Widows, Orphans, and the Redistribution of Wealth
It is clearly indicated in the Bible that widows and orphans are to be treated with dignity and respect. The Old Testament states “You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child,” (Exodus 22:22; ESV) As God described the punishment for inflicting unjust treatment on widows and orphans in detail; Moses wrote “[i]f you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless,” (Exodus 22:23, 24; ESV). The Psalmist wrote that “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.,” (Psalms 68:5; ESV). God's message remains consistent throughout Scripture. The Apostle Paul wrote in the New Testament that men must “[h]onor widows who are truly widows,” (1 Timothy 5:3; ESV).
Yet today’s government is tasked with providing solutions for widows and orphans. Worse, single mothers today are given the same benefits as widows. This system rewards single mothers with more children, leading to disparities in the structure of the modern American family. Widows are eligible for Survivors Benefits after age 60, (or 50 with a disability), (SSA). Conversely, single mothers are eligible for multiple benefits, including “60 months of federally funded cash assistance under the Temporary Aid to Needy Families Program (TANF),” (NYC). These figures alone reveal that government is an inappropriate means to accomplish the goal of caring for widows and orphans. But not all private institutions align in their methodology.
But government is not the only sphere of authority capable of providing resources and services for the poor. Private organizations like The American Widow Project helps military widows heal, while offering grants up to $500 to enrich their local communities, (AmericanWidowProject). Another organization, Wings for Widows operates as “a Minnesota-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization,” offering free “vital financial coaching and education programs” to all widows. Throughout recorded history man has been tasked to invest in himself, his family, and his community. It was not until the English Poor Law of 1601, that “the first systematic codification of English ideas about the responsibility of the state to provide for the welfare of its citizens;” (SSA). These ideas have become adopted in America and as efforts continue to persist for government to best address the definition of poverty and its solution (SSA). In 1935 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt create the Committee on Economic Security (CES) by executive order, (SSA). Roosevelt stated on Social Security Act (SSA) that government “can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life,” yet he noted that government “tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age,” (SSA). Roosevelt’s remark ironically recognized that government was the wrong sphere of authority to attempt to resolve economic disparities, expand access to health care, or give financial backing to Americans in need. Instead, FDR’s Great New Deal fully tasked government with providing financial security to every American. Social Security does not seek to reinvest the wealth of its enrollees, but redistribute wealth. Today the majority of government programs incentivize divorced and unmarried mothers, rather than cater to widows and working to facilitate a traditional family structure. Instead, “[t]he U.S. is steadily separating into a two-caste system with marriage and education as the dividing line,” (Heritage).
Yet Social Security and Welfare programs appear to have contributed more harm than good. Thus, government initiatives are not deterrents but instead encourage poverty by setting criteria that benefits compliance. Roger Miller writes that “[i]f taking a good job and getting off the welfare rolls means losing benefits plus paying income taxes, the person on welfare has less incentive to accept a job,” (Miller, R, p. 99).
The Church is another sphere of authority that exists outside of civil government and is properly suited to care for the poor. Scripture decrees that the Church is to be responsible for caring for the poor, as is each individual citizen. Every man is accountable to God, and every man is created by God; therefore each man is accountable to his own contribution or detraction from collective security; including financial security.
Tithing was created by God to give aid to those in need, namely widows, orphans, the sick, elderly, and the disabled. The right to impose tax was created by God to sustain the actions of government. But government taxes are not tithes. Personal sacrifices must be made voluntarily, thereby are incompatible with coercion. Paul writes in the New Testament that “[e]ach one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7; ESV). But Some Christian organizations, like Fathers in the Field “encourage churches to obey God by helping single mothers as the new widow of our age,” (FathersintheField). But divorce is a direct opposition to God’s intention for union through marriage, (Luke 16:18; Mat 5:32; 1 Cor 7:10). Single mothers are not widows in that they have willingly made the decision to adjust their lifestyle to become single; those coming from abusive homes willingly made the original decision to form a union with the individual. As Timothy J. Biblarz notes “[w]idows did not make the decision to be single, and for this reason deserve distinctly greater benefits than single mothers. Widowed mothers will have more traditional family values and lifestyles than divorced mothers. Unlike single mothers who divorce, widowed single mothers did not choose an alternative family structure for themselves and their children,” (Wiley). The Heritage Foundation notes that “some 37 percent of single-parent families lack self-sufficiency (and are officially poor) compared with 7 percent of married-couple families,” (Heritage). Notably, “there has been no significant increase in the number of married-couple families with children in the U.S. since 1965. By contrast, the number of single-parent families with children has skyrocketed by nearly 10 million, rising from 3.3 million in 1965 to 13.2 million in 2012,” (Heritage). These statistics reflect the need for a necessary change in the method citizens care for the needy, including widows and orphans.
The Heritage Foundation writes that “[a]lthough married couples with children can also receive aid through these [government] programs, the overwhelming majority of assistance to families with children goes to single-parent households,” (Heritage). But widows are not the same as divorced single mothers. Timothy Biblarz writes that “[c]ompared with children raised in single-mother families created by the death of the father, children raised in divorced single-mother families have significantly lower levels of education, occupational status, and happiness in adulthood,” (Wiley). Biblarz writes that while studies indicate both divorced and widowed mothers share the “same level of incentive to invest highly in their children . . . [a]t the government level, the benefits available to widowed and divorced mothers differ enormously,” (Wiley). Thus, government should not be relied upon as a solution to care for widows and orphans. Roger Miller adds “single people paid the minimum earn enough to put them 20 percent above the poverty cutoff,” (Miller, R., p. 91). Yet, “about half of poor families have no workers at all,” (Miller, R., p. 91). It is apparent that government programs are not restorative, assisting widows and orphans; but a deterrent, disincentivizing the family structure and working households. Timothy Biblarz writes that “widowed single mothers are substantially more likely to claim the status of ‘homemaker’ (42%, compared with 25% of divorced and 21% of never-married single mothers),” (Wiley). Further, widows tend to “not be working in the paid labor force. 66% of divorced mothers and 62% of never-married mothers are estimated to be working in the paid labor force, compared with 49% of widowed mothers,” (Wiley).
The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) writes that the Old-Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program “for most Americans means Social Security;” noting the OSADI to be “the largest income-maintenance program in the United States,” (SSA). Based on social insurance principles, the program provides monthly benefits designed to replace, in part, the loss of income due to retirement, disability, or death” While the SSA proclaims its ability to provide social insurance coverage, it should not be standardized or relied upon; as the funding without come without contingencies, qualifications, limitations, and be subject to annual revisions. The Heritage Foundation writes that there is an “anti-marriage aspect of the welfare state [that] can be illustrated by comparing means-tested welfare with the federal income tax code, (Heritage).
In sum, government’s expansion of its own jurisdiction has led to amorphous definitions of widows, likening it to divorce, a comparison incompatible with God’s inherent natural law.
Moreover, government policy rewards divorce; but does not offer these same benefits to widows whose husbands have fallen in war, died in accidents, or passed away from sickness. Specifically, private organizations are headed by individuals who have compassion focused on the sole issue itself. Additionally, private organizations do not operate with expectations to accumulate a certain level of revenue in order for the project to be deemed “relevant.” Persistent fear of lacking resources equates to servitude in that coercive measures imposed by government induce an action. But the solution to poverty is compassion; government is not capable of compassion as it is not alive. Therefore, man must care compassionately invest himself alongside his brethren to cure economic disparities and contribute to care for widows and orphans.
Bibliography
Americanwidowproject. (Accessed on November 28th, 2024). American Widow Project – Unifying, Educating and Empowering our Nation's Military Widows. https://americanwidowproject.org/.
FathersintheField. (Accessed on November 28th, 2024). Defending the Cause: Single Moms - The Modern Widow - Fathers in the Field. https://www.fathersinthefield.com/defending-cause-single-moms-modern-widow/.
Miller, R., et al. (2017). The Economics of Public Issues, 20th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf 10.3.1]. Retrieved from vbk://9780134532035
NYC. (Accessed on Novmber 28th, 2024). Cash Assistance - HRA. https://www.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/cash-assistance.page.
SSA. (Accessed on November 27th, 2024). Social Security History. https://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html.
SSA. (Accessed on November 28th, 2024). Social Security Programs in the United States - Social Insurance Programs. https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/sspus/social-insurance-programs.html.
Wiley. (Accessed on November 28th, 2024). Family Structure and Children's Success: A Comparison of Widowed and Divorced Single‐Mother Families - Biblarz - 2000 - Journal of Marriage and Family - Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00533.x.
WingsForWidows. (Accessed on November 28th 2024). Become a Donor | Wings for Widows. https://www.wingsforwidows.org/become-a-donor?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwoukyq__iQMV9mhHAR1HQxmIEAAYASAAEgL87vD_BwE.