Think so?
-How so?
-According to whom?
-Who are you to force everyone to act according to your version of morality?
The question should go further. Is it a moral responsibility to provide for the most unfortunate by the community or by the government? I say by the community.
Yes, in the LOCAL community though. Much beyond that it becomes much less compassion /moral imperative and much more another means to manipulate and control the people.
In our former city I held a couple of positions in which we dealt with a lot of the local 'needy' and transients. And all of us agencies and religious organizations providing relief and help to the 'needy' realized there were lots of people who just worked the system and used it to support themselves and we were too often enabling people in a bad way. So we got together and joined forces to deal with the problem.
The city helped us out by providing space in a city building and providing a small amount of funding to hire and train a small staff to manage a central clearing house. (The rest of us provided the rest of that funding as well as the food, clothing, cash etc. that was distributed.)
So when the needy or the transients began making their rounds, they were transported or sent to that central clearing location where they were required to undergo a police background check, be photographed, and be screened for available work. That took care of our local 'needy', many of whom we were able to get back to work and adequately supporting themselves again.
As for the transients passing through, few were going to have any part of a background check or any other exposure to the law. So to ensure that nobody would be turned away hungry, we gave them a map to the local shelter. For our part, I printed up vouchers for 5 gallons of gas (for those who claimed to be stranded) and for a meal at a nearby restaurant for those who 'hadn't eaten in days'. I arranged with a local gas station and restaurant to accept the vouchers that we would furnish the cash to reimburse them.
I kept track of the redeemed vouchers for one year. I gave out a couple of dozen gasoline vouchers and three of those were redeemed. I gave out a couple of hundred food vouchers to all those 'starving people', One--count it one--of those vouchers was redeemed.
But the bottom line is that we as individuals should feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and visit those in prison. Otherwise, it might make us feel righteous, but it is not compassion nor charity to encourage people to be irresponsible, to become comfortable in poverty, or to encourage them to avoid getting the help or doing what they need to do to help themselves.
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