In 1753 John Wesley (one of the founders of Methodism) said, “So wickedly, devilishly false is that common objection, ‘They are poor, only because they are idle’.” Yet today church-goers and the general public alike are willing to believe that the key factors driving poverty in the UK are the personal failings of the poor – especially ‘idleness’.
The Methodist Church, along with Baptist, URC and Church of Scotland partners, has produced a report which lays bare six myths about the poor which enable the majority to live with the comfortable assumption that both poverty and wealth are deserved.
As a city-centre church which hosts a project for the homeless run by people from many different churches we see what poverty can do in 21st century Britain. Please read the report – and act on it.