Editor:

We the people are fortunate to be represented in our Congress and state legislatures by religious countrymen, the last majority of them are professed Christians and regular churchgoers. Their presence in government opens the prospect of laws being passed and maintained that protect and expand the blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to all Americans, regardless of class, race, gender or condition. These political leaders seldom miss an opportunity to eloquently express their religious faith.

We take them at their word, but they expect their actions to reflect the teaching of Paul that “faith without works is dead,” and the signature moral teaching of Jesus in his parable of the Good Samaritan and the all-encompassing “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” But alas, our most vocally religious representatives act as though they never heard of this first principle of Christian behavior. They not only refuse to help the millions of American falling into poverty but they want to deepen their misery. They allowed the sequester to reduce funding for Head Start, food stamps, school lunches, Meals on Wheels, and they aim at cutting another $40 billion from the life support food stamp program. Their Christmas gift to the innocent unemployed was to refuse to extend their unemployment benefits.

These same religious right wing politicians are very active in protecting the subsidies for big oil and gas and agribusiness — and maintaining the tax loop holes for the top 1 percent. They work to shelter Wall Street from regulations, and to do away with health and safety regulations in mines, factories, agriculture, industries of all sorts, and the environment. They trumpet profit over the health and safety of workers.

Would any of these right wing congressmen be willing to change places with any of the millions of Americans living at or below the poverty level, or with a homeless person? No doubt they attended Christmas services and enjoyed the comforts of their affluence. What pitifully small people they are in their smugness and shriveled humanity.

Denton May

Cortez