June 18, 2017
Pastors fight rural drug addiction and poverty
Jack Kemp
Although this centers on largely white small towns in West Virginia, the creation of jobs, which these pastors are encouraging in church, will help every person of every
ethnic background, i.e., ALL AMERICANS living in the area. These are the issues that Charles Murray wrote about in his book "Coming Apart" and was severely criticized by leftists, i.e., the deterioration of small town white communties. The leftists had no compassion for these people, but the local churches really didn't have enough ideas how to help poor kids with no job - or even junior high school kids subject to opiod addictions. A paster who formerly was a businessman has developed ideas how to create meaningful education and jobs to revive both the economy and the hopes of local people who did not have neither the skills nor desire nor capability to move away.
The New York Post has a profound article about this which I'll just quote a "fair usage excerpt" from. I very much suggest you read the whole thing. The article is about enlightened first steps, but not an instant magic solution. Hopefully, this can spread to become a movement among communities. And combined with Pres. Trump's aid to the ailing coal industry, the effects can be a positive rather than a vicious cycle.
Some brief quotes from "Can a new religious movement save America from drug addiction?" by Naomi Schaefer Riley:
http://nypost.com/2017/06/17/can-a-new-religious-movement-save-america-from-drug-addiction/
BEGIN QUOTE
"There is a problem underlying our drug epidemic,†says Travis Lowe.
"It’s an epidemic of despair.†Lowe, who is the pastor of Crossroads Church in Bluefield, W.Va., says that when he talks to kids in his community, "They’ve never even thought about what they want to be when they grow up.â€
SECTION OMITTED
The despair has come in part from the economic crisis. Of the county next door to Lowe’s, Reason magazine recently noted, "Ninety percent of kids are . . . below the poverty threshold for free and reduced-price lunches, 47 percent do not live with their biological parents"...
Lowe and his congregants are helping local businesses to adapt to the modern economy. "People around here have always been makers. We just want to give them this century’s tools.†They are working with MIT to teach kids about engineering software and trying to find new markets for things they can produce in local factories.
His church has helped to organize a kind of "Teen Shark Tank†to encourage entrepreneurship.
END OF QUOTE
Although this centers on largely white small towns in West Virginia, the creation of jobs, which these pastors are encouraging in church, will help every person of every
ethnic background, i.e., ALL AMERICANS living in the area. These are the issues that Charles Murray wrote about in his book "Coming Apart" and was severely criticized by leftists, i.e., the deterioration of small town white communties. The leftists had no compassion for these people, but the local churches really didn't have enough ideas how to help poor kids with no job - or even junior high school kids subject to opiod addictions. A paster who formerly was a businessman has developed ideas how to create meaningful education and jobs to revive both the economy and the hopes of local people who did not have neither the skills nor desire nor capability to move away.
The New York Post has a profound article about this which I'll just quote a "fair usage excerpt" from. I very much suggest you read the whole thing. The article is about enlightened first steps, but not an instant magic solution. Hopefully, this can spread to become a movement among communities. And combined with Pres. Trump's aid to the ailing coal industry, the effects can be a positive rather than a vicious cycle.
Some brief quotes from "Can a new religious movement save America from drug addiction?" by Naomi Schaefer Riley:
http://nypost.com/2017/06/17/can-a-new-religious-movement-save-america-from-drug-addiction/
BEGIN QUOTE
"There is a problem underlying our drug epidemic,†says Travis Lowe.
"It’s an epidemic of despair.†Lowe, who is the pastor of Crossroads Church in Bluefield, W.Va., says that when he talks to kids in his community, "They’ve never even thought about what they want to be when they grow up.â€
SECTION OMITTED
The despair has come in part from the economic crisis. Of the county next door to Lowe’s, Reason magazine recently noted, "Ninety percent of kids are . . . below the poverty threshold for free and reduced-price lunches, 47 percent do not live with their biological parents"...
Lowe and his congregants are helping local businesses to adapt to the modern economy. "People around here have always been makers. We just want to give them this century’s tools.†They are working with MIT to teach kids about engineering software and trying to find new markets for things they can produce in local factories.
His church has helped to organize a kind of "Teen Shark Tank†to encourage entrepreneurship.
END OF QUOTE
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
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