In 2003, during his State of the Union address, Republican President George W. Bush asked Congress for 15 billion dollars for a program called the “U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief” (PEPFAR). The President, who was outspoken about his Christian faith, called PEPFAR an “act of mercy” towards the most vulnerable. “Seldom has history offered us a greater opportunity to do so much good for so many,” President Bush said of the program. His request for funding was met with a standing ovation and broad bipartisan support. On May 27, 2003, President Bush signed the bill into law; as of 2024, PEPFAR is estimated to have saved 26 million lives — over twice the population of the state of Michigan.

However, in recent weeks, a different Republican President’s actions have created dramatic uncertainty surrounding programs like PEPFAR that were once seen as perpetual expressions of American generosity. These actions include an executive order instituting a near-universal 90-day freeze on development assistance from all federal sources and a legally fraught attempt to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). These executive actions would dismiss thousands of federal development workers. Regardless of the extent to which Trump’s policies survive current litigation, the chaos they have created within the USAID and other aid agencies has jeopardized the progress that PEPFAR and hundreds of programs like it have made. It is our belief that, given America’s position of abundant wealth, the President’s actions are merciless and consequently un-Christian. 

Let’s compare how the consequences of these decisions align with Scripture. In Matthew 25:39 (NIV), Jesus says of the unrighteous: “I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.” But the President’s political posturing has indefinitely shuttered HIV clinics throughout sub-Saharan Africa and closed 12 emergency hospitals in Syria. In Leviticus 19:9-10 (NIV), God commands the Israelites: “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest … you shall leave them for the poor and the alien.” But thirty-three metric tons of excess American soybeans designated for malnutrition relief in East Africa are currently sitting in warehouses. In James 1:27 (NIV), we read: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” But in Ghana, logistical programs targeting maternal and child health have been pulled, with no timeline for their return. 

Perhaps the most prescient text for our context is 2 Samuel 12 (NIV). Here, the prophet Nathan tells King David a story about injustice: 

“There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare and drink from his cup and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.”

Nathan’s story sparks David’s anger towards the rich man, but David’s feelings change from righteous anger to remorse when Nathan tells him “you are the [rich] man!” Like David, we should feel angry that the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has persuaded the American president to slaughter the lamb we had promised to the poor. 

In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches his disciples that neighborliness is an action, defined by showing mercy (Luke 10:25-37, NIV). As the richest country in history, the United States has the capacity to practice neighborly care to both our own citizens and the world’s most needy. We spend almost 10% of the federal budget to subsidize health insurance for low-income Americans, while we spend less than 1% of the budget on foreign aid.

President George W. Bush considered initiatives like PEPFAR among “our most important priorities.” The aid the U.S. provides to poor countries and oppressed people around the world is both morally excellent and financially sustainable. Therefore, the Trump administration’s misguided attempts to diminish these efforts are irresponsible, inhumane, and fundamentally contrary to the Christian faith.