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But does professing religious beliefs translate into acting in accord with religious principles? Isn’t behavior the true test? In his New Testament epistle, James expressed the Christian view that “faith without works is dead.” Similarly, Judaism calls for “mitzvahs” — good deeds. And Islam requires acts of charity. Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson offered this challenging formula for sincerity: “Go put your creed into your deed.”

How do creed and deed match up? The 2011 report card for religious America.

More people are slipping into poverty in the United States. The Associated Press recently reported that the U.S. poverty rate rose to a new record of 49.9 million — 16 percent of the U.S. population — based on a more comprehensive Census Bureau measure of poverty. That’s a leap over the 46.2 million previously reported, which was called the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on poverty.

The number of working poor continues to increase. Today, nearly 1 out of every 3 families in the United States is considered to be “low income” According to the just released 2010-2011 policy brief of the ”Working Poor Families Project” the number of working poor in the United States is higher than ever before seen and “continues to increase at a staggering pace.”

Statistics from the Coalition for the Homeless reveal that 3.5 million Americans are homeless each year with 730,000 homeless on any given night. Of that number, 100,000 are homeless veterans. And children make up 23 percent of the homeless on any given night. Also, 770,000 homeless children are registered in public education systems

In 2009 hunger in the U.S. reached a 14-year high and now, according to Feed America, it’s still increasing at an alarming rate. One in 4 children in the U.S. is living without consistent access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life.

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