Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religion is irrelevant. All religion is manmade, and it therefore is a tool to do other things - some people use it to good, some people use it to do bad. What matters most is the person, not the religion (or lack thereof).

Plenty of people of faith do all kinds of abuse, evil, theft, and immorality under the cover of religion and/or god, and plenty of non-religious people have ethics and values that surpass many people of faith.

If you are an inherently crappy human being, or an inherently decent human... religion makes zero difference.

Let's clarify. You're giving your opinion to which you are certainly entitled; your comments, however, are not irrefutable facts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Religion is irrelevant. All religion is manmade, and it therefore is a tool to do other things - some people use it to good, some people use it to do bad. What matters most is the person, not the religion (or lack thereof).

Plenty of people of faith do all kinds of abuse, evil, theft, and immorality under the cover of religion and/or god, and plenty of non-religious people have ethics and values that surpass many people of faith.

If you are an inherently crappy human being, or an inherently decent human... religion makes zero difference.

But I think the argument as to whether or not society needs religion/suitable substitute is to address the AVERAGE human beings (which most people are)...

Anonymous wrote:Religion is irrelevant. All religion is manmade, and it therefore is a tool to do other things - some people use it to good, some people use it to do bad. What matters most is the person, not the religion (or lack thereof).

Plenty of people of faith do all kinds of abuse, evil, theft, and immorality under the cover of religion and/or god, and plenty of non-religious people have ethics and values that surpass many people of faith.

If you are an inherently crappy human being, or an inherently decent human... religion makes zero difference.

Anonymous wrote:Religion is irrelevant. All religion is manmade, and it therefore is a tool to do other things - some people use it to good, some people use it to do bad. What matters most is the person, not the religion (or lack thereof).

Plenty of people of faith do all kinds of abuse, evil, theft, and immorality under the cover of religion and/or god, and plenty of non-religious people have ethics and values that surpass many people of faith.

If you are an inherently crappy human being, or an inherently decent human... religion makes zero difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Washington DC Package for a single mom with two kids (2018):
Total welfare benefits package: $43,099
Pre-tax wage equivalent: $50,820
Hourly wage equivalent: $24.43
State hourly minimum wage for 2017: $12.50
Washington, D.C., is no stranger to financial “best of” and “worst of” lists. With such a high cost of living, its welfare package for a single mom with two children is one of the top in the country. But when accounting for the difference between the welfare and minimum-wage payouts, those receiving public assistance can earn nearly $12 more than those working full-time, minimum-wage jobs.

Although many benefits are not unrestricted cash, they are providing services for which other people have to earn money, so they count as income. It is not impossible to receive subsidized child care to attend community college or receive GED training. Lots of nonprofits will provide this for women as well. There is an entire industry created for this very situation. Once she works, she will receive the Earned Income Tax Credit, plus new unrestricted child credits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've taken a lot out of our social fabric--prayer in school, Columbus Day, National Anthem. What have we put in that connects people, really? I have nothing against the taking something out if you put something in, but we haven't. Just a lot of lonely people on their phones out their and kids raising themselves apparently.

Weakest troll comment ever.

I would say more prayer is not to the answer and probably contributed to this tragedy. Organized religion and Christian prayer was used as a tool during slavery era to control and subdue slaves and to make them passively accept their plight. Christianity taught them to be obedient. Christianity also advocates for no birth control and keeping kids in the dark about sexuality. Essentially, sex is a sinful act unless it’s done in marriage. These kids are the legacy of Christian induced slavery, the legacy of poor family planning, poverty, and probably fatherless homes. All Christianity does is exacerbate problems. Instead of prayer and intangible efforts, how about funding programs to help alleviate the effects of the legacy of Christianity and slavery?

Eh, I am not religious in the slightest, but I can see how the absence of religion in our society leaves a huge hole. People need to feel they have a purpose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've taken a lot out of our social fabric--prayer in school, Columbus Day, National Anthem. What have we put in that connects people, really? I have nothing against the taking something out if you put something in, but we haven't. Just a lot of lonely people on their phones out their and kids raising themselves apparently.

Weakest troll comment ever.

I would say more prayer is not to the answer and probably contributed to this tragedy. Organized religion and Christian prayer was used as a tool during slavery era to control and subdue slaves and to make them passively accept their plight. Christianity taught them to be obedient. Christianity also advocates for no birth control and keeping kids in the dark about sexuality. Essentially, sex is a sinful act unless it’s done in marriage. These kids are the legacy of Christian induced slavery, the legacy of poor family planning, poverty, and probably fatherless homes. All Christianity does is exacerbate problems. Instead of prayer and intangible efforts, how about funding programs to help alleviate the effects of the legacy of Christianity and slavery?

Eh, I am not religious in the slightest, but I can see how the absence of religion in our society leaves a huge hole. People need to feel they have a purpose.

I cannot believe the stupidity.

Yes, like religion helped Robert Long.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. This is when the death penalty needs to be put to use.

Wtf? That’s a 13 year old.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've taken a lot out of our social fabric--prayer in school, Columbus Day, National Anthem. What have we put in that connects people, really? I have nothing against the taking something out if you put something in, but we haven't. Just a lot of lonely people on their phones out their and kids raising themselves apparently.

Weakest troll comment ever.

I would say more prayer is not to the answer and probably contributed to this tragedy. Organized religion and Christian prayer was used as a tool during slavery era to control and subdue slaves and to make them passively accept their plight. Christianity taught them to be obedient. Christianity also advocates for no birth control and keeping kids in the dark about sexuality. Essentially, sex is a sinful act unless it’s done in marriage. These kids are the legacy of Christian induced slavery, the legacy of poor family planning, poverty, and probably fatherless homes. All Christianity does is exacerbate problems. Instead of prayer and intangible efforts, how about funding programs to help alleviate the effects of the legacy of Christianity and slavery?

Eh, I am not religious in the slightest, but I can see how the absence of religion in our society leaves a huge hole. People need to feel they have a purpose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've taken a lot out of our social fabric--prayer in school, Columbus Day, National Anthem. What have we put in that connects people, really? I have nothing against the taking something out if you put something in, but we haven't. Just a lot of lonely people on their phones out their and kids raising themselves apparently.

Weakest troll comment ever.

I would say more prayer is not to the answer and probably contributed to this tragedy. Organized religion and Christian prayer was used as a tool during slavery era to control and subdue slaves and to make them passively accept their plight. Christianity taught them to be obedient. Christianity also advocates for no birth control and keeping kids in the dark about sexuality. Essentially, sex is a sinful act unless it’s done in marriage. These kids are the legacy of Christian induced slavery, the legacy of poor family planning, poverty, and probably fatherless homes. All Christianity does is exacerbate problems. Instead of prayer and intangible efforts, how about funding programs to help alleviate the effects of the legacy of Christianity and slavery?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Birth control must be free and actively offered to families in crisis levels of poverty. How different things would be.

Uhhh... you don't know much about birth control, do you? It is free for poor people.

And you can’t force anyone to practice birth control. I also find this line of thinking very insulting-that the solution to the problem is simply to make “less of them”. Awfully close to what the racist Margaret Sanger was in favor of.
The solution is reinforcing morality and responsibility in families. But that’s anathema these days.

Serious question — how do we address the issue of poverty and it’s very negative effects when we have people who don’t take financial responsibility into account and/or don’t have any financial literacy or responsibility? For example, the recent article in the Post about stimulus payments and whether they will actually help end poverty. The article focuses on a DC resident who (I think) says she rarely made more than $12,000 a year, struggled to pay her bills, relies on charities to help her. She is 32, has three kids (including 2 under 2).

I know plenty of people who make many, many multiples of what she earns who don’t think they have enough for three kids. It is likely impossible to get out of poverty and help your three kids have a better life and future on that kind of money. If we shouldn’t be saying “make less of them,” what’s a solution (and yes, I would prefer one that doesn’t rely on just continually taxing those who earn more for some form of wealth redistribution)?

There is no American citizen with children who lives on $12,000 a year.

Washington DC Package for a single mom with two kids (2018):
Total welfare benefits package: $43,099
Pre-tax wage equivalent: $50,820
Hourly wage equivalent: $24.43
State hourly minimum wage for 2017: $12.50
Washington, D.C., is no stranger to financial “best of” and “worst of” lists. With such a high cost of living, its welfare package for a single mom with two children is one of the top in the country. But when accounting for the difference between the welfare and minimum-wage payouts, those receiving public assistance can earn nearly $12 more than those working full-time, minimum-wage jobs.

Although many benefits are not unrestricted cash, they are providing services for which other people have to earn money, so they count as income. It is not impossible to receive subsidized child care to attend community college or receive GED training. Lots of nonprofits will provide this for women as well. There is an entire industry created for this very situation. Once she works, she will receive the Earned Income Tax Credit, plus new unrestricted child credits.

Wow. I feel even worse for you DC taxpayers. That is insane.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Birth control must be free and actively offered to families in crisis levels of poverty. How different things would be.

Uhhh... you don't know much about birth control, do you? It is free for poor people.

And you can’t force anyone to practice birth control. I also find this line of thinking very insulting-that the solution to the problem is simply to make “less of them”. Awfully close to what the racist Margaret Sanger was in favor of.
The solution is reinforcing morality and responsibility in families. But that’s anathema these days.

+1 yes!

But how would you "reinforce morality and responsibility in families"? Do you want the government to do it? If so, how? Through what mechanism? Or do you think people need more religion in their lives? Again, how are you going to make people go to church, get involved in youth groups, etc.? I'm not arguing with you. I just want to understand HOW exactly you would "reinforce morality and responsibility" in families. In America, specifically.

Retired educator here. Although I personally am a Christian and believe in prayer, I'm not advocating that we return prayer to the schools. I do think public schools should promote organizations/clubs that promote good values and formally recognize students for their efforts, have a "word of the week" like "kindness" and "honesty," have principals and other administrators walking the halls and getting know students and complimenting them, in middle and high schools have teachers and support personnel stand in their doorways and greet/compliment students, have a school-wide honor code, have days of service with kids helping others in their communities, have parenting classes, have after school programs, etc. Some schools still do these types of things, but many don't. Too many kids are rootless and unsupervised. Although not perfect, organizations like Scouts and Boys/Girls Clubs offer good programs. We've got rootless kids getting little to no supervision and learning behaviors from poor role models. Rewarding kids for positive behavior is wonderful and helps build self-esteem, but kids also need to know that there will be consequences for doing wrong. If kids know you genuinely care about them, they will usually try their best to meet your expectations.

But honestly none of this matters if the values aren’t reinforced at home.

Yes, you're right. Values need to be reinforced at home but the issue is not everyone has a good home and there are some sucky parents out there. THis is where the school needs to step in and provide these kids the discipline and sense of accountability that is missing among kids these days. Instead, the schools are going the opposite direction. There's no discipline and kids get gets away with everything. The kids know this and they take advantage of this. We aren't doing these kids a favor by our kumbaya approach these days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Birth control must be free and actively offered to families in crisis levels of poverty. How different things would be.

Uhhh... you don't know much about birth control, do you? It is free for poor people.

And you can’t force anyone to practice birth control. I also find this line of thinking very insulting-that the solution to the problem is simply to make “less of them”. Awfully close to what the racist Margaret Sanger was in favor of.
The solution is reinforcing morality and responsibility in families. But that’s anathema these days.

+1 yes!

But how would you "reinforce morality and responsibility in families"? Do you want the government to do it? If so, how? Through what mechanism? Or do you think people need more religion in their lives? Again, how are you going to make people go to church, get involved in youth groups, etc.? I'm not arguing with you. I just want to understand HOW exactly you would "reinforce morality and responsibility" in families. In America, specifically.

Retired educator here. Although I personally am a Christian and believe in prayer, I'm not advocating that we return prayer to the schools. I do think public schools should promote organizations/clubs that promote good values and formally recognize students for their efforts, have a "word of the week" like "kindness" and "honesty," have principals and other administrators walking the halls and getting know students and complimenting them, in middle and high schools have teachers and support personnel stand in their doorways and greet/compliment students, have a school-wide honor code, have days of service with kids helping others in their communities, have parenting classes, have after school programs, etc. Some schools still do these types of things, but many don't. Too many kids are rootless and unsupervised. Although not perfect, organizations like Scouts and Boys/Girls Clubs offer good programs. We've got rootless kids getting little to no supervision and learning behaviors from poor role models. Rewarding kids for positive behavior is wonderful and helps build self-esteem, but kids also need to know that there will be consequences for doing wrong. If kids know you genuinely care about them, they will usually try their best to meet your expectations.

But honestly none of this matters if the values aren’t reinforced at home.