Nearly all religious traditions demand a monetary contribution from their followers. Whether or not you prescribe to a particular brand of belief, what are your giving habits?
For the past three months I have been involved in a self-imposed secular tithe. I have given 10% of my paycheck (total, though as a government employee I recognize that my “total” is different from many other people’s) to a charity of my choice. Admittedly, I’ve drank less good beer because of it. But at the same time, I have a very hard time justifying my Cantillion Gueuze when the price of that bottle is more-or-less worth 12 lives in Sichuan – or 8 hours of education + a meal for a homeless person in my hometown.
So they tell me anyway.
Personally, I find such donations an absolutely affordable luxury. All I have to do is cut down on my gourmet beer fascination, and that has been easy enough to do. What about you? I have no doubt many members of this section give liberally to charities. So, have at it. Brag about your cause, brag about what you believe in and what you’ve given to what you support.
I don’t believe that Christians are supposed to tithe, I think ALL of our money is God’s. But then I do buy the odd beer myself so I have the same challenges!
I used to give away 10% of my income but have slowly increased this over the years to 13%. I divide this into smaller pots and give some to my local church, some to the local homeless shelter, some to a missionary overseas, some to a food program in Mexico, and I keep some in my account and give it to individuals I happen to meet who have a need for cash. The latter approach is the most personally rewarding because if you meet someone who needs a new coat or a good meal then you can just buy them one without any fuss. It’s much better to give than receive. In fact, it’s been proved scientifically…check out this paper if you can…
Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness
Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin, and Michael I. Norton
Science 21 March 2008 319: 1687-1688
Actually, my church does much better than I do and gives away 87% of it’s income. Again to needy programs, missionary support, and people around us who are struggling.
I’ve been rather curious, could all the money that charities generate not be put back into business? Instead of simply giving money away, give jobs to those who need them most. I understand some charities have already done this, Big Issue is a big name here in London ( you can read about them here bigissue.com/magazinesite/about.html ), but when I hear that someone who raises money for charities on the streets earns 8-10GBP an hour…the running costs alone seem to nearly negate any good will and much of the money. A friend once said 80% of money raised by big charities (i.e. Oxfam) goes to their administration costs. I don’t know about the accuracy of the figure but earning 8-10GBP/hr while most earn 6-7 seems to take away from the value of charity work. Again, this is only for London, I have no idea how it’s done in the States.
I somtimes contribute to funds for secruity, for people speaking out against islam, other than that, I don’t have a consistant charity. I mean, other then places doing scientific research, but thats a given.
I like to put money towards research more than towards feeding someone, though. (just personally makes me feel better).
So far we’ve had two members who have ponied up with percentages.
For me, this was payday, so I am looking at my tithe. But it still looks like the theists are leading by 3%. Any theists going to step up and crush the atheists? Any atheists going to step up and even the field? Otherwise, I’ll have to start cheating and listing my NPR donations, and nobody wants that kind of fight!
I have to admit that I haven’t given a penny to religious organizations since I was a little boy. The last I gave was $100 to a church. (That was big money for a little kid like me). That was the last I gave ever. Became an atheist later on. I have always enjoyed giving my time to causes that I believe in, rather than money.
Tithing is such a weird thing. My father (the pastor) taught me that the bible teaches to give 10% of my earnings to the church. It seemed strange that God needed money. I was told that it comes back around when you give, like Karma. I was also told that it was like investing in a savings account in heaven. I was so deceived.
My dad gets paid with people’s tithe/donations. He works as an administrator for a large church denomination. If he tithes 10% back into the church, is he in the end giving to himself? He recently set up a nonprofit with my mom. They give money to orphans in Cambodia and stuff. If you aren’t giving to the church, but instead to secular organizations that help people, can that be considered part of the 10%? Again, religious tithing is a weird thing.
I’m not necessarily talking about religious tithing, per se, but rather giving one’s income to charity (whatever form that may take, including your local Church if that is what floats your boat).
Did you read my OP or just the title? Re-check that.
Look at Cyrene, he gives his money to Scientific institutions. That makes sense to me! A worthy cause if I ever saw one, from my horrifically biased perspective
Often, most products we buy are funding companies that are funding scientific research. I am supporting them in this way. As I said, I often find time dedicated to causes more valuable than just straight forward money. But then again, those are two very different things.
It seems to me that trying to assign a set percentage or number on giving to others defeats the intent of the act itself. Helping others is helping others when we see the need. Granted, there is far more need than helping hands, and one must make choices about the limits that can be sustained, but it is too easy to “buy” ourselves away from being sensitive to need when we see it.
Being a heathen, tithing to a religious organization isn’t likely. The number of worthy charitable organizations could eat up every dime I could generate, so I decided to respond only to the needs for which I feel compelled to assist. Someone that I know (knew) dies of cancer. I don’t give to a cancer research organization, but I might find a way to help the surviving family members of that person. Most of my giving is local and personal.
A more important consideration is that whatever help I give, it is immediately forgotten. My giving of money, artifacts, or time is just helping others get through the day. I rely on empathy to convict me of need, but the helping out isn’t anything special. It is just part of being wholly human.
Here is an idea, if you want to keep your money for that better beer. Donate your skills and time. If You work or worked in a kitchen/foodservice. Well teach young people how to shop and cook. So many young people have no idea how to make a decent meal with just a few ingredients or how to shop and stretch their dollar, teach neighbors to buy in bulk and split it up there will be significant savings in that. Teach these classes at a community center or a Ymca or YWCA or at any halfway house. or where ever you see that you can do it.
If you have a skill that can better peoples lives, teach it, share it. heck go to a swap meet and buy kids books take them to anywhere kids maybe and give them the gift of reading, if they can’t read teach them. Teach people how to fill out applications for jobs and how to make a resume. Teach reading writing help teach budgets. Anything that you know that can better someones exisitence is generally better than just giving money. You know First aid, then teach it.
Just get out there and help rather than salving your conscience with a few bucks.
Tithes to ideal organizations are risky business. IMF loaned billions of dollars to Indonesia, or more specifically their leader Suharto. Suharto used the money in his dictatorship and it definately didnt benefit the citizens to say the least. Today the citizens are paying for this loan through hard work.(Illegal through american law and the paragraph concerning odius debt, but thats another thread).
This money came from tax money, and as such from a form of tithe.
For the record, donating to a church doesnt do much good either, because most of the time the church will hand the money along to an idealist organization who will then use it support whatever it is they support. Making it go through church increases costs and ensures less of your money reaches its goal.
On a COMPLETELY seperate note, dropping your beer to donate money to a possibly ‘good’ cause in order to make yourself feel better is a cheap way out when your wearing clothes manufactured by underpaid children in China and eat food produced by farmers being subsidized by the government to squeeze out farmers in poor countries, contributing to them being poor in the first place.
I think there is room for both kinds of “giving”. I have no problem giving money to help feed those who are starving on another continent. I’d much rather provide money to help them find ways to feed themselves, but first things first. A starving person hasn’t much interest in learning anything past how and where to get the next meal. I do agree that the very best giving is putting your butt on the line. Often, a few dollars and time spent helping others is worth more than ten times that amount in dollars. We’re an odd bunch. We’ll give dollars, but not our time.
It finally comes down to our intent. There is no perfect way or method of helping others, we just have to watch for the opportunities and do what we can. Our sincerity is really a private and personal matter. How we express our empathy is irrelevent. But sharing ourselves and our assets with all the other creatures on this planet just might be the measure of our humaness.
I used to volunteer a fair amount but I got busy and slacked in that area. So I’m using this as an acceptable substitute. I certainly think offering charity “in kind” is a more than acceptable means to go about it.
rschanke,
I suppose that depends on your conceptualization of duty as well as how and whom we owe it to. As well as the old notion of lighting a candle vs. cursing the darkness . . .
Well, it seems to me your doing this to make yourself feel better.
My question to you is this: All studies show that charity does not help poor countries longterm. All it does is boost the economy of already rich countries. The measures that helps are allowing the countries to enter the international market on a fair level. When you donate your money to causes in other countries, all you do is pay the salaries of western companies ‘rebuilding’ and ‘helping’ the countries and its people, activities that will -never- help the country become self-sufficient, and as such your feeding the capitalist machine and ensuring that the poor remain poor because helping them on a small-scale basis is big money. Do you not know about this, do you disagree, or have I misunderstood your motivation for donating?
