The Killing of USAID and DEI: Where Is the Moral Outrage?
by Jim Walters & Loren Seibold | 27 February 2025 |
One of the new American presidential administration’s first actions was to fire 10,000 workers from the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID) workers, leaving less than 400. Let’s be clear: the stripping of this agency will mean that millions in poor countries will go hungry, not have housing, be unprotected from dangerous illnesses and environmental threats, be unable to get clean water—and every other threat to health and happiness that this agency has addressed.
Another of their early decisions was to uproot Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) initiatives from the federal government–by far the nation’s largest employer and most influential employment-standards leader.
Why is there so little outrage?
U.S.A.I.D.
USAID was established around 65 years ago to (in John F. Kennedy’s words) fulfill America’s
“moral obligations as a wise leader and good neighbor in the interdependent community of free nations—our economic obligations as the wealthiest people in a world of largely poor people, as a nation no longer dependent upon the loans from abroad that once helped us develop our own economy—and our political obligations as the single largest counter to the adversaries of freedom. To fail to meet those obligations now would be disastrous; and, in the long run, more expensive.”
And today—or at least yesterday—America was the leading nation in providing foreign aid, giving 40% of all foreign aid provided by all the countries of the world. The good will and the genuine good done world-wide is provided for by a mere 1.2% of the 2023 budget. Now China has become the world’s largest investor in developing countries, largely in infrastructure projects.
Nothing less than the soul of the United States is at stake. Will America become great by withdrawing the vital aid provided to the most desperate peoples on earth, and by making tax cuts that disproportionately benefit billionaires? Will America really return to greatness by:
- Withdrawing aid now supplied to the network of Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan whose citizens face massive, increasing famine?
- Freezing funds that help Kenyans devastated by tuberculosis and maternal HIV?
- De-funding the Action Against Hunger which feeds 13,000 Haitians, in a country where half the population is hungry?
D.E.I.
In his 2024 campaign, candidate Trump promised that his election would be a “Liberation Day” when the “vermin” and the “radical left lunatics” would be eliminated from public life.
Perhaps the promise and initial decrees are coincidental, but newly banned words at the National Security Agency include “inclusive,” “diverse,” and “racism.” Leading research universities are quaking as new employees at the National Science Foundation are searching descriptions of currently funded projects looking to see if such words as “advocacy,” “disability,” “women,” “socioeconomic,” “trauma,” and “disability” should trigger further review. Now the Department of Defense has just ended any official recognition of Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Women’s History Month.
Couple the newly banned words and celebratory months with President Trump’s blanket pardon of convicted January 6 criminals–including the Proud Boys, an openly sexist, white supremacist, hate group. Fundamental American values and traditions could change.
Historians remind us of a bygone era when federal workers were fired and hired according to a patronage system: a new president would seek workers to do his particular bidding. Then came Republican Teddy Roosevelt who developed a radically different approach to governance: a civil service devoted to serving the public, under the Constitution as understood by a developing set of laws.
It’s not too late for an aroused citizenry to rise up and insist on the progressive trajectory President Roosevelt initiated.
Consider, for example, that less than a month ago the Air Force leadership demanded that two training-course videos be removed: the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Due to the resulting uproar, the ruling was reversed.
The Bible & the less privileged
Amos is typical of the prophets who spoke truth to the powerful who took advantage of the less fortunate. He severely criticized the well-off who would “buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals” and “sell them bad wheat” (Amos 8:6). One powerful proverb advises that we “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, and defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9).
Jesus famously advised his followers to “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” and instead “store up treasure in heaven” (Luke 12:33-34). “Give to everyone who asks you,” he instructs, “and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back” (Luke 6:30). Those, Jesus said, who have received freely—and that certainly applies to those of us in the richest country in the world—should also give freely (Matthew 10:8).
The early church was greatly concerned with the poor. Dorcas was well-known for her care for the poor (Acts 9:36). Paul advised the Galatians to “remember the poor” (Galatians 2:10), and he collected offerings to be sent to impoverished Christians in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:1-4).
Peter Wehner, a speechwriter for three Republican presidents, observed that it’s a “rather remarkable indictment of those who claim to be followers of Jesus that they would continue to show fealty to a man whose cruel ethic has always been antithetical to Jesus’s and becomes more so every day.” (Cited by Robin Abcarian, “Will voters care that Trump plans to subvert democracy?” Los Angeles Times, 11/29/2023.)
Our church
Ellen White became overtly political in the waning days of the Civil War, warning that
“many Sabbathkeepers are not right before God in their political views.… All who still retain political sentiments which are not in accordance with the spirit of truth are living in violation of the principles of heaven…. These brethren cannot receive the approval of God while they lack sympathy for the oppressed colored race and are at variance with the pure, republican principles of our Government. God has no more sympathy with rebellion upon earth than with the rebellion in heaven, when the great rebel questioned the foundation of God’s government….” Testimonies volume 1: 533-4, “Political Sentiments,” a 12/25/1865 vision, Rochester, NY.
Adventist General Conference president Ted Wilson has also made a fervent appeal to church members to donate to ADRA—which received some $64 million from USAID last year. He asserted that “all people, regardless of their legal status, deserve compassion, dignity, and a chance to rebuild their lives.”
Wilson invoked the Biblical values of “justice, compassion, and love,” and referenced ADRA’s provision of “healthcare, food, water, and education.” He also recalled Matthew’s reference to being “a stranger and you took me not in; naked, and you clothed me not; sick, or in prison, and you visited me not,” and a passage from Proverbs: “Whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” (YouTube, posted 2/21/2025)
A time for grassroots action
USAID can be saved—if we are still a democracy, and if enough of us care. The federal legislation establishing the agency still exists, and the budget appropriation for 2025 is still largely intact. The famous saying, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” has been attributed to Edmund Burke. Regardless of its historicity and the sexism in its wording, the message is timeless and surely applies today.
Accordingly, join us in personally sending a message to our government leaders:
- Go to Whitehouse.gov
- Select “menu” in the upper left corner
- Select “contact” and write your message
Join us in personally sending a message to the appropriate representative:
- Go to Find Your Representative
- Find your representative by typing in your zip code.
- Email, phone, or send a letter
Jim Walters is Professor Emeritus of the Loma Linda School of Religion, and a founder of Adventist Today. Loren Seibold is the Executive Editor of Adventist Today.
