Beckmann: Remember the poor

The global financial crisis shouldn’t derail the fight against poverty, religious leaders warned political leaders in September.

David Beckmann, an ELCA pastor and president of Bread for the World, told Ecumenical News International that helping people living in poverty and hunger becomes even more urgent during a financial crisis.

He said success in the fight against poverty is “being undercut by higher prices, particularly of food and oil.”

He and other religious leaders gathered Sept. 24 in New York for an interfaith consultation on global hunger.

Days later, governments, businesses and other groups committed $16 billion toward the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.