The current public welfare system is in need of significant reform. Many of the principles are also applicable to welfare-related proposals at the state level.
Poverty is the underlying problem welfare programs seek to alleviate.
These principles presume and build upon the biblical, theological, and ethical understandings articulated in the social statements of the ELCA and its predecessors, as indicated in the endnotes. However, the focus in these principles is on the role of government. That strategy recognizes that, in addition to the many kinds of church-based assistance, policy and practices that create and sustain poverty need to be challenged and changed. Some ethical interpretations and implications of these theological affirmations for the discussion of welfare reform today. Some specific public policy positions that can be deduced from the above.