Special to United Methodist Insight
I am so proud of what we once did as Americans to try to improve global health and eliminate poverty. We did not get it all right, but we got a lot right. So many lives were blessed because our nation stepped up.
But now, it seems our United States government is erasing years of life-saving work in its effort to cleanse ourselves of any program, any initiative, that might be construed as an act of compassion benefitting the “least of these” among us. At home and abroad, compassion is under attack. Watching the news, it can make your head spin, especially because the United States has been for so many years the world’s leader. The world has looked up to us, relied on us, but in one grand sweep, our government has declared to the world: “NO MORE!”
For several years I worked with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society as Director of Advocacy for the Imagine No Malaria Campaign. The INM Campaign focused on raising awareness and money within United Methodist churches to fight malaria. People learned about bed nets and mosquitoes and how hundreds of thousands of people were “needlessly dying every year from a disease that is totally preventable.” And ninety percent of the deaths were children under age five. United Methodists across the world embraced the cause. We must do something! We can save lives!
One piece of the huge INM campaign was focused on advocacy by United Methodists on Capitol Hill. Day in and day out, going from office to office, making calls, sending letters, all asking the US Congress to continue to support “Global Health” funding, USAID line items, money for research on malaria and other illnesses, support for the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. We were not alone – Bread for the World, Lutheran World Relief, Roman Catholic sisters, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Quakers, Unitarians. So many people of faith all supporting our nation’s efforts to build a healthy world where all children can flourish and reach their full potential. That’s who we were back then, taking a stand, speaking up for folk who had no one to speak up for them.
One week really stands out to me. We hosted a gathering of United Methodists from across the US for an event we called Imagine No Malaria Days on the Hill. For maximum impact, we encouraged each annual conference to send a couple of representatives. One hundred people came and in one day, going in groups of two or three, we were able to visit the offices of 118 senators and representatives. Our partners at the UN Foundation arranged all the Hill meetings with offices of Senators and Representatives. I will never forget watching our group move from a sendoff prayer service in the chapel of the United Methodist Building and fan out to so many Capitol Hill offices. People were excited. They were going to “bear witness” – to say we stand for helping neighbors in need, the sick and suffering, folk who cannot help themselves, children who are needlessly dying from a preventable disease. Our God is a God of love and compassion, and we were proud that our United States government led the world in the fight against malaria and AIDS, tuberculosis and a host of critical illnesses. We wanted to see our government keep up the fight and even do more. “For to whom much is given much is expected”. It was a faith witness and gospel message to a Congress that was willing to listen and ready to help.
I remember my colleague from the UN Foundation walking with me along with 100 others from all across the US, walking eagerly toward the U.S. Capitol, talking points in hand, and my friend said to me: “You know I don’t go to church but if I did go to church I would want to go to a church like this one.”
Global health was not such a partisan issue back then. One of our most reliable global health voices was Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Texas. President George W. Bush, a United Methodist himself, cared deeply about the great suffering of many people in Africa. He challenged the United States to be a world leader in the fight for global health and against poverty. Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, was always a champion ready to speak from his heart with a strong conviction and deep faith. Our advocates said to their U.S. Representatives and Senators, “The world is looking to the United States for leadership. We are the world’s wealthiest nation. If we are seen to waver in our global health commitments, it will signal other nations to do the same. We can’t let that happen."
As United Methodists we talked about how our entire denomination was committed to global health. We raised millions of dollars in the fight against malaria and we worked to raise even more. We told congressional leaders, "Together we are saving lives, hundreds of thousands of lives. Let’s not give up the fight. Compassion demands we not give up."
Of course, that was then. Now it seems our motto is no longer E Pluribus Unum (One out of many), but “What’s in for me?” Compassion for those in need seems like a quaint idea from a bygone era. With the new Donald Trump administration, our nation has withdrawn from the World Health Organization where we had been its most loyal supporter. Now, we have shut down USAID! USAID staff are being laid off and removed from places of service in all parts of the world. Pictures of hungry families lining up to receive scoops of grain from large bags with a “USAID” logo on the side is now a thing of the past. It's as if the United States is saying, "No more help for you. No more support for your people in need. Caring about children dying from malaria is no longer in our 'national interest.'”
This may be so. Maybe our nation is so rich we no longer need to care about others. Maybe our collective national heart has grown cold and hard. But as Christians, as people who love Jesus the “Great Physician” we cannot let that happen. We cannot let ourselves become hard-hearted. In the face of misery, we must not succumb to cynicism. Jesus calls us to do more. We need to see the face of Christ in the face of every starving child, in every neighbor in need. We must say No to all those who claim we have done enough. Our Christian faith expects more from us.
But as for us as a nation, as for us, the American people, I no longer know what to expect.
The Rev. Clayton Childers
Courtesy Photo
The Rev. Clayton Childers is pastor of Silverbrook United Methodist Church in Lorton, VA.