re: "Christians didn't invent marriage. Why do they think they can define it."

quote:

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What are your views on welfare?

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I don't see why this should be a discuss within the topic of marriage, so I'd prefer if a new topic was started.

But, I believe that welfare should be done first and foremost by the Churches and non-profits that want to assist people of their own accord.

If you're referring to the government's role in it, I think the focus should be on incentivizing the private sector (including religious institutions) to continue to support such initiatives.

Where any gaps exist, the government's first priority should be on help those in need get out of their bad situations by partnering with groups that are more efficient in such things (like job fairs or providing job skills and training, life skills, and even counseling).

I don't believe the government should be in the business of giving unqualified handouts, but "welfare" is more of a tricky subject since it includes all kinds of personal assistance from money or food stamps to child care, so it's difficult to discuss "welfare" as a whole in terms of roles and responsibilities between the private and public sectors.

A problem I see with making welfare forced (by the government through taxation) is that it removes incentive for others to give in addition to their tax dollars and leads to people feeling cold to the homeless or downtrodden by giving them an excuse to not help others. They can simply point them to the local welfare office. Because people don't see the direct affect their taxes have on welfare, they may not personalize it and know the good that it does for those in need.

In summation: I believe that the government should have a secondary role in providing welfare benefits directly to individuals, and what benefits they do provide should be done through partnerships with the private sector as often as possible. There should also be more controls in place to reduce waste and prevent people from taking advantage of the system.