Give me shelter
This story reports that the NYC Department of Homeless Services is telling churches not to shelter the homeless during the coming deep freeze. Instead, the city wants the homeless to go to the municipal shelters. The story is brief so it seems there must be more to the story. If the report is accurate, in my opinion, the city’s decree violates the civil rights of homeless people to sleep in a church, if it is available to them. It also violates the right of people of faith to practice hospitality as instructed by their tradition. The reason I bring this up is that I believe churches have abdicated much of the social witness of the past, including providing homes for abandoned children and old people. We have left many social problems for the government to deal with. Churches willing to shelter homeless people seems to be one of the last visible sign of an active social witness.Otherwise, our church buildings are often empty.