https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to poverty en https://religiondispatches.org/2019/01/29/decline-religion-decline-generosity Sure, religious households give more money away than unaffiliated households. But do they ever question why poverty and hunger and homelessness continue to soar in this supposedly “rich” country? Tue, 29 Jan 2019 01:54:50 EST Peter Laarman 2da2c086-4166-4bc5-a157-1909f81b1414 https://religiondispatches.org/2018/05/30/how-gratitude-underwrites-inequality-power-and-exclusion-0 Gratitude operates like resentment. When we find ourselves in a position of owing—and people in a democratic society always owe something to other people—we may become vulnerable to control. Wed, 30 May 2018 03:02:14 EDT Eric C. Miller 39533d5f-7cb7-41a6-90e0-187f851a49f9 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/09/19/steve-bannon-and-conservative-cafeteria-catholics The phrase “cafeteria Catholic” first gained currency in the mid-1980s to describe—mostly disparagingly—progressive Catholics who pick and choose from church doctrine, following the precepts they like on poverty and peace while ignoring those they didn’t like on sex—particularly regarding birth… Tue, 19 Sep 2017 12:07:24 EDT Patricia Miller ab643db3-6c4a-4012-ad53-c3c3a578c7c4 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/06/27/kentucky-fried-christianity-governor-matt-bevin-wants-pray-away-violence-louisville Over the past few weeks, a conflict has unfolded in Kentucky, revealing a split in American Christian conceptions of the individual and the individual’s role in society. Kentucky’s evangelical governor Matt Bevin recently proposed to eradicate violence in Louisville’s poorer… Tue, 27 Jun 2017 03:00:11 EDT Spencer Dew bef019ef-f69f-416d-ab09-57e3ad540b76 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/11/17/where-trump-and-climate-deniers-seem-very-far-away-cop22-marrakech “Please don’t come here to solve our poverty when yours is so apparent,” the message goes. Thu, 17 Nov 2016 06:52:45 EST Donna Schaper cd342f34-bfb8-497a-b53f-a30e99774144 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/09/29/40th-anniversary-hyde-theological-defense-reproductive-justice A conversation with Rev. Faye London, of Tennessee’s SisterReach. Thu, 29 Sep 2016 05:44:38 EDT Anita Little 74da8f30-ae4f-4b47-8395-2adc123b96b5 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/08/18/under-water-waiting-flood-awareness-louisiana Mother Nature may not discriminate, but people of means have a much greater capacity to withstand disaster. Thu, 18 Aug 2016 11:37:53 EDT Drew Konow f63c95ad-0ef2-4de4-877d-514646ab5020 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/07/31/southern-cage-how-myth-redemptive-depression-keeps-blacks-margins An interview with Alison Collis Greene, author of No Depression in Heaven: the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Transformation of Religion in the Delta Sun, 31 Jul 2016 12:44:33 EDT Eric C. Miller 58ad8877-ff1d-401d-af7c-733054f7b390 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/06/09/progress-christ-commercial-america-review-chris-lehmanns-money-cult At 400 pages, Chris Lehmann’s The Money Cult: Capitalism, Christianity, and the Unmaking of the American Dream examines in appropriate depth the “mystery just how America’s once-austere and communal version of dissenting Protestantism developed into such a ripe recruiting ground… Thu, 09 Jun 2016 04:05:31 EDT Peter Laarman 04c6293b-efb3-4967-9af3-21e8e1289fe7 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/11/25/masturbation-porn-bigger-priority-planet-poverty-us-bishops In another sign of just how far the agendas of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Pope Francis have diverged, it’s worth noting that at their recently concluded fall plenary, the bishops signaled strongly about what’s on their radar… Wed, 25 Nov 2015 06:31:00 EST Patricia Miller 9107f63c-f2d5-40ef-be10-c0c4968fb84b https://religiondispatches.org/2015/08/29/distant-churches-and-isolated-poor-lessons-katrina-ten-years-later In 1995, the first of the Left Behind series was published—a hugely successful franchise that dealt in fictionalized enactments of Christian endtimes scenarios. Based upon a Biblical eschatological view that gained popularity by the mid-20 th century, these novels depict… Sat, 29 Aug 2015 09:14:27 EDT R. Drew Smith b5a9c33a-d080-4df2-88de-0aaefc3461da https://religiondispatches.org/2015/05/13/georgetown-poverty-summit-impoverished-women-more-ways-one You can’t silo the “family side of the problem” from the economic side—they’re two sides of the same coin. Wed, 13 May 2015 03:27:43 EDT Patricia Miller d2f62d6a-3dd6-41a8-9ec4-7e139352c39d https://religiondispatches.org/2014/09/14/let-us-now-praise-wealthy-men-structural-poverty-religiously-reconsidered Joerg Rieger, a leading theological thinker in relation to economic injustice, is also a principal presenter at a forthcoming conference in Houston that seeks to galvanize a stronger and religiously-infused bottom-up justice movement. RD’s Peter Laarman, who has been working… Sun, 14 Sep 2014 01:55:33 EDT Peter Laarman ae2d685c-e312-4bdd-b28b-b04e7ba7f339 https://religiondispatches.org/2014/08/21/google-data-reveal-poor-have-interest-above-dark-religion The estimable David Leonhardt made a media thing happen over the past few days with his Upshot report on what amounts to a NY Times anal exam of web searches, aided and abetted by the non-evildoers at Google. I was… Thu, 21 Aug 2014 04:31:07 EDT Peter Laarman 35949148-01dc-4110-90b8-08eba443212e https://religiondispatches.org/2013/12/12/what-church-needs-more-good-pope As many have noted, Pope Francis’s latest interview offers a refreshing departure from his predecessors despite, among other things, the pope’s dubious perspective on women. But rather than more emphasis on Good Pope Francis, there’s another upside to wish for. Thu, 12 Dec 2013 05:53:14 EST Mary Hunt 47d1f644-bd2b-425e-94c0-722849190b4a https://religiondispatches.org/2013/12/09/pope-francis-bouncer That long-ago training might yet come in handy. Mon, 09 Dec 2013 03:45:34 EST Anthea Butler ef431328-e772-434c-a4ec-00bb38ea972d https://religiondispatches.org/2013/09/20/end-catholic-churchs-pelvic-zone-orthodoxy Viva il Papa! Fri, 20 Sep 2013 11:41:30 EDT Daniel C. Maguire a2ee3111-0dcc-444c-8a50-029c652cdea2 https://religiondispatches.org/2013/08/01/new-book-god-favors-supply-side-economics As budget cuts are hotly debated in the House, Godonomics comes along to tell us “what the Almighty says about the almighty dollar.” Finally. Thu, 01 Aug 2013 08:11:38 EDT Gordon Haber fea2993c-8e7a-4ca2-8a92-02c1bd9dd666 https://religiondispatches.org/2013/07/30/just-what-kind-revolution-francis-calling Francis is attempting to bridge two pastoral approaches, evangelization and a preferential option for the poor, that have been at odds with each other in the Global South. But will he accomplish either? Tue, 30 Jul 2013 12:26:51 EDT Silvia Alves Fernandes fbb46b34-64b7-48ff-8e1b-81431bfe571b https://religiondispatches.org/2013/07/30/will-francis-statements-women-and-gays-make-mess-inside-church Pope Francis turned heads with statements that suggest a course correction in the church’s attitude toward gays and women, but ultimately it’ll be what ministry, decision-making power, and moral authority women share that will answer the question. Tue, 30 Jul 2013 11:36:21 EDT Mary Hunt 968641f3-6663-48cd-96f5-8b2a622a5360 https://religiondispatches.org/2013/07/25/new-popes-take-poor-all-new As Francis heads to Brazil, is the new pope signaling a shift away from John Paul-era “conservative restoration” or is this simply a return to JP’s image-conscious conservative populism? Thu, 25 Jul 2013 01:26:22 EDT Silvia Fernandes, Manuel A. Vásquez 1d924159-35b0-48a9-9816-7c8301cc0bcd https://religiondispatches.org/2013/06/03/religion-self-improvement-grinds-despite-hard-times-grads Graduation time—and the living ain’t easy. Mon, 03 Jun 2013 04:10:26 EDT Peter Laarman 30fa9744-b7ff-433b-ad76-ffb03cb6afeb https://religiondispatches.org/2013/05/28/gop-lawmaker-botches-bible-punish-poor I do not think that verse means what you think it means. Tue, 28 May 2013 11:12:57 EDT Candace Chellew-Hodge 0a8f086b-9b98-4558-aa03-89cfe8abfc6e https://religiondispatches.org/2013/04/03/marriage-equality-race-family-values-and-99 According to the US Census, families are becoming less nuclear, headed up by more single parents, childless couples, and LGBT couples with children. Yet family diversity is still only a revelation in the mainstream media, which continues to promote the model of nuclear familyhood, even if it is provisionally represented by elite white gay The Kids Are All Right-style yuppie throwbacks with photogenic children. Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:51:11 EDT Sikivu Hutchinson 4d05fb99-4f52-45db-8bf3-2eca7db83fef https://religiondispatches.org/2013/03/18/note-new-pope-half-worlds-poor-are-women Let’s be clear: half of the world’s poor are women, and the church’s effort to deprive the Catholic women among them of contraceptives, of the use of condoms that could protect them from HIV-AIDS, and of the ministry of women priests who would marry, absolve, and anoint them, is no service to them. Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:32:10 EDT Marian Ronan d8996342-13b5-4801-a8b8-f2b6c7474a6b