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Policy: The Bible and Welfare Reform
107
importance of their well-being and dignity through the organized efforts
<> I groups such as the Kensington Welfare Rights Union of Philadelphia or
( irassroots Organizing for Welfare Leadership (GROWL).101
Mary’s words offer a vision of God’s power as having already been used
unequivocally with regard to the pretentious human rulers and the lowly
who have been degraded. Her speech provides a key ingredient for strug
gle: imagination. It preserves images of what political and socioeconomic
justice that has already been achieved looks like.
Reversal?
The Magnificat links God’s concern about Mary’s particular
situation with God’s delivery of justice in the broader society. Her prophetic
speech about how just community relationships come into being advocates
I dramatic change in the social order and a confrontational approach by
( iod. There is a battle-like tone to her words that echoes biblical passages
like Psalm 89:10, where it is said of God, “You scattered your enemies with
your mighty arm.”102Mary’s speech also recalls the tradition of liberation
hymns by biblical women such as Hannah.103 Using language that stresses
ihe reversal of social conditions in similar ways as Mary does in the Mag
nificat, Hannah proclaims: “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the
feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for
I>read, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil” (1 Sam. 2:4—5). When
Christians acknowledge Mary’s speech as a prophetic proclamation of
( iod’s judgment, what steps must they take to adhere to it? What measures
should be enacted to achieve the parity between rich and poor, lowly and
powerful in her prophecy?
Heeding the approach offered by Mary in the Magnificat would mean
some kind of reversal in the political situation, wouldn’t it? The Magnifi
cat could be suggesting a reversal of conditions for our leaders who
proudly create policies rewarding the rich and powerful with ever-increasing
benefits so they can acquire more wealth and power, while endlessly
studying, negatively labeling, and disciplining the morality of those strug
gling with the least resources and under the most destitute of conditions.
Agreement with the biblical theme in Mary’s song could require Chris-
tians to support policy regulating the lives of all elites with status, power,
and wealth, especially policy makers. This regulation could be based
upon, for instance, probing and analyzing the charges of extramarital sex
ual liaisons made against Newt Gingrich,104 the charges of sexual harass
ment and extramarital sexual liaisons against President Clinton, and
(ilenn Loury’s sexual liaisons that resulted in children by a woman he
never married and his alleged physical assault of his extramarital female