The impact of Governing Body policy on higher education: read this!

by Terry 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Terry

  excerpt:

  Does Your Religion Affect Your Income?

  By Mari Cockerell, KTXS News

  ABILENE, Texas -- The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently put out the results of a survey on wealth and religion in the United States.

  You may be surprised to learn which religious groups in this country have the most and the least wealthy members.An infographic produced by the folks at www.good.is breaks down information gathered by the Pew Forum on religion and wealth. It maps out distribution of income for the 14 major religious groups in this country, charting those whose income is less than $30,000 a year all the way up to $100,000+.

  What they found is interesting.The religions whose members earn the most money are Jews and Hindus. Hindus top the charts with a combined 65 percent of its members earning at least $75,000 a year. Jews come in second with a combined 58 percent.We talked to Christopher Hutson, associate dean of ACU's College of Biblical Studies, and asked if any religious doctrine actually teaches its members how to earn more money.

  Hutson did find one common denominator among these two high-earning groups."In America, about 40 percent of Hindu people in America have a graduate degree beyond a bachelor's degree, that's an astonishing percentage. For whatever reason, Jewish people in America tend to have put more emphasis on education and have a high percentage of post graduate degrees and that is reflected in higher affluence," said Hutson.Education appears to be a strong common thread between Hindus and Jews. Hutson points out it may also play a major role on the other end of the spectrum

  .According to this study, the religions with members earning the least amount of money are historically Black Christian churches and Jehovah's Witnesses. Just 15 percent of members of historically Black churches make $75,000 or more per year, which, as Hutson adds, may have a lot to do with the opportunities available to African Americans."We're still living with a long legacy of 400 years of pretty severe racism. We're not really past it yet, and there's still catch up to do," Hutson said.

  Only 18 percent of Jehovah's Witnesses make more than $75,000 a year. Taking a closer look at the numbers, the Pew Forum also found that more than half – 51 percent of Jehovah's Witnesses are non-white – and only 9 percent of its members have a college or post graduate degree.

  We contacted the local kingdom hall of Jehovah's Witnesses for comment but received no response.

  The remaining American Christian churches make up 4 of the 14 categories surveyed. Together, members earnings are in line with the national average – just over 31 percent earning $75,000 or more a year.
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  blondie

  So the Pew are saying that it is a result of race not religious doctrine?
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  Shador

  Likely a combination of both factors at play here.
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  designs

  Can I Super-Size that McMac Meal Mr. Terry

  Pioneer Bro. Timmy
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  Anony Mous

  For the black churches it's about race, the JW's didn't want to comment. A little bit of research can fill in that content for the journalist. Journalists are not what they used to be.
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  dgp

  I think this subject is not presented in a correct way. Someone who didn't pay attention could see this as whether religion alone makes you poor, and then the conclusion would have to be in the negative because people of all religions are poor, and people of all religions are also affluent.

  The survey is somewhat dumb. It groups people together by religion, checks whether a group is richer or poorer, and assumes that religion is the cause. As if the grouping eliminated other influences. Whoever it was that planned this survey, that person seems not to have noticed that India is the home of many poor people, and also many Hindus.

  The question in the survey should be whether, all other things being equal, religion makes you poor. If so, I have no doubt that the answer would be in the affirmative. If your belief is that getting education beyond what is needed to survive is useless, "because the end is imminent anyways", then that belief makes you poor. If the same set of beliefs makes you devote much of your time to place magazines and preach to people who don't want to be preached, then that is a factor.

  I am sure everyone here knows, much better than I, that every so often the Watchtower comes with an example of Brother Andrew (him again), or the Sister from Ethiopia with little education who made 3,000 euros a month, or then with real stories about people who did give up wonderful opportunities "for Jehovah". The reason for praise here is, lest we forget, that people did give up real opportunities, and not only for greater income. I would doubt anyone would question that such decisions do make you poorer than you'd otherwise be.
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  VM44

  We contacted the local kingdom hall of Jehovah's Witnesses for comment but received no response.

  The local Kingdom Hall elders wouldn't coment on this topic anyway.
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  Spectre

  If the elders did respond it would be the typical, "it just goes to show that we put god first in our lives and not money."
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  erbie

  Great post Terry. I'm learning a lot on this site.

  I guess that they have to discourage higher education because at university you are taught critical analysis which can be very damaging to their false doctrines.

  That's not to say that people that haven't been to university won't see through their lies but are probably less likely to be critical of it.

  My wife (a former pioneer) decided to study latin and Greek for interest and so she could check what she was being taught. Well, she left the witnesses in what seemed like an awful rush. She now hates it and will not speak of it.
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  punkofnice

  We contacted the local kingdom hall of Jehovah's Witnesses for comment but received no response.

  No surprise there then!

  You shouldn't need an education to hold a phone but obviously the 'local kingdom hall' were challenged!