An thought provoking article on that subject http://blogs.the-american-interest....ity-grows-as-poor-ignorant-atheists-swamp-us/ Read the comments as well.
Nope. poor people need to have equal power in the government (or, put a different way, a government that actually gives a shit about their lives).
Julius, I find it hard to reconcile your post with an evolutionary-based worldview. Or, put another way, why--outside of Abrahamic ideals put out by Jewish, Christian and Islamic literature-- anyone should give a shit about the poor and weak. It seems that in an evolutionary environment/worldview, the quicker we get rid of the poorest, dumbest and weakest among us the better our future species will be. Allowing these poor and weak to live and subsidizing their procreation only weakens us.
I agree it's good to teach the importance of family, I don't know that religion is the best vehicle for that. It's tough no matter how you go about it. How does Mrs. Crabapple go about teaching the class the importance of a two parent household when little Nelson only has a mom? More participation in the education of America's youth can be a very good thing. I would caution that a clear line be must drawn between education and indoctrination though.
I suspect you're either purposely being coy about what you think the actual evolutionary/environment/world view is, or you think you've made some kind of "ah ha!" point. Either way, I'm not going to fall for it.
neither. I'd submit that I have a pretty good idea of what the environment is, and am giving you the benefit of the doubt that you have a point that isn't completely flawed and illogical, so that I must be missing something. If you feel threatened because I've caught you in an ah-ha! moment, I can't help that.
then I don't understand the point of your comment/question. my point is that the government doesn't care about the poor (and by poor, I mean those who are out of work, uneducated, or below the poverty line). They get blamed by our government for stealing jobs (those damn mexicans!), or living high on the government teet (they have refrigerators!) or lazy (why, pull yourself up by the boot straps! I did it!). instead of coming up with programs that get them jobs (that would be living wage jobs) or bettering universal access to education (i.e., a smarter populace makes for a better populace), our government tries to ignore them and blame them instead. You know what we should really be complaining about as a country? The fact that we aren't creating jobs for people. We aren't creating (or aren't utilizing) a market where people can go from being poor to middle class without much struggle. The more people in the middle class, the more people there are who have decent to good jobs, the more money the government takes in, the better we are. Instead of having (although I bet the # is high) 40-45 million people in poverty, we should have far less. Instead of complaining about those damn Mexicans (living in squalor) working the farms, we should be creating some kind of system where we can both benefit from it more. Instead of accusing poor of just milking the government (to survive), we should have a government that creates a market where these people can survive on their own. yes, I know to some that is a contradiction (hello shooter, nice seeing you), but I don't. So far we've created a market where if you're poor, you stay poor. yes, you'll have an anecdotal story of someone who moved up, but in most cases poor people aren't given opportunities people of even middle class lineage are. Hell, one of my former co-workers came from a much poorer background then I did, and she couldn't go to college right away because she had to get a job to help with the family income (because neither of her parents could afford to go to college when they were of age). "Get student loans" you say? Sure, that works for some, but not if you're one of the sole bread winners in a family with young children and your income is greatly needed for survival. I honestly think schooling should be free all through college (up to a certain amount of credits). You give a poor person the same opportunity that the son of a lawyer has, and I would bet they could make a good go of things. But if you deny them that opportunity, they're already behind the game. The military works wonders for some people too. Call me a socialist, but I think education should be provided (for those who want it).
"If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." -Proverbs 21:13 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." -Matthew 6:24 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'" -Matthew 19:23-24 "He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished." -Proverbs 17:5 "He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich--both come to poverty." -Proverbs 22:16 "Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'" -Matthew 19:21 "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." -Proverbs 28:27 "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." -Proverbs 14:31 "A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished." -Proverbs 28:20 "Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them." -Proverbs 22:22-23 "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." -Deuteronomy 15:11 "A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him." -Proverbs 28:11 "Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all." -Proverbs 22:2
Sounds like you are saying that religion is the only possible basis of a 'be nice to others' philosophy. It aint the case. Also, it's possible to accept evolution as a historical fact and yet not think that survival of the fittest is the best possible route forward for the human race. barfo
If you want to go by evolutionary success, then the poor are winning. The more offspring you have the better you've done.
You have a distorted (by religious indotrination/brainwashing) and fatalistic view of society and mankind as a whole. People are basically good, and The Golden Rule predates the written word, which predates the "creation" of god by early writers.
The "study" is ridiculously flawed. They equate attending organized church services with "being religious". The fact is most religious people do not attend church or participate in organized group services. Those are mostly for fakers pretending to be religious so they can network for business or friends. The reason poor people don't go to church as much is simply because they are working 2-3 jobs to scrape by and have no time for public posturing. Most people who do not finish high school are brighter than average and quit from boredom because they already know the elementary-level crap being dispersed there. The study eliminates non-whites because the data does not work for their flawed pretense, and of course because all organized religion is deeply racist in nature.
I think the government doesn't care about anyone but themselves.... and the money that they get from the corporations.
the "people are basically good" belief is just as much a statement of belief as the biblical "all are sinners and fall short of the glory of God" belief. Just b/c one doesn't like the Spaghetti Monster doesn't mean that one can call their belief "truth", or pretend that there's anything that gives them a reason to put more faith into that belief.
Do the poor need more religion? Of course not. The rich do. When the rich man comes home on a Friday after a disastrous week at work, they will glory in their money. Maybe to let of steam, head to the beach to a $250/nt motel, drop a thousand at the casino, a few $$ dinners... and even though they still feel bad deep inside at least their money makes them feel better to a certain degree. The credit card person does essentially the same thing, only on a small scale and puts it all on credit. But at the end of the day they also still feel like crap deep down. The poor man turns to God as he has no money or credit cards to temporarily placate himself. In the end, he feels better deep down.
Man invented the first tool to hit someone over the head to take something away from him that he wanted. http://www.canadaka.net/content/page/131-the-legend-of-malobiannah
