Professor Ogbaa
February 15, 2017
English 1304
People: Religion, and Poverty
Driving under the freeway, there were people wearing several clothing’s on top of each
other, their faces were wrinkled, dirty, and begging for money. After they occupy their time
trying to gain money they do have some helping hands such as soup kitchens for free food and
shelters so they can sleep indoors occasionally, but who do we see this help mostly from? The
religious institutions with their volunteers who consider stewardship. In the article, “Do countries
lose religion as they gain wealth?” by Kazi Stastna state the factors of education, misfortune, and
government interference could make someone religious. At the same time, “What Religious
People Think About the Poor” by Robert Wuthnow explains the different perceptions of the poor
from the working class and the religious involvement that help the poor. These articles were
different with their purpose as well as conveying their purpose, but similar when it came to their
rhetoric choice.
In Robert Wuthnow’s article, the purpose is to bring attention to publics opinion of the
poor and government economic organizations. For example, in the article, Wuthnow asked 2,000
working Americans ‘Are we spending too much, too little, or about the right amount on
welfare?’ or ‘assistance to the poor?’ People believed they spent too much on welfare and too
little on assistance of the poor. Welfare and “assistance to the poor” are the same issue, but
welfare is about the organizations that help the poor and “assistance” is the proactive approach of
it instead of leaving it to the organization. In addition, the author uses deductive reasoning to
gain his conclusion because there was a massive difference in answers of both questions, so it
was safe to assume they did not know they were the same. So, people would rather do it
themselves, taking the responsibilities for the poor. However, religious people along with their
religious institution do help in some ways.
The article by Kazi Stastna is to understand the factors of why developing countries
would consider religion more than first world countries. Stastna states, “In poor countries,
religious institutions often provide essential services such as education and healthcare, and the
social networks [which] can be crucial in times of crisis.” The religious people/institutions
interfere more with people in need than their government, especially in a crisis, which gives
them hope. Along with helping, the religious people around them influence their religious
perspectives. Further into the article, the author claims that countries with higher percentage of
