J. Braun: A homeless couple in Bethlehem

Your Dec. 21 article "Are Maine cities ‘too attractive’ to homeless people?" coming at Christmastime was reminiscent of another homeless couple, Mary and Joseph.

Perhaps Bethlehem should have banned them; the barn and hay were too attractive.

Thank goodness for the compassionate people who see there are shelters for those who are homeless through no fault of their own.

May Portland and Bangor continue to be "attractive."

Joan Braun, Weld

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Comments

Frostproof's picture
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Mary and Joseph were not "homeless".

Their home was in Nazareth, where Joseph worked as a skilled craftsman, making them a middle-class couple by today's standards. They were ordered to appear in Bethlehem, Joseph's ancestral home city, to be counted in the census for tax purposes. The concept of "absentee ballot" would not be invented for two millennia.

You see, the Romans knew they could not afford all their spending programs by taxing just the rich.

mgr's picture
verified

The problem is that society

The problem is that society does not have the moxie to distinguishing between those who are homeless due to their own fault and those who are homeless to no fault of there own.

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