God Plus an "o" is Not Good
“For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm.”
If this were true, there wouldn't be an epidemic of U.S. homelessness and poverty.
I am not a believer. But I do believe the religious can offer real refuge if they wanted to. Having worked for a national homelessness nonprofit and embarked upon an odyssey to document a model wherein churches are transformed into shelters and support centers, I've witnessed the potential to end homelessness firsthand.
I was an English major, so I'll do the best I can in explaining the math.
There are nearly 400,000 churches in the U.S. If the average church is 3,000sf, the total yield in congregational space would be roughly 1.2 billion square feet. Leverage the tax-free status, sell off garish ornamental furnishings, reroute lofty congregant donations, shore up an inter-agency council of nonprofits and government entities and convert one third of church space to transitional or affordable housing units @ 1,000sf apiece.
Voilà! 1,200,000 apartments with the capacity to house 5,000,000 people! Not only would that kick America's despicably embarrassing homeless epidemic squarely in the teeth or all but knock it to its grave, it would also yield millions of square feet in leftover space for job training, financial planning, drug and alcohol counseling, psychiatric and social services, health and wellness facilities, daycare centers, art/cultural events, and more. In fact, we can enlist the help of the homeless and impoverished to build their own living spaces. Empower them the way they deserve to be empowered.
Churchies, let me quote Jesus... "So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you."
Funny thing how all these poor folks keep askin', they keep searchin', they keep knockin', and they keep waiting for that door to a better life to swing wide open. And all they get is some canned soup or fancy benediction.
Churches are safety deposit boxes. Prayers are excuses of the lazy ignorant. Organized religion is the greatest story ever sold. And it's high time to set this story straight.
Churches receive $70 billion in annual tax breaks. Perhaps they should start earning them. Then we can start talking about miracles.
If the religious wish to do their God’s work, then prove it.