Pastors discuss Gingrich’s comments on poor

Newt Gingrich caught heat Sunday moing for his comments last month that poor children lack work ethic.

The criticism came from the pulpit of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.

"Poor people, some of them recently middle class, get their welfare from TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). He (Gingrich) gets his from Freddie Mac. Different form of welfare," Rev. Raphael Waock said.

On Sunday, what would have been Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 83rd birthday, Waock said it is important to challenge divisive political speak.

"Mr. Gingrich, let there be welfare reform, and let it begin with you," Waock said.

Ebenezer is the latest church to lash out at the former House speaker for comments he made last month.

Gingrich said poor children lack work ethic and should clean their schools in order to lea about work.

On Saturday, he was hammered with questions at an AME Zion Church in South Carolina about those comments. He said they were misconstrued.

"What I was saying was, in the poorest neighborhoods, if we can find a way to help young people ea some money, we might actually be able to keep the dropout rate down and give people an incentive to come to school," Gingrich said.

"I think that Newt is playing an old game that is part of the southe strategy. They were in Iowa and New Hampshire, but quickly the tu is to the south. I think he's counting on the old logic of scapegoating and race baiting. That's what it is," Waock said.

Top White House adviser Valerie Jarrett also spoke at the service at Ebenezer Baptist on Sunday. She told worshipers that she believed King would "join with us in celebrating the progress we've made" if he were still alive.

But Jarrett said the civil rights icon would also argue that the work they've done is not enough.

She said: "We have leaed, time and time again, that change is hard. But hard doesn't man impossible."

Dr. Michael Youssef of the Church of Apostles offered a different point of view on Gingrich's comments.

"Newt Gingrich is trying to heal our nation not divide it," said the Rev. Michael Youssef, pastor of Atlanta's Church of the Apostles. "If he were to lead this nation, the poor, the unemployed and the homeless might find hope and a new direction as we see our nation healed. There is nothing racial or racist about wanting to tu around our economy and help those without work find jobs and support their families. I commend him for it."

Gingrich's presidential campaign came in fourth place in primaries in both Iowa and New Hampshire.