There is an astonishing story out of Seymour, Indiana that will leave you scratching your head wondering if our government opposes God more than it does poverty. Maybe it will just reconfirm your answer to that query.
A faith-based food pantry, founded in 1997, which is regularly helping 300 needy people a week with free food has been placed in a position that is becoming more and more common: choose between your faith and the government’s secular dictates. About 15% of the food being donated to the pantry comes from a federal Emergency Assistance Program.
A regular practice of the pantry volunteers is to ask, as their last question in an interview with those in need, if there is anything for which the person would like the workers to pray. If the client says “no” the interview ends and those in need go get their food. If they answer “yes” which is a very common response, the worker will pray with the client then they go get their food. It is pretty simple, but in this age of “tolerance” and “diversity” not even voluntary prayer is to be allowed.
To his credit, Paul Brock, who founded the food pantry, had refused to tell his volunteers to quit offering prayer for those in need. The state and feds have now stopped shipping food to the pantry through Gleaners Food Bank. Brock was even forced to box up and return all the food in the pantry to Gleaners that came through the government program. The program was allegedly created to help people, not to secularize all poverty assistance.
It seems that the controversy over prayer is largely found in Indianapolis and Washington, DC, rather than in Seymour. According to Brock, for many, the prayer they receive is as popular as the food. "You would be surprised, by how many people say those prayers made a real difference in their lives,” Brock said. (No I wouldn't Mr. Brock, but I don't work for the government.)
You can read more about this here: http://www.indystar.com/article/20120326/LOCAL/203260315/Compromise-over-prayer-could-get-Seymour-pantry-s-food-flowing-again
