If You Are Broke, Hungry, Sick Or Poor YOUR LOCAL CHURCH WILL PROVIDE!

[TheMastersNemesis]

That is what the GOP will tell you. We don't need a safety net because the fundy churches will take care of the safety net.

[Mnemosyne]

1. My old frig broke down in 2005 and I contacted a local church program that was supposed to help.

They wanted my SS#, which I refused to give, and then offered me a discount on another frig. that would cost $150. I did not have it. My mother ended up buying me another used one for $100.

Why the hell did they need my SS# to give me a frig?

I was not impressed.

[SummerSnow]

2. Sounds weird they need your ss number

[Mnemosyne]

3. They gave me no explanation either. The lady was upset when I refused. I wondered if they were

receiving some funding from the gov.

Seriously wrong.

[SummerSnow]

5. Sounds like it to me.

[Mnemosyne]

9. So much for churches helping on their own. nt

[Politicalboi]

26. You wanted a luxury item

What's next, a TV, phone or food.

[Mnemosyne]

34. I am a greedy heretic. The week of food poisoning proved it's a luxury item.

[jwirr]

4. Haha.

[liberalhistorian]

6. I know that my own church does so, to the

best of its ability, and the members, elders and leaders try their best to meet the needs of our rural community however much we can, regardless of whether they're church members or even churchgoers or not. We have a "benevolence" fund that we take collections for each month and then use for the needs of people in the community, and agencies that help people in need. But we aren't made of money and we can't do it all. No church, however willing, can meet all the needs of a community.

And those are the key words, however willing. Because, while there are many churches/temples/mosques, etc., that are quite willing to do whatever they can for people, and for those who may not even be members or religious, there are plenty of others who are not interested in such a thing, who think their only purpose is to build up riches for themselves. Or they're too judgmental in their "help", or demand that people attend services or listen to sermons before receiving help, etc., etc. That is why relying solely on churches and faith-based assistance will never completely work in this society, or any other, for that matter. It never has and it never will.

[Cleita]

7. Many of the churches who do this have a money problem and struggle

to provide for the needy. The churches who do have the money, instead try to put people on drug programs, and won't spend a penny on the necessities people need because of the old bootstrap and teaching someone to fish platitudes. I had an argument with the pastor of one of those fundy mega churches recently. I told him, not all poverty was due to drugs and alcohol, that the drugs and alcohol were symptoms of the real problem of people slipping through the cracks in our society making them homeless, poor and despondent over their condition. Many, who have mental or physical disabilities will need assistance all their lives and accusing them of drug and alcohol use is simply avoiding the real issue, the need for government social programs and the taxation of the wealthy to pay for them.

[NuclearDem]

8. One of the homeless shelters downtown is particularly ugly about this

They'll give a homeless person a bed for a while, on the condition they attend church services there.

Muslims do that on the other side of the world and we call them madrasas. We do it here, and it's charity.

[kestrel91316]

10. They will only help you if you let them brainwash you.

[Frosty1]

17. An old man once told me..

If you want help go to a prostitute or a poor person, you will get more help from them than from a church.

This guy was a 12 year old orphan who was cast out onto the streets during the great depression.

[hunter]

11. .

[Frosty1]

15. Thank You for posting this!

I had forgotten this song. Very appropriate!

[hunter]

20. That's what social services at our community churches look like.

It's very sad.

If the U.S.A. had adequate social safety nets, the situation wouldn't be so horrible.

For a fraction of what our military and prison systems cost we could provide safe shelter, good food, and appropriate medical care to anyone who needs it, for as long as they need it.

What we've got now is the worst possible system. We throw petty non violent criminals into the prison system and turn them into hardened criminals. We cycle people with minor mental health and addiction issues into "emergency" services, patch them up, and then throw them back out onto the mean streets repeatedly until their minds and bodies fail catastrophically.

The problem is bigger than any charity can deal with, religious or not.

[TrogL]

12. My church does it once a week

We have a once weekly meal and can arrange access to social services. That's all we can afford as a small church and we're doing more than most of the larger churches on the area

[Recursion]

13. Lots of churches do; it's just an inefficient way to approach the problem

Private charity will always play a role in our safety net (and that's a good thing), but they're not going to be good at meeting widespread and systemic problems.

[Puzzledtraveller]

14. I miss G4A

[madinmaryland]

27. Hillary 45 will win in 2016 and 2020. Michelle Obama will be elected in 2024 and 2028...

80/20!!!!

[Puzzledtraveller]

32. HAHA!!

Perfect!

[Lars39]

16. It is a bandaid approach to systemic problems.

Cruel beyond words.

[rhett o rick]

18. If that were true we would have no homeless.

I volunteer at a local foodbank and the local churches (small ones) do a lot of helping. But they are getting their resources from people that are not capable of donating large amounts.

Support your local foodbank with cash, food, and/or time donations.

[LostOne4Ever]

19. If they think that is even remotely true

Then they are more delusional than I thought.

And I think they are all schizophrenic sociopaths with god complexes as it is!!!

[stevenleser]

21. Yeah, all you need to do is read Angela's Ashes or see the movie. You'll see how much the church

will help.

[Tree-Hugger]

22. We were just helped by the Church

We contacted the St. Vincent de Paul society of our local Catholic church. They were able to give us $390.00 towards our rent last month. They were very apologetic because they couldn't give more. They are stretched very thin currently. St. Vincent de Paul is no strings attached. No prayers or service attendance required. They also sat and brainstormed with us regarding expenses, finding jobs, etc. They have been in contact to provide links to job postings.

[Zorra]

23. Yep, you can see this first hand in the desperate faces of the destitute

in Third World countries where there is inadequate or no safety net.

Just look into the eyes of any skeletal blind woman as she begs for monedas on the street sometime.

Then the truth of just how wonderful not having a safety net and depending on churches would be for America.

[joeglow3]

24. Churches do a LOT more than most realize

5 or 6 years ago, the local paper did a story on real estate in the run down part of town. Basically, a new house build in these neighborhoods was immediately worth 90% of the cost. Thus, why would anyone in their right mind build a house with a 10% built in loss on day one?

Given this challenge, we are reliant of government/charities building new houses to stop the neighborhoods from going further downhill (or, hopefully, increase the value of the nighborhood). These are not actual numbers (I can't remember the exact numbers), but they summarized who build houses over the last 10 years and it was around -

10-20 Habit for Humanity
5-10 HUD
well over 100 - Catholic Charities.

We obviously need a mix of public and private charities, but many churches do a lot of no strings attached charity work. I am the Treasurer in our church's Men's Club and we donate about 20-25% of what we make in a year (about $30,000) to individuals outside of the parish/school, with no regard to their religious views (or lack thereof).

[NCTraveler]

25. We need all of the safety nets we can create.

Government, church, and other groups are very important in society.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Even the most well-meaning, generous churches don't have the resources

to help everybody in their congregation. Suppose a parishioner with no health insurance needed surgery and would likely die without it, so he asks his church for help (because the GOPers say that's what you ought to do). Major surgery and associated costs will often set you back $100K or more; that's the annual budget of a lot of smaller churches. So how are they supposed to take care of everybody and still keep their doors open? More bake sales and rummage sales?

[factsarenotfair]

29. I haven't heard that in years.

It seems like they don't even try to keep up the pretense any more.

[duffyduff]

30. No private charity or church will EVER have the money or resources government has

to help the millions who are destitute.

These libertarian assholes are full of shit, as always.

[xmas74]

31. Some will, some won't

My church does but there is only so much they can do before they run out of funds.

[madrchsod]

33. my mother was our churches bookkeeper and was on the financial committee

we are a moderate methodist church that goes back to the early 1800`s. during the 70`s and 80`s the operating budget was around 60,000 a year. the building fund was around the same. running a medium size church built in the late 1800`s is a struggle.

what really pissed my mother off was the tv preachers that took money from all the local churches that could have used the money to provide more services for those in need. to many forget the universal truths

[dbackjon]

35. A good friend relied on his church to help out after a divorce

Provided a roof over his head.


Of course, when he was at work, the pastor went through his belonging and threw out anything that was ungodly, like books, cd's, etc.