Apostolic Friends Forum - The poor in America

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The poor in America

This is a little old, (2007), but I could not find anything newer.

•Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three bedroom house with one and a half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
•Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
•Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two thirds have more than two rooms per person.
•The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
•Nearly three quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
•Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
•Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
•Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Rep...rty-in-America

Re: The poor in America

Not so poor...
I would like to see the numbers on homeless for last year compared to year of this study I believe it has increased.

Re: The poor in America

Poor is a relative term. Most people would not be "poor" if they left out all the unnecessary items such as Cellphones, Gaming consoles, TV, Internet, Computers, Car loans every 5 years, etc.

People in America do not really know what poor is.

Re: The poor in America

http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Add...3-30-2011.html

Quote:

It was beginning to seem that the phrase "social justice," at least in evangelical circles, was becoming a four-letter word. Just over a year ago, Glenn Beck—evangelicalism's favorite Mormon—started a campaign against the word when, on his radio show, he brazenly announced that Christians who found the phrase on their churches' websites should flee their churches. It was a code word, he announced, a sort of shibboleth that showed the church was really a clandestine center of leftist political agitation.

Although it's difficult to decipher what he was thinking when he made this claim—and defended it for weeks—I imagine he had in mind the kind of small, mainline churches that feature Jim Wallis book clubs. Wallis, in fact, became his foil in the fallout. But one church I feel confident that Beck did not have in mind when he made his pronouncement is Redeemer Presbyterian, one of New York City's largest churches.

The word "justice" is all over Redeemer's website, including in an advertisement for this past Monday night's conversation about justice featuring Redeemer's pastor and best-selling author Dr. Tim Keller and MSNBC's Martin Bashir.

I had the opportunity to attend the event at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, and as the evening's activities commenced it was announced that Bashir was sick and would not be in attendance. His replacement, we were told, would be Fox News religion correspondent Lauren Green.

There was an audible sigh of disappointment at the news that Bashir, whose aggressive interview with Rob Bell had earned him some serious evangelical street cred, would not be asking the hard questions of Keller. Green acknowledged the slight awkwardness of a Fox News correspondent, as opposed to one from MSNBC, talking about social justice. She joked that her affiliation would make her an excellent devil's advocate in the conversation. READ MORE IN THE LINK

A side comment, given by Keller in a separate context:

Quote:

Most Christians get their notion of justice not from reading the bible... but from their political party.

Re: The poor in America

Very relevant (and recent) article/interview as it relates to this post:

Quote:

Perhaps the best exchange of the evening came when Lauren Green asked, "Who are the poor?" The poor in the United States, she noted, seem much better off when compared to poor people in developing countries. She added that compared to Donald Trump, even she could be considered poor. To me, listening to this question made me feel the way onlookers must have felt when Jesus was asked, "Who is my neighbor?"

Keller's first response, which came quickly, referred to the government's designation that a family of four living on less than $23,000 is the marker for poverty. But he jumped from that formulaic answer to profundity. "In the Bible," he said, "poverty is seen in terms of power."

Re: The poor in America

more...

Quote:

If poverty is seen in terms of power, than those with less power are more often excluded and thus in need of justice. The Bible, Keller continued, doesn't offer a bright line that marks the beginning of poverty. Rather, we should think of poverty and power in terms of a scale, and our job, he said, is not to look up the scale with envy, but down the scale with grace.

Grace, as it turns out, is Dr. Keller's motivation for justice. His latest book, Generous Justice, which he noted offers more in-depth answers to many of the night's questions, is subtitled "How God's Grace Makes Us Just."

This is precisely how Dr. Keller manages to bridge the widening gap between those on the left and right, even within Christianity. The emphasis doesn't need to land on either personal salvation or social justice; rather, according to Keller, one should flow into the other. This is a reclaiming of the term "social justice" for those who needed to see it reclaimed, and a reminder of the grace behind the biblical call to justice for the rest of us.

Re: The poor in America

Very few true poor folks in USA.

Re: The poor in America

Quote:

Originally Posted by aegsm76 (Post 1049889)

I might post this on facebook, curious of the response.

Re: The poor in America

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truthseeker (Post 1052145)

Very few true poor folks in USA.

You must not have read what I just posted.

Poverty is quite relative. When we talk about poverty in terms of Western living, we must define it in that context. When we talk about in terms of the world, we must define it in that context. Either way, as Keller says, in the West poverty is more about the powerful and the powerless.

Re: The poor in America

If everyone uses the more worldly definition of poverty, one would have to live in a cardboard box, a homeless shelter or otherwise be destitute to be considered "poor."

As Keller says, it reminds me of the question asked of Jesus: "Who is my neighbor?"