Are U.S. Churches Doing Enough to Fight Poverty in America? »

Posted by: TimALoftis 2 months, 4 weeks ago

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Two-thirds of American surveyed in a new poll say their churches are doing enough to help the poor despite the latest United States Census Bureau statistics showing consistent year-to-year increases in the numbers of Americans living in poverty.

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texangelwings
April 26, 2008, 10:38 a.m.
My church is very small, probably 20 people max. including out of town visitors. We donate food to the Food distribution center here in East Texas. According to the news, there are fewer companies donating foods to the center. Several meals on wheels centers have been broken into recently, causing more shortages for seniors!
The people support the churches and it is the people who are becoming unable to afford to help, with rising prices. If the jobs paid more money and there were more jobs, the poverty levels would decrease!
Thanks TimALoftis!

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  DanmLiberals
  April 27, 2008, 2:11 a.m.
  Well with the media dumping on the churches and the ACLU and Liberal nut jobs trying to do away with Christianity, why would they want to help people who have failed them?
  It's funny how we can have hundreds of Avenues for people to make money and get help from the government and you are still asking if the Church is doing enough.
  How about this, take away ALL money paid to illegal citizens through social programs and that would be a start. Oh ya, and take the 30% of illegals that fill our prisons and throw there ass in out of this country
  
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    koranagirl
    April 27, 2008, 4:54 a.m.
    YOu should note that the Divine Ones do not make people "illegal" for merely moving to another country when they are in need.
    The state of merely being legal or not legal is one assigned by man, and is part of man's dumb rules.
    Let's face it, the Divine Ones want us all to share, and that includes where we live and what we eat.
    And there are plenty of churches filled with ACLU members and liberals--you can tell from the liberal, religious bumper stickers, so I don't know where you are going to church. Very strange you have that impression.
    
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hamy
April 26, 2008, 5:48 p.m.
My mother and I were just having this discussion. It seems that the megachurches are doing NOTHING to help the homeless or disenfranchised. I don't see anything coming back into the community from these churches. All I see is money going into some preacher's wardrobe and his wife's wigs.
Now, the Catholic chuch of which my stepfather is a member delivers checks to the working poor, cooks meals for the homeless and the like. They have bingo nights to pay for it but I am not a huge fan of religion that is THAT organized.
Then there is my mother's church. It is very small, run out of a mobile home, and the preacher has another secular job. They came to our home with enough food to feed an army the day my dad died. They give to anyone who asks for help and they don't care who listens to the words of the lord.
These megachurches seem like they are spending most of their time keeping people out. Not including them.

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  CRYMTYPHON
  April 26, 2008, 10:46 p.m.
  The megachurches ( my opinion ) have more of a health-and-wealth view of things; God will take care of you if you do what you should.
  They are not into 'serving the poor' like older churches.
  It has something to do with community; why they get together
  and what they give each other.
  
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jordan11
April 26, 2008, 8:50 p.m.
My daughters church is very active with helping the community. But giving food, clothing, or helping with shelter & emergencies doesn't solve the problem of poverty, and it isn't fair to ask churches to do that. How can they, unless they build businesses to give jobs, provide free child care so parents can afford to work, or open facilities to train people for jobs that are even available in the areas they live in. That's the responsibility of society, which does have the resources for those things.

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  CRYMTYPHON
  April 26, 2008, 10:43 p.m.
  Well said.
  
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  koranagirl
  April 27, 2008, 4:59 a.m.
  but we choose to spend our money on war right now.
  we blow up our money everyday now. poof, it's gone.
  churches can only do so much.
  
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koranagirl
April 27, 2008, 4:58 a.m.
The governments gets billions of dollars every week from taxpayers. Then people in the govt make the decision whether to spend the money on either the people in need in the US--health, education, food, or whether to spend billions of dollars on war.
I think we made our choice. I don't know why it is that the churches have to shoulder all this burden, when the govt has more money and more power to do this.
How much are the churches supposed to do anyway, when the govt has set the tone we have to spend money on munitions and not on bread and butter.
It will be a great day when the Pentagon has to hold a bake sale for a bomb, and the schools, hospitals and the poor are supported directly by the govt.

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