The trouble with the charitable mission of Christian churches and ecclesial communities is that they've been largely supplanted by entitlement programs. Many p

The trouble with the charitable mission of Christian churches and ecclesial communities is that they've been largely supplanted by entitlement programs. Many people in these United States felt significant shame if they needed to rely on charity for their basic needs, and so the State deemed it expedient to pick up the slack by using taxpayer money to provide for them instead. As a result, fewer and fewer modern Americans see any need to donate or support faith-based charities. Why should we, when the government is doing all the heavy lifting? Christian charities are practically redundant now. Of course, we are seeing some things come full-circle, as the government supports faith-based charities with subsidies, in order to reduce the size and burden of actual government-run programs and put them back into the hands of entities which have capably run them for thousands of years. Also, you've got to differentiate between the goals and mission of a State-based entitlement vs. the goals and mission of a faith-based charity. They're worlds apart.