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The Evilness of Conservative Christians [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-02-22

“The federal office that funds housing and other support for homeless people across the country is slated to shrink dramatically, a prospect that advocates warn would make record-high homelessness even worse.

The Office of Community Planning and Development, within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is slated to lose 84% of its staff, according to a document seen by NPR. That target is the deepest of any office in the agency.

"That proposed cut is massive. And the potential for adverse impact at the community level and at the national level is also massive," said Ann Oliva, who spent a decade at HUD and is now CEO at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.” NPR

8. Homelessness.

“According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), as of January 2024, there were over 770 thousand people experiencing homelessness in the United States, marking an 18 percent increase from the previous year; this represents a record high number of homeless individuals in the country.”

There are many reasons for a person or family to be homeless. Most of the homeless are in need because of loss of employment or a medical event. Many only need shelter for one time. Others have events that cause them to have a need because of a one-time episode. Only about 18 percent are chronically homeless.

“A 2010 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found similarly that "the top 5 percent of hospital users — overwhelmingly poor and housing insecure — are estimated to consume 50 percent of health care costs… Such chronically homeless individuals are more likely to have documented issues concerning substance use, mental health, trauma, and chronic medical conditions, including HIV/AIDS.”

They have problems that in some cases are not curable. What some projects have shown is that if given a place to live, more will be removed from homelessness than if treatment is provided first. If given a place to live, some even are able to return to gainful employment.

Dr. Margot Kushel, Director of the University of California San Francisco Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiatives says;

“If you put all of your resources into the emergency solutions [such as] shelters, you remove the problem from the public eye… You maybe — on a very modest level — improve outcomes [but] the rates of homelessness and the ability for people to exit homelessness really has everything to do with the availability and affordability of housing for low-income folks.”

From the web site Hud Use r;

“Several studies have found that, compared with the treatment first model, Housing First approaches offer greater long-term housing stability, especially among people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Some studies have found that Housing First programs may also reduce costs by shortening stays in hospitals, residential substance abuse programs, nursing homes, and prisons.

Research suggests that Housing First programs successfully house people with intersecting vulnerabilities, such as veterans and people with a history of substance abuse, mental illness challenges, domestic violence, and chronic medical conditions such as HIV/AIDS.”

Solving this problem can be addressed by improving wages and making more affordable housing. We already know that the Religious Right is against raising the minimum wage. Another problem is that in our current economy, corporations are buying up housing property for rental use. These corporations conspire to raise prices and using their purchasing power, eliminate housing available to buy. We can’t expect the Conservative politicians to pass anything that would infringe on this process.

And the Bible says:

Isaiah 58:7. New International Version: “Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Luke 14:13 to 14 :"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed".

Psalms 82:4 CEV: "Rescue the weak and homeless from the powerful hands of heartless people".

1 Samuel 2:8; "He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor".

Matthew 25:35-40. MSG version. (The Message (MSG) is a contemporary English translation of the Bible written by Eugene H. Peterson and published in segments from 1993 to 2002. The MSG is designed to be read like a novel, without traditional numbered verses. It's often recommended as a "first Bible" for people new to Christianity or Bible reading. )

"I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me".

The Anointed.

“This is really a battle between good and evil," evangelical TV preacher Hank Kunneman says of the slew of criminal charges facing Donald Trump. "There's something on President Trump that the enemy fears: It's called the anointing."

As reported by the Reuters news source.

And then from The Converstion.com;

“Many ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ leaders and followers support Trump, viewing him as a divinely appointed figure … chosen by God to fulfill a prophetic destiny ."

And from US News;

“Lance Wallnau said in October on "The Jim Bakker Show", an hour-long daily broadcast that focuses on news and revelations about the end times that it says we are living in. "The hand of God is on him and he cannot be stopped."

The Raw Story goes on to say; “The evangelical movement has lost its identity and its principles by hitching its wagon to President Donald Trump, evangelical conservative and former George W. Bush administration official Peter Wehner wrote for The Atlantic on Friday. “

And finally from the Praise Charlotte website;

“Pastor Paula White and Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, are among the religious leaders who have been tapped to offer prayers at President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in. The inaugural committee announced yesterday that White, a friend of Trump’s, and Jackson, whose Detroit church hosted the Republican in September, will be among six faith leaders selected to participate in the Jan. 20 ceremony.

During the election season, White told Politico that “Mr. Trump has a relationship with God. He is a Christian, he accepts Jesus as his Lord and savior.”

Other religious leaders included in the inauguration are Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the evangelist Billy Graham; Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York; Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; and Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.”

The conservative Christians of various names featured before have an influence of twenty to thirty percent of the voters. With election results having a win-loss margin of just a couple of percent, these groups can have a major influence on who will be elected.

As the website Salon notes;

“Whatever criticism can be leveled at the Christian Right, pastors across the political spectrum recognize that its leaders have largely succeeded in creating a network of institutions that has persuaded millions of Christians to consistently support Republican candidates for office. But if Christianity is supposed to be about imitating Christ's virtues, then their political power may have come at the cost of moral authority, especially now as many of its leaders transact business with a presidential nominee sullied by credible accusations of rape and a conviction over hush-money payments to a porn star. The upside, of course, is that Trump gives them the federal judges they want, though whether or not their rulings are actually in the Christian spirit is, like the refugee status of Jesus Christ, up for debate.”

Trump is in office and does as he wishes because of the Conservative Christian movement. There biggest support come from the efforts they have made in the rural areas. In those same areas, there are many churches who do not agree with this belief and instead believe in the teachings of Jesus. If these ministers will rise up and preach the gospel, we can overcome.

I just completed my book;

“The Atrocities Committed in the Name of God” is now available in digital form at https://books2read.com/u/brEEwz . Paperback at Amazon or Barnes and Noble

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