No luck finding a job? Why not become a fundie!

[KamaAina]

Hoo boy. That's a lot of potential new fundies...

http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_16255021

And then there are those who gather each week in a small room in a converted industrial building just off the freeway in Mountain View. For them, it's only a slight exaggeration to say that they feel like maybe a prayer is the only thing they do have....

Hill, whose title is director of prayer and visitation, oversees the megachurch's weekly PrayerWorks meetings. It's a group for the downsized and the outsourced, for the weary and the wary, for those who devoutly power their job search with a higher power that has nothing to do with Monster, LinkedIn or CareerBuilder....

Last week, about a dozen people sat in a circle of chairs in one room in the vast building that serves as Abundant Life's worship hall. They were a sampling of the misery that the downturn has delivered: Ray Guzman, a 63-year-old trucking dispatcher who was laid off two years ago after 18 years on the job; Alfred Kennedy, who's worked some, but mostly looked for work for the past nine years; Tony Waller, who is praying to find forgiveness for the employer that dumped him; Tina Beauchamp, who is intent on leaving her old career behind and starting anew....

"You will get a job," she says. "God said to Adam and Eve, 'You gotta get out of here. No more free lunches. You have to work.' "

:puke: :puke: :puke:

[krabigirl]

1. :( this is so sad. They take advantage of so many good people.

I really feel for those people, though. I am somewhat agnostic, or honestly i don't know what my label is, but for some people, a connection with what they feel is the Divine helps them, and good for them. I just hate when greedy megachurches take advantage of these people, pushing them to hate "the other," and then once they have a job, requiring 10% of their income so they can keep coming there.

[gratuitous]

2. Not my cup of tea, but . . .

I don't know why it would be so offensive to have a support group meet. It appears that they draw strength from each other, have a social connection that often goes missing when a person is in a bad place like unemployment, and share information about jobs that may be available in the community. This looks like a net positive to me.

But then, since people of faith are involved, it is automatically the Worst Thing In The World for some bigots, so I fully expect this thread to degenerate into some mindless religion bashing. Have fun, y'all.

[KamaAina]

3. Fundies tend to prey, so to speak, on those who've hit bottom

Think how many people have converted while in prison (Chuck Colson) of after a humongous bender (Gee Dubya Boosh).

Now think about how many people are, or soon will be, "((ers": the long-term unemployed. :scared:

[kirby]

5. Because of the hypocrisy...

Politically, most of these fundamentalist believe that you need to 'raise yourself up by your bootstraps' and 'take care of yourself'. Yet, they sit around passively waiting for their God to change their fate.

[Mimosa]

4. Nothing to laugh at, nothing to put down.

So what if some humans need a support group which is faith based?

[JNelson6563]

6. I know of some long-term unemployed

who have become utter zealots, though not in the religious sense. They dis Obama at every opportunity, bash the Dems all the time and blame them for not having a job. Of course these folks are so abrasive and confrontational I can't imagine that would play well in an interview but no, easier to blame Obama. Zealously.

Julie

[ieoeja]

7. So you're saying that after losing so much, they ...

... cling that much stronger to what they still have, like their religion, for instance?

[JNelson6563]

8. No.

I'm saying that after losing so much they get obsessive about what they perceive to be the root of their troubles. So often though the cause is no further than that which they see in the mirror.

Julie