Who decides how much 'shall be required'?
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At Thursday morning's National Prayer Breakfast, President Barack Obama delivered a fascinating address, pointing out the shared values of the world's major religions while constantly referencing his particular Christian faith.
One of the shared principles he cited repeatedly but grounded in "Jesus' teaching" was this familiar verse: "For unto whom much is given, much shall be required."
He cited this verse directly after describing the financial suffering that many Americans have endured in recent years and after professing his own willingness, as "somebody who's been extraordinarily blessed," to "give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy."
Pundits of the conservative and libertarian stripe had a field day with this: "Jesus Wants to Raise Your Taxes!" and "Obama's Jesus: Give Your Neighbor's Money to the Poor" ran the headlines.
The unspoken question between the president's proposition and the pundits' gleeful prodding is this: If much is required of those who've been given much, who gets to do the requiring?
Congress? The individual's conscience? The IRS?
In the passage Mr. Obama paraphrased from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was clearly talking about the great assessment of knowledge, opportunity and action that God will conduct at the Final Judgment. In the biblical paradigm, God is the Great Requirer.
A few paragraphs later in his speech, however, Mr. Obama implied that some unnamed entity -- it shifted between "we" and "you" -- ought to be doing a little more requiring. It was just one in a list of "values that have always made this country great":
"Treating others as you want to be treated. Requiring much from those who have been given so much. Living by the principle that we are our brother's keeper. Caring for the poor and those in need. These values ... can be found ... among many believers and among many non-believers."
As Americans, "we" require much -- or ought to, he urged -- from "those who have been given so much." Although Mr. Obama had already identified himself as one of the "extraordinarily blessed," his second reference to the Bible verse set up an uncomfortable and potentially divisive "us" vs. "them."
But what do we have the right to require of others in our representative democracy? If giving of our blessings to help the needy is a moral value that has made our country great, how best should this giving be done? And when is it no longer giving but taking?
First Published February 6, 2012 12:00 am
