's credit card."

The entire letter is at www.case4america.org.

IRD President Mark Tooley commented:

"Protecting Big Government does not equal helping the poor.

"Christians must more creatively advocate and implement policies that empower and dignify the needy, not treat them as chronic victims.

"Too many church officials have unquestioningly assumed that a constantly expanding Welfare and Entitlement State benefits the needy. But nearly half a century of experience in America shows that well intentioned government anti-poverty programs often perpetuate poverty, despair, crime and family break-down.

"CASE is an exciting new initiative that disputes stale, discredited, and disastrous assumptions about government and poverty. I pray CASE helps to declare a new era when Christians emphasize anti-poverty entrepreneurship and economic growth."