Real Men Care

I just saw the Super Bowl advertisement for Dove Products. Dove is well known to women but men have rarely flocked to beauty products. 

I recently saw a blog for Dads that was sponsored by Dove and it was good stuff. Take a look at the Dove ad and let me know what you think!

Gary

Some Immigrants are Christian

While Christians continue to make up a majority of legal immigrants to the U.S., the estimated share of new legal permanent residents who are Christian declined from 68% in 1992 to 61% in 2012.

Over the same period, the estimated share of green card recipients who belong to religious minorities rose from approximately one-in-five (19%) to one-in-four (25%). This includes growing shares of Muslims (5% in 1992, 10% in 2012) and Hindus (3% in 1992, 7% in 2012). The share of Buddhists, however, is slightly smaller (7% in 1992, 6% in 2012), while the portion of legal immigrants who are religiously unaffiliated (atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular) has remained relatively stable, at about 14% per year.1

Unauthorized immigrants, by contrast, come primarily from Latin America and the Caribbean, and the overwhelming majority of them – an estimated 83% – are Christian. That share is slightly higher than the percentage of Christians in the U.S. population as a whole (estimated at just under 80% of U.S. residents of all ages, as of 2010).2

These are among the key findings of a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life examining recent trends in the geographic origins and religious affiliation of immigrants to the United States. 

(For information on religion among migrants not just in the U.S. but globally, see the Pew Research Center’s 2012 report “Faith on the Move: The Religious Affiliation of International Migrants.”)

Religious Convictions of Immigrants

With this geographic shift, it is likely that the religious makeup of legal immigrants also has been changing. The U.S. government, however, does not keep track of the religion of new permanent residents. As a result, the figures on religious affiliation in this report are estimates produced by combining government statistics on the birthplaces of new green card recipients over the period between 1992 and 2012 with the best available U.S. survey data on the religious self-identification of new

immigrants from each major country of origin.

See our web page for ideas on how to reach immigrants with the Good News.

Why a Norwegian flag? Because there are more people of Norwegian heritage here in America than there are in Norway!

Who Are the Main Taxpayers? Where do you Rank?

January 21, 2015 My friend Wayne Essex writes a great newsletter on taxes and charities.  Where Do You Rank as a Taxpayer? Do you know how you compare with your fellow taxpayers when it comes to the income you make and the taxes you pay?   Ever wonder how your income stacks up against your fellow workers? Do you make enough to put you in that at-once extolled and excoriated 1% of richest Americans? In the bottom 50%? Somewhere in between? (Those of you that hate the i% speak up now!!!) What the Numbers Show The latest numbers from the IRS -- based on just released data from 2012 tax returns -- show what it takes to be among the top 1 percent of income earners:  1. Top 1% of all earners had Adjusted Gross Income of $434,682 or more.  That's almost $50,000 more than it took to buy into this rarefied status a year earlier.  The 1.4 million Americans with this elite status reported 21.9 percent of the total adjusted gross income reported on 2012 returns. That's right. One percent of taxpayers reported almost 22 percent of all income.  ++++++++  That same tiny group of 1% however, kicked in 38% of all the federal income taxes paid. Hmm! They made 22% but paid 38%. Is that fair? Did they pay too much?  (A year earlier, the top 1%t of earners kicked in 35 percent of all taxes paid.) So, they payed MORE taxes this year! How much do you need to make to be in the top 50 percent of earners? Want to guess? Scroll Down and See. Have you guessed?  Is it more than $100,000 a year? Is it over $50,000 a year? Nope, it is--------------------- Just $36,055. 2. Fall below that level and you are in the bottom half, along with about 68 million of your fellow taxpayers.  All told, that group earned just 11.1% of the Average Gross Income reported on 2012 federal returns.  And they paid just a tiny 2.78% of all taxes paid. What???? Is that fair? They made over 11% but only paid 2.78%. Shouldn't all of us pay at the same rate? Are you that poor?  Wishing you many happy returns, Wayne Essex

US Immigration

Overview from the Pew Foundation 

Over the past 20 years, the United States has granted permanent residency status to an average of about 1 million immigrants each year. 

These new “green card” recipients qualify for residency in a wide variety of ways – as family members of current U.S. residents, recipients of employment visas, refugees and asylum seekers, or winners of a visa lottery – and they include people from nearly every country in the world. 

But their geographic origins gradually have been shifting. U.S. government statistics show that a smaller percentage come from Europe and the Americas than did so 20 years ago, and a growing share now come from Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East-North Africa region.

What are the major implications for Christians? 

We Must Destroy It to Save It

The heading of this post is a paraphrase of a comment from a military officer during the Viet Nam Conflict. Reporters came to look over a town that was totally destroyed by American bombs, artillery and fighting. When asked why the fight was necessary, an anonymous officer replied:

"We had to save it from being destroyed by the Viet Cong."

The protests in Ferguson, Missouri bring that comment to mind. The protesters cared so deeply about "Racial Justice" that they destroyed the  stores and property of the residents.

I was in Detroit during the riots of 1968. It was so bad we had to stay in Canada and cross in the tunnel back to Detroit. Recently that once rich and magnificent city had to file bankruptcy. It has never recovered from the riots of 68!

Will that happen to Ferguson? Not if there are peacemakers.

Blessed are the peacemakers!  

This CS Lewis Quote may sum it up: 

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

ᐧ

If interested in peacemaking skills, see this site.

Has Society Seen Many Changes since WWII?

Can you see a difference from then until now?
Are their important differences between young people in the Forties and today?
What are the main differences?
Are they good or bad or indifferent?

What do their faces say to us?







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