Is it really a sin to be poor?

I have read about it and can't remember that particular book from which this statement came about, 'It's a sin to be poor'. Many a times I have blogged about obesity and the lack of nutrition awareness in people that leads to that obesity. The poor can't help it though. When they have no medical insurance, no access to farmers' markets where fruits and vegetables are grown naturally, when choices are extremely limited, constrained or nil.

Forget obesity, but what about for eg. diabetics in low-income neighborhoods. If survival and every meal is in question, nobody is going to worry about insulin or whole grain foods. It is heart-wrenching to hear stories of people who go to emergency rooms at the very last minute because they have not been able to afford precautions or treatments in the first place.

They all point to money or the lack of it. The poor are not sinners but being poor can be as difficult and bad as sin.