Working to end poverty

I belong to a movement (they don't like to call it an organization) called Circles of Hope. It's part of a national movement called the Circles Initiative. Its goal is to end poverty one family at a time. Here's a description from the peaceconnections.org website: Circles of Hope is part of a national campaign. The Circles® Campaign is a transformational approach that partners volunteers and community leaders with families wanting to make the journey out of poverty. Operating in communities around the country, each Circles® initiative consists of families working to get out of poverty and several middle and upper income Allies who befriend them and lend support. The family is the Circle Leader, setting direction for activities. With the help and friendship of their allies, each family sets and achieves goals unique to their own needs.

I got involved about two years ago. After my job was cut to half-time, I sensed God calling me to do some kind of volunteer work. Jeanne, my wife, had told me about something called Bridges Out of Poverty, which is a book that looks at poverty culture. Peace Connections, a local organization that sponsors Circles of Hope, was offering training for allies (see definition above). I did the training and eventually became an ally and was assigned to a circle leader. That was about 18 months ago, which is the commitment an ally makes to remain with a circle leader. It's been such a good experience that I hate to see it end. Likely I'll remain an ally and join a new circle leader.
Last evening (Feb. 21), at a weekly meeting of Circles (circle leaders and allies meet once a month), two of the national leaders of the Circles Initiative addressed our group and responded to questions. I jotted down some notes I found interesting.
Karin VanZant, CEO of Think Tank and the National Circles Campaign, responded to questions from the group (about 70 people were there). Among her responses she mentioned that in Ohio, where she lives, there are 88,000 unfilled jobs. Colleges are not designed to meet the training needs for those jobs in a very efficient way. Circles, of course, is interested in helping people get training and find jobs that pay a livable wage. Here is an opportunity.
She and John White, National Circles Campaign director, who was with her, travel around the country to various Circles groups. Karin noted that a group in California has several Spanish-speaking groups. A big problem is that there are many undocumented adults with documented children.
She pointed out the importance of working with businesses and showing them that helping people get out of poverty is good for business. She offered several examples. In her community, they did research and found that there were more payday loans than banks. They also learned that in one year the payday loans made $3 million. The banks realized that here was money they were missing out on. She also said there something called the Community Investment Act, which says that banks are to invest in their local communities. Here was a chance for a win-win. The banks needed customers and to invest in the community; circle leaders (people in poverty) needed checking accounts and loans that were not at such an ungodly (and I mean that word) rate. Circle leaders told some bank managers that they'd tried to open checking accounts but were denied. And the payday loans were located in their neighborhoods. Two of the banks stopped running credit checks on circle leaders and got more customers--ones with a community behind them.
Checking accounts are crucial, Karin said, because some employers pay by direct deposit and won't hire people who don't have a checking account.
Karin said that studies show that by looking at third grade reading scores you can figure how many kids will drop out of high school before they graduate, and many of these will end up in prison. So in Ohio, they are building prison cells based on third grade reading scores. But she argued that this is shortsighted. Instead of investing $7,000 per year to raise reading scores, they are spending $37,000 per year for a prisoner. It's in the best interests of society to invest in education.
She also noted that turnover (when employees leave after only a few months) costs employers a lot of money. But with what circle leaders learn and with the support of their circle community, they will stay longer on a job when they are hired. She shows employers how this saves them money. Then she says they should allow the employee to move into a better-paying position once they've been there six months or so. Both groups win.
Karin mentioned four goals for circle leaders: get a job, get a better job, get an education, strengthen their family. Doing this helps people get out of poverty and helps make a better society for all of us. 
Circles of Hope is not a religious organization, but many who are involved in our group are Christian. It should be obvious that working to end poverty and build community are spiritual values we all should support.

Zombie nation

Now that The Walking Dead has resumed its second season, let's look at our nation's fascination with zombies.
Back in 1961, when Rod Argent formed the British rock group The Zombies, it was a fairly exotic name. There were some zombie films (White Zombie, cited as the first, came out in 1932), but they had a small cult following. By the time "She's Not There" and "Time of the Season" had come out, Night of the Living Dead, George Romero's classic zombie film and the first of his series, was out, and many more followed.
Now zombies are all the rage. The Walking Dead is hugely popular on TV. And on the bookshelves you'll find such mashups as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Even literary fiction has gotten into the act. Last fall, Zone One by Colson Whitehead, an acclaimed novelist, came out.

What gives? Why this obsession with zombies?
You can easily overanalyze it. Part of it is simply an interest in good stories, or in the genre of scary stories. I remember sitting on our front porch in the evening and telling ghost stories or what came to be known as urban legends, like the man with the hook for a hand. We like to feel scared but safe.
And the zombie films, for one, have evolved into other genres, using comedy and romance to tell their stories of the living dead. Films such as Shaun of the Dead, Braindead and Zombieland have captured our interest.
The Walking Dead and Zone One fall under the heading zombie apocalypse, in which an infestation of some kind has infected most of the population, and a few survivors try to fight off the zombies who want to feed on them.
Interest in this kind of story may reflect a need to escape real fears by imagining a worse one. We live in uncertain times, facing economic, environmental, political and spiritual problems that seem insurmountable. Let's get absorbed in a story that shows us concrete fears that we can face vicariously through the survivors trying to fight off the zombies. There's an appeal in that.
In his American Soundings column in the Feb. 8 issue of The Christian Century (christiancentury.org), Rodney Clapp writes about this obsession with zombies. He writes about "how crowded our world and lives have become." He says that "the multitudinous daily contacts we have with people via television, radio, e-mail and the Internet" can feel like we're being attacked by zombies. Although real people are behind all these contacts, they are concealed. 
He goes on to look at how our politics have moved toward demonization and dehumanization of one's opponents. And zombies, of course, are the ultimate dehumanized demon. 
Then there's the fear of widespread disease, such as depicted in last year's Contagion, a good film, by the way.
Whatever the reason for our interest in zombies, we do carry within us many fears. And these fears affect how we act, how we respond to others. They increase our mistrust of our environment and diminish our enjoyment of life. Our fears, often unacknowledged, can have a dehumanizing effect on us. Facing them honestly is one important step. Another is offering them to our Creator, who embraces us with an unconditional love that casts out all fear.
So enjoy your zombie apocalypses, but don't let the bite of fear infect you.

The politics of inequality

Jeanne, my wife, sent me (bless her) the link below to a TED talk by Richard Wilkinson on the effects of income inequality in developing countries. It's almost 17 minutes long, but it's worth watching.

TED, founded in 1984, stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and is a global set of conferences owned by the private nonprofit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7LzE3u7Bw

 Why is it worth watching? It describes a problem that affects many people, including you and me, and helps us understand what's going on. How we respond is another matter and one I will address briefly.

But first let me say a bit about the points Wilkinson makes, in case you don't watch the video (or even if you do). He shows that wealth makes no difference in life expectancy between countries, but it does within countries.His research teach used data from the United Nations and the World Bank.

The factor he delineates as key is how much richer are the richest 20% in a country than the poorest 20%. First, he looks at health and social problems and shows that countries with the least income inequality (i.e. greatest income equality) have the fewest problems.

His research team used the UNICEF index on child well-being, which includes 40 components and found the same trend. (He has helpful charts to illustrate these trends.)

The differences between us matter very much, he says. He shows that people in countries with greater income inequality trust each other less. The rates of mental illness are greater in countries with greater income inequality. I haven't said which countries these are. Unfortunately, the United States and Singapore have the greatest income inequality of the 20 or so countries included. Japan and the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland) have the least income inequality.

Another factor (no surprise, and possibly the subject of a future blog) is the proportion of people in prison. And, Wilkinson says, this is not driven by crime but by more punitive sentences.

Then he looks at social mobility, which is greater in countries with less income inequality. He says: "If Americans want to live the American dream, they should move to Denmark."

How do countries reach more equality? he asks. It varies. In Sweden, where there is inequality in earned income, higher income is taxed more. Japan, on the other hand, has a more equitable income across the board.

Here in the United States, as you know, income inequality is great and getting greater, and the tax structure doesn't offset that much at all.

Wilkinson also points out that people's greatest stress comes from effects on self-esteem from social standing.

We are social beings, and these trends in our society affect us in different ways. They also affect our neighbors. Our spirituality needs to reflect this understanding. To live faithful lives in the Spirit, we need to recognize our social reality (and that of our neighbors) and strive for greater justice. 

If you follow the logic of Wilkinson's research, it's not only justice but our own well-being that calls us to seek greater income equality in our country.

But how? I use the dreaded word "politics" in my title. It's also the title of a chapter in my book. There I write that the word, derived from the Greek word polis, denotes a decision-making body. "Politics," I write, "reflects the workings of a community of people making decisions together to carry out their goals, the kind of life they've set for themselves."

We can try to work with others to make decisions that help create a better, more equitable environment. Doing so will help everyone.

Unfortunately, we have a politics of inequality in our country,one that tends to favor not only the richer 20% but the richest 1%. Helping bridge that gap helps us all.

The possessed

No, this is not about Dostoevsky's novel, also called The Devils or The Demons in other translations. Instead, I'll share some thoughts from reading Luke Timothy Johnson's book Sharing Possessions: What Faith Demands (Eerdmans).

This is a second edition of a book first published in 1981, if that matters. Johnson teaches New Testament and Christian origins at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, and he's written many books.
For those of you not really into theology, forgive me (that's a theological category, by the way). I'll try to be succinct.
Johnson tackles the thorny question of how we connect being a Christian and the way we own and use things. And when he talks about possessions, he doesn't limit this to money or material things. He includes our bodies, which, he writes, "are symbols because they reveal, make manifest, our inner emotional states and attitudes."
What he calls "the real mystery concerning possessions" is "how they relate to our sense of identity and worth as human beings." The problem we face is when we confuse being and having.
In these days of lamenting the huge inequalities in our society (a subject of a future blog), of the 1% and the 99%, it's easy for some to equate wealth with evil or idolatry and poverty with goodness and purity. All of us, no matter our wealth, are subject to the idolatry of equating what we have with who we are or of being selfish.
And Johnson points out how society affects the way possessions are perceived. He offers the example of how taking candy from a baby used to be a symbol of the greatest offense. But "in some sugarphobic circles today it would be regarded as an act of highest virtue."
Certainly in America today, with our general standard of living, we view possessions in a different light from how a person in, say, Somalia, might view them.
The question Johnson asks that I'm interested in is to what extent our possessions possess us. This applies to the material things we "own" (a word that raises all kinds of questions), but it also has to do with things like physical health, education or relationships.
Later, Johnson gets to the subject in the title of his book, sharing possessions. He calls this the mandate and symbol of faith. He notes that how we view God determines our view of other people. In other words, "the way we perceive and respond to the ultimate reality gives shape to the way we perceive and respond to all other reality." The stance of idolatry is, The more I have the more I am. But if we are all equally naked before God at the level of existence, then we are equally loved by God and "equally clothed in the only worth that matters."
Johnson notes that the idolatry of equating ourselves with our possessions often comes out of fear. He points out that just before Jesus in Luke's Gospel says, "Sell your possessions and give alms" (12:33), he says, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (12:32). 
If you read the Bible enough you'll see that it says much more about money and wealth than it does about sex or even prayer. And one of the things it says is that our possessions--whether that refers to the material things we own or to our health or education or relationships--is for sharing. In Jewish practice--as well as Muslim and Buddhist and Hindu, among other religions--almsgiving is encouraged.
We can share freely because we receive freely from God's abundant love and because what we own and later share does not determine who we are.
Am I free of being possessed by my possessions? Not at all. Just last month I discovered that a book I'd loaned out never got returned, and I don't remember who I loaned it to. (Memory is becoming a less reliable possession.) That this bothered me shows that I did not share very freely.
I also struggle with the temptation to equate my worth with my income, which is much reduced since I'm only employed half-time now.
My desire is to be possessed by God, not by what I think I own.