'Love thy neighbor' is moral value

To the editor:

Congratulations to Gestle Green for the March 9 letter. We sometimes need to be reminded of the basic values of the liberals.

The billboard stating "That 'love thy neighbor' thing -- I meant it. -- God" means just that: Love our neighbors as ourselves. Doesn't that mean helping those who have less and those who are sick and cannot afford health care?

It also means standing up for the rights of others in fair-labor issues and overtime situations. What organization was responsible for eradicating and closing the sweatshops and instrumental in developing child labor laws?

To me, these are basic moral issues. Self-serving conservatives think only of lower taxes for big business and catering to the wealthy.

In Jim Wallis' new book, "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It," the issue is further addressed:

"In Matthew's 25th chapter, Jesus speaks of the hungry, the homeless, the stranger, prisoners and the sick and promises he will challenge all his followers on the judgment day with these words, 'As you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.' James Forbes, the pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, concludes from that text that 'Nobody gets to heaven without a letter of reference from the poor.' How many of America's most famous television preachers could produce the letter?"

KAYE BAKER, Jackson