Last year the city council of Houston, Texas, passed a law making it illegal to feed the homeless within the city without the permission of property owners. Yes, in the land of six-guns, cattle rustling and Enron, handing a sandwich to a homeless person in a city park or serving a bowl of soup in a rented storefront can earn you a $500 fine. Some charitable organizations, financially unable to risk the fines, have relocated outside the city. Last week, Houston police ticketed a homeless man for trying to feed himself by fishing a donut from a trash bin in a public park. James Kelly, a nine-year Navy veteran, was issued a citation for violating a peculiar law on the books since 1942, and amended as recently as 2002, that makes it illegal to “remove any contents of any bin, bag or other container that has been placed for collection of garbage, trash or recyclable materials.”
Houston isn’t the only city to address the problem of homelessness by blaming those without a permanent address for their predicament. Here in Portland, Mayor Charlie Hales is working to remove the homeless from downtown sidewalks…evidently so the city can pretend the homeless don’t exist. Hey, if you can’t see them…well, what’s the problem, right?
Houston has historically held the homeless in disdain and made every effort to disappear them. In the Bayou City, a simple act of charity and kindness, the sort that Jesus preached about, is illegal. In a city where gargantuan megachurches are common, a person who performs a simple act of kindness is breaking the law.
And Jesus wept….
This isn’t a new phenomenon in Houston. During the 10+ years (3722 days…not that I was counting) I lived in the Houston area, this sort of heartlessness was evinced in many and varied ways. Many of the same Christians who showed up at megachurches in their SUVs on Sunday mornings were the same ones who couldn’t be bothered to help those in need. Instead of trying to live the teachings of the Jesus Christ they professed to revere, they ignored the homeless…if they weren’t actually working to make them disappear. The same city council members who voted to make feeding the homeless illegal are very likely the same ones who show up at church on Sunday mornings congratulating themselves on their piety and respect for the Christ’s teachings. Then they leave church and resume lives dominated by their black hearts.
(But, if your church can build a 500-ft. crucifix next to a freeway, who needs to feed the homeless to prove your devotion to Jesus?)
I’d hold forth on how Houstonians should be ashamed of the fact that an act of simple human (and Christian) kindness- feeding the homeless- is illegal. While some no doubt are, many others no doubt feel no remorse or guilt. After all, it’s not as if the homeless are real people….
Remember, feeding animals within the Houston city limits is no problem…but God help you if you hand a sandwich to a homeless person.
It’s not Christianity that bothers me; it’s God’s fan club that scares me. Especially when some of them couldn’t lead a Christ-like life if Jesus himself issued them a map, a flashlight, and an instruction manual.
