San Antonio mayor Ivy Taylor argues atheism is to blame for poverty

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Southern Guardian

It's interesting that she says that since the world's poorest countries are all theocracies of the Christian or Muslim variety.

Yeah, what are those Christian theocracies Ks
I would love to hear justification for that.
I know a few Muslim country's that the US pillage and bomb to smithereens, have been overrun by the West and had their resources plundered
Please go ahead

a reply to: DeepThoughtCriminal

Ok, but saying that making your life more stable using religion isn't the same as saying Atheists are broken people because they have no connection with God and have no morals.

Saying people are poor because they don't have God is one statement.
Saying people can use Religion to make their life more stable is another statement.

There are plenty of Religious people who fail at having a stable life and plenty of Atheists who have stable lives without Religion.

Living stable lives without addiction and major drama will most likely result in more success. I think we all know that already. Stable lives belong to both Atheists and Religious people alike.

This woman is trying to say, "If you're poor, it's because you don't have God or Religion." But there are poor Religious People and Rich Atheists all over the place which directly counters her point.

a reply to: Southern Guardian

I think the best point to make here is that the woman has a lot of biases. She thinks that people who don't believe in her version of God, can't possibly deserve a life as good as hers. Well that says a lot about her and her opinions, I will not hold all Christians responsible for her statement. And even though I know a lot of them would agree with her.

No, atheism isn't the cause of poverty.

It does seem to be the cause (or direct consequence) of bitterness and butthurt, though.

Greetings-

Wait until Miss Legacy finds out "He" is a "She" and to learn that lesson Miss Legacy goes through Her next Life "On the dole" Make a note so You can cruise by and maybe put a 'chit' in Her Yeti® Beg Cup while You wait for Your Flying Car to re-charge, She'll be living under a 'Flyway' wondering what happened...

But She can make it out if She repents AND joins My Church™. If not, if She doesn't buy into our dogma, then well, You know...

"Alms for the poor, alms..."

Now if Miss Legacy's Church™ and every other Church™ stuck to providing "charity" (main selling point for this scheme) then Uncle Suga wouldn't need to. Either that or start paying taxes. No way PastorDave should be wearing a $35k watch, living in a $3M mansion yet has the audacity to cash His Flock's retirement checks to buy a new corporate jet...

Better watch out or RELIGION™ will cry to the Gov. and get a "Bail Out"..

Vaya Con Dios
Shalom Aleichem
As-Selamu Alaykum

originally posted by: Talorc
No, atheism isn't the cause of poverty.

It does seem to be the cause (or direct consequence) of bitterness and butthurt, though.

Interesting.

It would seem faith is the source of human ignorance when it comes to understanding the world around them as well.

originally posted by: Blue Shift
God created atheism.

Come on now Blue, everyone knows God has no religion!

This city is overwhelmingly Catholic and/or christian. They are very open with their beliefs. Ivy is a good person, who happens to be christian herself. I don't share her beliefs, but the principles behind it I do. She was asked what she thought, and she gave a candid answer.

What she did not give was any mention of atheism at all. She said "Creator". When she spoke about Jesus, she was referring to her own faith. So yes, they did misrepresent what she actually was saying there.

She's not offending anyone here with what she said. We knew what she meant. She's a good egg.

a reply to: Southern Guardian

coming from Texas, i can attest that we have a broad swath of Catholicism and various protestant faiths. Some are pretty rabid.

But im not thinking that this lady is going to endear herself with this nonsense.

a reply to: tigertatzen

Thanks for that local perspective.

In my considerable time in that area, i've not seen much uproar that wasn't tied to Daughters and their odd demands.

a reply to: tigertatzen

Look, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn't trying to insult anyone. I'll even accept that she was just being honest to what she actually believes is the truth. So it's nothing personal against her nor anything negative about her motives in what she's saying.

But it's still a horrible answer and too simplistic and demonstrably untrue. The root of what she is saying is that if someone is poor or more specifically a victim of being generational poverty, it's because they are "Broken People". By "Broken" she means disconnected from their "Creator, Family and community" as well as lacking a moral compass. That is what she said.

First off, being disconnected from those things doesn't mean someone is "Broken" nor lacking morals. Also, being connected to all those things doesn't ensure you becoming wealthy, although they might help in some cases.

But it can be clearly shown that lacking morals doesn't stop anyone from becoming rich. In fact, it may be closer to the opposite in many cases. If lacking morals means being Broken then there are plenty of very rich and powerful Broken people in the world.

Those qualities she is using to represent what qualities you would find in rich vs. poor people are as arbitrary as saying any variety of other random qualities you might point out.

There is little to no correlation between them. At best she is only partially correct by implying that living a life with lots of connections will make you rich. Sure, maybe, but not always. Her answer isn't an answer at all but a biased point of view that can be shown to be as meaningful or meaningless as you want depending upon what data you choose to look at.

a reply to: Southern Guardian

Got to love of hate the morons in positions of power where they can open their mouths and spew crap.

But is those that hates this type of individuals and those that love them.

Time to covert San Antonio once again into Christianity.

originally posted by: randyvs

originally posted by: Blue Shift
God created atheism.

Come on now Blue, everyone knows God has no religion!

Blasphemy!!! GOD is a republican

Honestly, this is just another attack on the homeless. It has become a common theme in this country. Now that the "ALL homeless people are drunks, mentally ill or drug addicts" argument has went to # in a handbasket, it's "Oh, they must not have a strong spiritual life."

People can make this a spur on atheism or religion or whatever makes them feel better; truth is, it's another attack on the homeless. It has gotten ridiculous frankly.

a reply to: mOjOm

She could have worded it better, and she's aware of that. It was not a prepared answer, and it was directly asking her for her personal viewpoint. It wasn't about policy or legality. It was about her own thoughts.

They're talking about generational poverty here. And in a deeply religious and spiritual community like this one, family is held together by their spirituality. It's a very important part of people's lives here.

I could see people getting upset if she were talking about making policy changes in our city government and citing her own personal beliefs as reason for that, but she was not. She was asked for her personal viewpoint on generational poverty, and she gave it.

But suddenly, she is painted as saying atheism is the reason for poverty in San Antonio. Not sharing her personal perspective on the issue of generational poverty. And the simple truth is, she didn't say that at all.

Had it been some legislation that was being passed to punish people for having different religious beliefs than the mayor, I'd be outraged by that myself. But her biased point of view was precisely what was asked for. Pouncing on someone for that is just beyond the pale.

I don't get your comment about her thinking that having a lot of connections makes people rich...what is that about?? She's not talking about having connections. She's talking about families being broken, and how that directly impacts future generations of those families, resulting in continued poverty. And she's right. The teen pregnancy rate here is ridiculous. The amount of single parent families is unbelievable. And as family becomes less important, kids aren't being taught how to make it out there in the adult world.

When daddy is gone and momma has to work three jobs to feed the kids, nobody is home to make sure the homework gets done and the kids aren't out running the streets. And those kids grow up without direction or discipline or any real ambition, so the cycle continues. That's what she means about broken people. Broken families.

You keep saying stuff about wealth and getting rich...but that's not what this is about either. These people don't care about being rich. They care about having food to eat and a roof over their heads. Bringing people out of poverty doesn't mean they need to get rich. They just need to be able to better sustain their families so they can get off welfare and set the entire family on a better future path. And broken families struggle far more than families who are close knit and unified. Future generations of families like that have a higher chance of continuing generational poverty, and it's a serious ongoing issue here.

originally posted by: SpeakerofTruth
Honestly, this is just another attack on the homeless. It has become a common theme in this country. Now that the "ALL homeless people are drunks, mentally ill or drug addicts" argument has went to # in a handbasket, it's "Oh, they must not have a strong spiritual life."

People can make this a spur on atheism or religion or whatever makes them feel better; truth is, it's another attack on the homeless. It has gotten ridiculous frankly.

Ivy wasn't talking about homelessness. She was talking about generational poverty among families, and what she feels is the underlying cause for that very specific demographic.

Nobody has problems with homeless people here...most of the cops are on a first name basis with our wanderers. If you're homeless, the safest place you can be is on the Riverwalk. We have foot and bike patrol all over the place downtown, and they don't let people harass the homeless citizens. There is not a hatred of them here, like in so many big cities.

a reply to: tigertatzen

I'm not trying to pounce on her as I tried to explain earlier. I'm trying to point out that what she is actually saying is only at best sometimes accurate at all. Not only that but her perspective on it is coming from the side of blaming the victim as well.

Now, that's not to say that it's not the fault of some of those in poverty. We are all to blame for our position in life to a large degree by the choices we make. But there are also other factors that must be considered that are often overlooked by people not in a position to understand them or even to care about them.

Saying they are "Broken People" who lack morals is a general way of viewing poor people as less than others. She even uses arbitrary qualifiers such as Alcoholics or Drug Addicts. But that doesn't always apply. But it does some of the time. It's a biased view in that it's only seeing it from it's most negative point.

As someone else pointed out, it's a theme of marginalizing the homeless or victimizing the poor. It's a theme that is being played very heavily right now. IMO because the obvious truth is so bad and easy to see it has to be distracted from. That truth is the divide between the haves and have nots. It has reached epic proportions and so a narrative must be pushed to convince others that it's not what it seems.

The one simple fact is that Poverty isn't caused by lack of God or Community or Even Family. Certainly not by lack of Morals either. It's a lack of Money, Capital, Assets, Wealth, etc. In whatever form it takes. When you have none it can be extremely difficult to obtain it, but when you have a lot it's easy to get more. Especially when everyone views you as a "Broken Person" when you don't have any.

That is a really dumb statement. Im not atheist. But atheism is not creating poverty. Poverty is first, a perception of level of reaources, and second, in practice a constant part of human civilization. To eliminate poverty, youd have to have basically unlimited resources. And nature tends to limit them. Either by hard resource or labor or knowledge or all three.

a reply to: Blue Shift

God is an atheist.

a reply to: mOjOm

her simplistic childish answer comes from her heart and it`s what she believes,which proves to anyone who has an I.Q. over 60 that her thought processes and beliefs are simplistic and childish.

the fact that she is mayor proves 2 things:

1) the people who voted for her are even more simplistic and childish than she is, and
2) she is a threat to everyone who`s thought processes aren`t childish and simplistic.


and just for the record this is the definition of simplistic;

sim·plis·tic
/simˈplistik/
adjective
adjective: simplistic
treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler than they really are.

the woman is a totally insane brainwashed religious cult fanatic.