Poverty Initiative Cited in the Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion

An article by Willie Baptist and Liz Theoharis titled 'Who are the Poor?' is cited in the "Poverty" entry of the new Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion by David A. Leeming, Kathryn Madden, Stanton Marlan.  Here is an excerpt from p 696:

"In a contemporary expression of Christian concern about poverty, people at Union Theological Seminary in New York City started The Poverty Initiative to raise awareness and take action on behalf of the poor. Their perspective is reflected in an essay entitled 'Who are the poor?' written by Willie Baptist and Liz Theoharis, August 2008:

'If you can’t get the basic necessities of life, you’re poor… The poor and dispossessed today differ from the poor and dispossessed of the past. They are compelled to fight under qualitatively new conditions and to creatively wield new weapons of struggle. In other words, the socio-economic position of the low waged, laid off, and locked out is not that of the industrial poor, the slave poor, or of the colonial poor of yesterday. The new poor embody all the major issues and problems that affect the majority of other strata of the country’s population… Presently, we are experiencing the wholesale economic destruction of the so-called “middle class” in this country. This is huge in terms of political power relations and of strategy and tactics. This “middle class” is beginning to question the economic status quo. The point here is that the economic and social position of the poor is not one to be pitied and guilt-tripped about, but that it indicates the direction this country is heading if nothing is done to change it. Poverty is devastating me today. It can hit you tomorrow. The crisis of healthcare is currently the cause of half of all the bankruptcies in this country. (see www.povertyinitiative.org and www.universityofthepoor.org).'"