An upcoming report on the rate of homelessness among U.S veterans is projected to reveal that although the rate is dropping, more needs to be done to provide support for America's servicemen and women.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki told The Associated Press that the number of homeless veterans has dropped by 15,000 since 2009, which is the result of an aggressive strategy that both takes veterans off the streets and prevents new ones from reaching such a situation. Three years ago, there were an estimated 75,609 homeless vets out of 22 million, which means that 14 percent of the U.S. homeless population is made up of war veterans.

"I learned long ago that there are never any absolutes in life, and a goal of zero homeless veterans sure sounds like an absolute," Shinseki said in Nov. 2009. "But unless we set ambitious targets for ourselves, we would not be giving this our very best efforts." more >>

In the presidential race, the Republican ticket, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, have spoken much more about poverty than the Democratic ticket, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Since poverty is traditionally a Democratic issue, the stark difference has surprised many.

In the three presidential debates, Romney used the word "poor" seven times and the word "poverty" six times. In the vice presidential debate, Ryan said "poverty" eight times and mentioned "the poor" once. Obama and Biden never mentioned poverty or the poor in any of the debates.

On Wednesday, Ryan delivered a 25 minute address at Cleveland State University in Ohio devoted exclusively to the topic of poverty, unusual in a campaign season that has been mostly focused on addressing the problems of the middle class. more >>

GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said in his first major policy speech on Wednesday that his party will help lift up America's poor – but a Catholic organization has said that his promises, coming less than two weeks before the Nov. 6 elections, are simply "pandering" to the swing states.

"Mitt Romney and I are running because we believe that Americans are better off in a dynamic, free-enterprise-based economy that fosters economic growth, opportunity and upward mobility instead of a stagnant, government-directed economy that stifles job creation and fosters government dependency," Ryan said at a campaign stop in Cleveland, Ohio, which is one of the most contested swing states.

"Upward mobility is the central promise of life in America but right now, America's engines of upward mobility aren't working the way they should," the congressman added. more >>

The economy and jobs have been perhaps the most talked about topics in this election cycle, and both President Barack Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney have presented detailed plans of how they will address the concerns of the wealthy and the middle class – but one charity organization has noted that the poor and the homeless seem to have been forgotten by both candidates.

"We can give people jobs, we can improve the economy, but if we don't give people the mental, emotional, and physical resources to get to those jobs, that's all in vain," Jeremy Reynalds, Ph.D, Founder and CEO of Joy Junction Inc, said in a phone interview on Wednesday with The Christian Post.

Joy Junctions, a faith-based church ministry based in Albuquerque, N.M., is dedicated to helping homeless men, women, children and families by providing them food, clothing, shelter, and safety. The organization says that it serves as many as 200,000 individuals every day in various ways. more >>

Family planning strengthens families, enhances the health of women and children, and reduces abortions, The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good (NEP) argues in a new document. The liberal evangelical group urges fellow evangelicals to support programs that provide family planning services for the poor both in the United States and abroad.

The document, called "A Call to Christian Common Ground on Family Planning, and Maternal, and Children's Health," (available here in .pdf) was announced Monday at a press conference (available here on YouTube) in Washington, D.C.

The reason for the document, Richard Cizik, president of NEP, explained, is "we believe in a new kind of engagement," "we believe the Church has not been as actively associated with this issue and with the concern ... as it should be," and "we believe strongly in a compassion agenda." more >>

In a recent lecture on human dignity, the Archbishop of Canterbury made it clear that in his opinion the world at large is not waiting with bated breath to hear what the Church has to say about morality. So why should anyone be expected to take Christians seriously when they launch a global campaign about corruption?

Lectures about morality from Christian communities with a track record in child abuse and bizarre cases where children have been demonized as witches can seem disingenuous. And there is little encouragement in the fact that according to the Status of Global Missions report in 2010, 'ecclesiastical crime' – across all faiths – is on the increase. In 1900 an estimated US$300,000 went missing from religious coffers. In 2010 that figure rose to US$32b and is projected at US$60b by 2025.

Fact and fiction have conspired to paint unpleasant caricatures of pastors pilfering from the offering plate, and preachers growing fat on the sacrifices of their beleaguered congregations. More recently, allegations of theft surrounding the Pope's former butler, Paolo Gabriele has only served to fuel the fallacious ideas which Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code left so vividly in our minds. Many people still harbor images of the Occupy campaign stalking St Paul's Cathedral for months and raising questions about the church's profligate relationship with City banks. more >>