Ed Morrissey at Hot Air reports today on a zoning board decision in Phoenix, Arizona, that makes food kitchens at churches illegal at Thanksgiving.  There will be a hearing on the matter on December 14th which will determine whether or not food kitchens will be legal on Christmas. 

The article points out:

“I’m not unsympathetic to the security issues of having homeless people wandering through residential neighborhoods looking for a meal.  I lived in Phoenix for a couple of years, and it’s not an insubstantial issue.  However, the proper way to stop that is to have the police enforce the law, not decide that a free meal service to the poor amounts to a restaurant.”

One of the reasons we have such an out-of-control government is that the churches somehow got out of the business of charity.  The churches are the organizations best able to handle the job of providing a ‘safety net’ in our society.  Generally, they know the people they are helping and are in a position to know if anyone is ‘gaming’ the system.  When the ‘safety net’ was turned over to the federal government, we lost the personal touch and ‘gaming the system’ became a way of life.  Personal accountability was somehow removed from the picture.

Hopefully this original decision will be overturned, and the local churches can get back to the business of feeding the hungry.