05318
June 16, 2005   

PC(USA) magazine in spotlight

Church & Society to be featured at briefing on Social Security

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE — A special issue of a denominational magazine will be featured during a June 17 Social Security briefing in Washington, DC.

     The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), a non-partisan research organization, will introduce the May/June issue of Church & Society Magazine at a briefing headlined, “In the Social Security Debate, Values Matter: Faith-Based Insights.”

     The meeting is scheduled for 9-to-11 a.m. Friday at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW.

     The cover of the new issue of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) magazine — a collection of essays on what Americans want from Social Security now and in the future, and what they are willing to pay — bears the title, “Social Insurance: A Covenant Between a Government and Its People.”

     The seminar is NASI’s first faith-based collaboration, according to Virginia Reno, the academy’s vice president for Income Security Policy. “The Social Security debate is often about technical matters — actuarial balance, rates of return, bend-points, birth rates, wage or price indexing, trust-fund ratios, and so on,” she said. “Yet, at its heart, the Social Security debate is about values.”

     Church & Society Editor Bobbi Wells Hargleroad told the Presbyterian News Service that the issue was developed after commissioners to the 216th General Assembly unanimously approved an overture reaffirming the importance of the nation’s social insurance system, specifically Social Security and Medicare.

     The overture, from Hudson River Presbytery, urges U.S. leaders to see that Social Security continues to be regarded as a universal earned right that is contributory, protected against inflation and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.

     Hargleroad said the theme of the issue is reflected in its title. “This is a covenant … and we, as citizens of this country, have a common bond,” she said. “We, as people of faith, are concerned about the common good.”

     Reno said NASI learned about the special issue of Church & Society from Lou Glasse, an elder from First Presbyterian Church in Poughkeepsie, NY, a NASI member. It was Glasse who introduced the overture to the Assembly.

     Glasse is one of the panelists appearing at the seminar. Others are Eric Mount Jr., professor emeritus of religion at Centre College in Danville, KY, and Bill Spriggs, a senior fellow of the Economic Policy Institute. E.J. Dionne, a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institute, will serve as moderator.

     “It’s our mission to promote information and sound policymaking on social insurance,” said Reno. “We’ve not collaborated with churches before, but our mission is public education, and we will reach out to all kinds of organizations to do that.”

     Reno said members of NASI believe in the importance of preserving social programs, but members’ opinions span a variety of views: Some back President Bush’s proposal to create private Social Security accounts, while others want to preserve the current system.

     Patricia K. Gleich, an associate in the denomination’s Health Ministries Office, said the PC(USA) is interested in issues of the common good, and is called to be involved in the public debate. “As people of faith,” she asked, “are we not called to raise these issues and to work toward a world where one’s sense of self-belief, safety, hopefulness and dignity — the opportunity to share in God’s abundant life — are inextricably bound by shared community and common good?”