| | Adam, my heart softens at your words... you said literalist religion. Yay! All black people don't steal TV sets- just the bad ones. :)
As to your other-way-around, I don't think so- I've never seen much of that and I've been in all the right places to see it. Actually, a lot of them do better for themselves- I guess discipline is discipline even if it's maniacal. Fundamentalists tend to whip people into shape- otherwise,they aren't of any use, bro.
I've had a straight year of working in East Cleveland now, too. EC is the poorest city in the county where the 12th poorest city in the country is. It's a war zone.
I know lots and lots of the religious leaders and watch all the action. Them, the streets, how it all works. The bottom line is that the conventional churches (around here that's usually some kind of basic evangelical black church) try to help in many ways, which include doing what they can to stabilize family situations, and address core personal problems, which predominantly involve but are not limited to substance abuse, absentee fathers , broken homes, and domestic violence.
And, it is not enough. There are some liberal, altruistic groups (well, on the surface they present as such) that honestly think that the key is to simply get donations from people like me, and my business, and infuse people with it. This, of course, is silliness. I don't mind religious outreach, but you gotta play smarter and cleaner than that to get past me.
The crime, and the poverty come largely through the unprincipled, and the undisciplined. Generally, this is their choice, and they are as resistant to going to church as they are to filling out employment applications. Sad, but fact.
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