Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I agree with your post but curious what churches some of you attend. There are like a zillion churches and they come in all flavors. I have never attended a church that required anyone to pray before receiving any church charity. As well churches I have attended are not conservative or liberal or at all political.
Find me a church where praying is not a part of the deal, and I'll be the one curious to know which it is...
.
My former church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, made it no secret that “hard times bring people closer to God” and that modern comforts were a tool of the Devil to keep people away from church. Preachers would say it right from the pulpit.
My dad, who is a fundamentalist Baptist preacher, once preached a message that "when you have a small government you need a big God." Of course, he was talking about cutting social safety nets for the poor and needy. His perspective is that if social safety nets disappeared that the church would take up the slack.
And he doesn't really believe in "small government." He believes homosexuality should be illegal and there should be a Christian morality panel that determines what kind of content is appropriate in movies, music, and TV. He supports heavy censorship of the arts. He believes the First Amendment only covers Bible-believing Christians and that the founders never intended non-Christian faiths or atheism to be covered. He thinks people should have the right to choose to be Baptist or Pentecostal or Catholic, but should not legally be able to be Muslim or atheist.
How? How do you single out one non-profit over another for tax-exempt status?
Churches are non-profits, sweetie. Which Constitutional rationale are you going to employ in order to justify taxing one non-profit, but not another? How do you justify taxing a religious house of worship and not a separate non-profit organization operated by that religious house of worship?
Didn't you?
That's your opinion. There are millions of Americans who would passionately disagree with you.
My church:
Runs a pre-K-8 school
Operates youth programming to keep kids engaged in community service
Operates a food pantry
Visits the sick and elderly
Contributes volunteers and other resources to the local domestic violence shelter
Conducts ESL classes for new immigrants
Etc.
You are doing a good job responding to an allegation.
Surprised they don't now accuse you of " bragging "
To understand these numbers, you have to consider who is voting because of or regardless of their faith and who is voting entirely because of what their faith dictates. Minorities have a history of voting for Democrats, for example, for reasons that transcend their faith.
Exactly. The Black demographic group is the most religious but overwhelmingly vote for Dems, regardless of their own religion.
It’s typically white evangelical Protestants or “born-agains†that believe their faith should be national policy and forced on everyone. Catholics are more divided. Racial minority Christians across the spectrum as well as white mainline Protestants do a pretty good job at separating their religion and their politics.
My statement was that the government had already stepped in. During the Depression the banks closed and the money was gone. That would not happen now. Some stock wealth would be gone but that is how it is supposed to work. No?
My 401K pretty much stagnated because I read the writing on the wall and took responsible actions.
The housing crash only affected a small portion of the country. Those same markets are now making the exact same mistakes because we said it was OK to be irresponsible.
So all those people who saw their 401Ks wiped out were "irresponsible" far as you were concerned?
I had the wherewithal to ride out the storm (not do anything to my 401K), not sell my home when it's value plunged, and all worked out plenty okay for me once the economy regained its footing. I am happily retired now without much in the way of financial concerns, but I'm not sure my personal experience is any way to judge what happened to so many millions of Americans less fortunate!
The housing crash affected more than you know as well! My friend was doing extremely well selling furniture, until the housing crash and he lost his job. Lenders, brokers, builders, contractors, escrow officers (my wife a senior commercial escrow officer who also lost her job) all hit a wall.
All perhaps "irresponsible" according to you? Please..., but thanks for giving me just the right shove to finally sign off today and get onto more productive -- responsible -- endeavors...
Yes, because blacks, minorities, are more likely to vote for reasons even despite their religion than typical "Religious Right" evangelists, especially whites, and they are, after all, minorities. I'm talking about what the rather large Religious Right folks are doing in terms of how they tend to vote, and their influence in politics, largely driven BECAUSE of their faith. They tend to vote Republican and support Trump.
Also, of course, one can vote for a Democrat and a person of faith at the same time, so blacks, minorities can also vote for Democratic candidates without feeling their faith is being undermined (except maybe when it comes to gay rights and abortion). That's where the rub is for most people of faith, minority or not, but that rub is not a bad as other political rubs for minorities who are also people of faith.
Okay, that's it for me today! Cheers, and keep the faith (in something at least)! Better days!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
