Children's Defense Fund

National | A new commandment CDF urges churches to keep the "Children's Sabbath" holy | John W. Alexander

Helium-filled balloons dotted the sanctuary of University Baptist Church last year when that Carbondale, Ill., congregation observed "Children's Sabbath"-and more celebration is expected across the country this coming weekend, October 18-20, when the annual religio-political event returns. The day is the brainchild of the Children's Defense Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based activist group. Its purpose is to create pressure on the federal government to spend more money on social programs. CDF's agenda, however, comes wearing church clothes and singing familiar Sunday school songs like "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." University Baptist pastor Jeff Scott says his church observed Children's Sabbath last year in order to focus attention on Illinois' poor children. "The response was great," he said. "We think it's important to keep in mind the children, to be a voice for children, because they have no PACs or lobbyists. It's important for the faith community to know which of our politicians are for kids, and which are just kidding." CDF founder Marian Wright Edelman explained the role of churches in her introductory letter sent out with materials for the Children's Sabbath: "Pastors can serve as prophets and shepherds to lead members to be aware of the issues, to be fully committed and involved in the community....We should use the election-year process to build greater commitment to meeting children's needs and to rectifying the misguided values that increase children's suffering. We must elect to public office those who will vote and act responsibly for children-who will do more than give lip service to their needs." And what are those needs, specifically? Judging from CDF's positions on recent legislation and public statements, the major need is a continuation of welfare entitlements and the federal school lunch program; the major target is the 1995-96 Republican Congress. The CDF provides churches, synagogues, and mosques with everything they need for a Children's Sabbath service-from bulletin art to approved hymns to sample sermons to activities for children's Sunday school. To help drive home the message for 5- to 9-year-olds, the materials recommend having them play a game called "Great and Small." They'll learn that small people are just as valuable as great people, as they alternately squat and stand up, shouting their own names. For middle-schoolers, the CDF suggests having them write letters to public officials, write a letter to the editor, or even hold a bake sale to raise funds to help end poverty, child abuse, or racism. In materials sent out to Catholic churches, a sample homily is included. It asks for mercy on a nation that "allows one of every four children to grow up in inhuman poverty, hungry for the mountains of food we waste each day;" for a nation in which "insurance gets household dogs dialysis, pacemakers and kidney transplants, gets cats hip replacements, cataract surgery and cancer treatment, while almost 10 million children are without health insurance." And for a nation "bent on balancing its budget by cutting children's food stamps, school lunches, Medicaid health coverage, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Supplemental Security Income, federal child-care subsidies, Head Start and remedial education."