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September 19th, 2010
08:36 PM ET
Pastor: You should be ticked off about povertyEditor's Note: CNN's TJ Holmes spoke with Max Lucado this weekend on CNN Newsroom about poverty. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Hello My Beloved Brothers And Sister
My name is Niki Paul I am the only daughter of my father Mr.
Paul, whom reside in NIGERIA my dad is suffering from (LUNG CANCER
DISEASE) we were informed by the doctor that it will cost us 50,000punds
to be carry out the operation in united kingdom, but due to the
financial problem of my family we have been able to race the sum of
20,250.00pounds from companies, from friends and relations.
We were informed that the operation have to take place within 4 to
5 months to keep my father alive, please if there is any way u can
render assistance to save the soul of my father. U can kindly contact
me with this email Nikipaulfinancialhelp@gmail.com
Note: As u help my Father so also the lord that u serve we also help u and
reward u successfully in anything you lay your hands on, God shall
increase you and reward financially in Jesus name Amen!!!
As the saying goes "There's no such thing as a free lunch."
The understanding with Christian charity has always been that it isn't exactly free. There was always the expectation that one must listen to their sermon while eating their soup, and today's charity is usually still more about winning souls than just helping folks out of the goodness of one's heart. Kinda selfish, when you really think about it.
@NL
Agreed.... I was making that very same point to Peter F... in my posting above...
Peace....
peace2all-
Some points bear repeating in the hopes that they will, eventually, begin to sink through.
@NL
Again,... agreed.
Peace.....
Sharon Angel, Tea Party extraordinaire, believes government enti tlement programs are a sin. They violate the 1st commandment. They cause people to look to government for their needs instead of god. They make the government an idol.
So, she wants to do away with Social Security and Medicare. I guess the retired and near retired, will eat the cheap dog food. Without medical care they will die early anyway. Praise god!
Wouldn't a Christian Nation care dearly for the poor and elderly?
Vote for the Dems. The Republicans are puppets of the Religious Right.
Christians redistributing wealth is called charity, but when governments want to do it, it's called socialism.
Most excellent!!!
Yeah well, you see the government takes our money and just gives it away to needy people without even reminding them how sinful they are, or anything! You see, not even close to the Christian idea of charity.
@NL
As always, my friend..... THAT was absolutely beautiful..... *spot* on...... 🙂
Darn....I wish I had said that..... 🙂
Peace.....
a definite win
Christians giving to the needy (redistributing wealth) is a matter between them and God. It is not forced by law or government to be a certain amount of money. It is giving cheerfully, which is not something we do when it is imposed on us.
Then we have the "non-profits" who most believe distribute their donations to the poor and other worthy causes.
But do they?
Some big players in the "non-profit" game. From guidestar.org, a free on-line site where the complete IRS Form 990 forms are posted.
Rev. Franklin Graham $800,000+/yr.
Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield $331,708/yr
Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, $200,000/yr
Erica Brown $134,221/yr
Eboo Patel $120,000/yr.
Some examples of large "non-profit" tax shelters and salaries:
From the Chicago Council on Global Affairs IRS Form 990:
Investment holdings in publicly-traded securities, 2007-2008 tax period, $6,145,612. Dividends and interest from these investment for the same period, $705,970. Again, non-profit organizations pay no federal taxes on dividends, interest or capital gains. With such large investment holdings, are many non-profits simply a way to beat the system by the directors of these groups?
Director Josephine Heindel’s salary, $184,000 including savings plans. VP of Finance, Robert Cordes’ salary $159, 000 to include savings plans. Three other directors make in the range of $140,000/year.
From above: Did Eboo Patel's Interfaith Youth Core work for Obama's election campaign as we see Eboo is not only on the recent Chicago Council of Global Affairs' task force but also on Obama's Faith advisory council? Note: Mrs. Obama worked for the CCOGA and made about $100,000/yr. No doubt Mrs. O influenced Eboo's opportunities?
Did a Faith Initiative grant from the State Department help defray the cost of CCOGA's report and Mr. Patel's task force pay?
Mr. Barton of Wallbuilders pays himself $108,071 and his wife $14,770 per year from the approximately $1,000,000 of donations to Wallbuilders. In 2006, his investments (from donations?) netted him $102,000.
Chris Seiple is the president of The Insti-tute of Global Engagement. His salary in 2008 was $162,261. Approximately 30% of this group funding is from government grants.
One of the largest expenditures for this group is the money paid to an independent contractor in China, Beijing Pu Shi Zhi Quan Cultural Co Mei Lin Hua Yaun, Beijing, China for cultural consultancy. Strange that government grant money is being used in China for cultural consultancy???
The Acu-men Fund:
CEO, Ms. Novogratz’s salary for 2008 was $260,000 which included a $20,000 bonus. The CFO and four other highest paid managers made on average over $150,000/year which included bonuses and benefits. They apparently lost $1,596,997 on the stock market and other investments. Hmmm??
Center for American Progress
John Podesta is the president of the CFAP making over $250,000/yr with eight managers averaging $200,000/yr.
The ACLU has a stock and bond portfolio whose value is in excess of $250 million.
The Interfaith Alliance Foundation:
The mission of this tax-exempt non-profit is “to promote the positive and healing role of religion in public life through education, research and civil discourse.”
Considering that the president of the Interfaith Alliance Foundation, Dr. Welton Gaddy, pays himself a salary of $208,598/yr, one wonders what is being promoted? More profit from mythical prophecies/”profitcies”
Special Olympics
Dr. Shriver's salary at the Special Olympics, is $235,514 which includes benefits. Twelve other directors/managers make on average $175,000.
Special Olympics has/had $38,145,655 invested in the Christmas Records Trust. Said trust apparently lost $18,757,600 in value in the 2007-2008 time period.
Mikey Weinstein is the president of the non-profit Military Religious Freedom Foundation. And Mikey W's salary for 2008 was ? And the donations were?????
As per Form 990, Mikey W's salary for 2008 was $252,485. Total donations made to his foundation for 2008 were $545,434. Hmmmm????????
Also: The Republicans are insisting on a tax cut for the richest 3% of the population. This would add ~700 billion to the deficit.
Yep, party of rich, white men. Vote for the Dems!
Poor white people, also vote Democrat.
@Guardian
You said, "Poor white people, also vote Democrat."
Right on, brother! Get as many registered to vote as you can, and then make sure they vote!!!
The Republicans would cut ent itlement programs, impacting the poor and middle class. The government can only do so much, but they can do as much as they can.
Remember when the Republicans held up unemployment insurance for the out of work?
The Republicans are the party of rich, white men. vote for the Dems if you care about the poor and unemployed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm3sZfPwv1g&feature=related
BREAKING NEWS: Islam not abandoned by faithful even with silly passages like "You should clean your genitals with an odd number of stones" and "When you have a bad dream, wake up and blow three times to your left". This suggests they are not intelligently investigating their faith.
Mind you, that's not really a surprise now is it?
Yes.... agreed... the government can only do so much....
However.... The Churches, Mosques, and Synagogue's have ....hmmmmm quite A LOT of MONEY.... I am thinking they should
Give their 'billion's to the needy........ Good answer...? I think so.....
Peace.....
And they don't already?
We all know there are some hypocritical churches out there... but for every wealthy pastor preaching the pr0sper!ty gospel, I bet you there are 20 or 30 congregations concerned more about helping people in need than building a massive personal treasury.
@Peter F
Yes, even I agree there are churches and religious organizations that do good charitable work. Not that they need it, but they have my respect.
@Peter F
Yes... they certainly do. I should have clarified a bit, as well... as my friend. My concern is that there 'are most often' strings attached of 'promoting/converting' of religion. Even @David Johnson has railed against this very issue before...many times.
As opposed to the 'secular' groups who give out of the sheer goodness of giving of itself. Yes, I am sure that there are quite a few religious folk who give in a similar way, just the 'converting' issue really bothers me.
But, hey... I guess I should be happy that they are getting some help. That was my concern Peter.
Hope that you are well as always.. and Peace to you....
@peace2all I know of several churches who serve their community (helping elderly, food banks, etc) who make a point of NOT promoting who they are. They merely wear T-shirts that say "at your service" and do not hand out brochures or say "come to __________ church this Sunday!" They make a profound statement on some of the downtrodden neighborhoods around Detroit. About evangelizing/proselytizing: yes, I know many who make it their simultaneous mission to also speak about their faith, and about Jesus. But many do so out of a sincere belief that Jesus IS really alive and has REALLY made a difference in their lives. To them, evangelizing is not about getting a brownie point, or more money for the coffers. Rather, they would feel they have done a disservice by NOT sharing someone/something that has significantly improved their life.
I know many "secular" people also give. They are also a blessing to the world. I am thankful for them.
But please don't make simplistic assumptions that it is only the religions who are culpable in being self-centered, rich, culpable in the world's problems. I also know many a "secular" group who are driven by money or power, their protests of being altruistic and caring notwithstanding. It's plainly a people problem, no matter what your worldview is.