Do you believe it’s your duty to give a tenth of your income to god/charity

[Lardlizard]

Or not partually a tenth but A certain amount ?

so to generalise about "all churches" is simply untrue

I never said 'all churches'. I said 'the number of churches' and 'every church I've been part of'. I think it's telling that a few people have now come on this thread shocked at the level of reserves their church is having looked.

Lots of churches are transparent about where their money goes on the surface. But if you look closer and question then it's not that simple. E.g. £500k goes on running the food bank - great on the surface but then you find out it's only for 'some' people, or that the process is being mismanaged wastefully, or that x amount is spent on something other than food. Or like my example earlier - £500k goes on salaries for the church. All well and good till you start noticing who gets the jobs or where new jobs are being created for reasons other than need.

It's the same as many charities but with the faux halo mentality and often forceful donations from a mislead congregation, all while talking about Jesus' principles. It's the same vein as why many of us don't look too closely at the behaviours of our fellow church members - some of the absolute worst behaviour and un-Christian like attitudes I have ever experienced have come from 'pillars' of my church. And they'd refuse to accept this if pointed out. Sometimes being part of a church is used unconsciously as a way to rubber stamp activities and attitudes and avoid addressing problems.

My church says I should, my church has also been hiding money that was meant for charities (allegedly) and built a shopping centre in Salt Lake City, so they're not exactly skint (unlike me.) I have given money to charities over the years for things I really support (Vancouver Rape Crisis, Action Aid, Women's Aid, etc) but not big amounts, and they're not regular set-ups (I got talked into that a few times when I was younger and I've got older and meaner, so they don't get to me anymore.)

Not to the church but to Give Directly, yes.

No. I don't earn enough to pay tax or NI so I don't earn enough to give to charity either.

God doesn’t need money. As for the church...I shit on them. The church is one of the richest organisations on the planet and I am not religious anyway.

Catholic, I give my time to the church, and my money to the tiny rescue I got my cats from. They are far more in need of funds.

A lot of people seem to take the attitude "my money is for me." I prefer Jesus' approach of prioritising the poor and vulnerable.

I don't earn a lot but I give to my (small, responsibly run) church and to charities that I feel compelled to support, like the one that works with torture survivors that have come to the UK.

I'm a non practising catholic.

And the Catholics certainly ain't short of money.

So fuck no.

Religious organizations
Organization Worth [billion USD] Country
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 67.0 (alleged to be as much as 100.0 billion) United States
Catholic Church Germany 25.0 Germany
Catholic Church Australia 30 Australia
Church of England 7.8 United Kingdom

I'm not a Christian, bit I believe I should give a proportion of my income to charities I support. Definitely a political rather than a religious belief. Probably give around 5%.

Yes we do.

My (RC) money goes to an organization for street children in South America, to an organization working in reforestation, my local church community who works with refugees, provides shelter and food for the homeless, and tries to provide help for people threatened with deportation.
A small amount goes to the running of the church, so that the secretary can keep her very part time job and we can actually heat the place.

I aim for 10% overall with about 3% given regularly by DD to my church, 3% regularly by DD to charities and the rest by one-offs during the year. We give to 10 different charities on a regular basis, all of which have some personal meaning to us. Often don't quite make it to 10% but am not legalistic about it, am just lucky to be able to afford to give that much.

Whilst "the church" may have lots of reserves and my church itself has a very healthy budget, we have very little in reserves (less than one month's spending - so basically reliant on prayer if there's a big spend needed). Of course church members benefit from the church itself, but so do about 300+ people each week who attend our toddler groups, youth club, lunches for the elderly and various support groups. Our ministers and congregation also go out to provide help/support to local schools (not church schools), nursing homes, the sick/dying/bereaved, homeless, people in debt, those using food banks and numerous other things.. About 30% of our giving is then given externally to those in need. So I don't think I should apologise for giving money to the church. Yes it benefits me directly as the church and its community and activities are a big part of my life (not least through volunteering in various ways about a day a week), but it is also of great benefit to many who aren't members.

A Tithe? No way. I was raised Catholic but do not give money in church these days. I only tend to go for funerals anyway when they do not pass the basket around.

I remember my granny giving me 2p to put in the basket in the early 80's. That would be €2 these days judging from church baskets. Has inflation really been that much?

I’m an atheist. I give money to charity because I believe you should give what you can to help others. I have no time for churches that preach charity while they hoard land, priceless art and huge investment funds.

Was interested in this "10%" giving to the church so I've done some googling.

Actually really interesting!

From what I've found online on various websites it was basically bought in after the exodus from Egypt as a tax where the tribes paid the leader 10% to cover things that our taxes pay for today so everyone was on an equal footing so to speak and was part of the Old testament. It was to help the very poor stay in Jerusalem and was not meant to line the pockets of their leaders.

It's an old law that was done away with as tithes were given to the Levites and priests, but there are no Levites and priests in the new covenant. Also tithes actually seem to go against the view of giving to be a joyous thing rather than being under an obligation to do so.

So unless you belong to a cult that requires you to hand over your money or belong to an old testament faith where they still practice tithing and it's mentioned in their religious text then giving 10% of your income to your church should only be done if you want to but there is no obligation to do so. You can't buy your way into Heaven.

Interestingly its a LOT of US websites where they state or hint that you should still tithe at 10% so this is how pastors in the USA get rich, they just guilt trip people into thinking they have to give 10% or more so they can get into heaven.

Yeah, the LDS church is fucking loaded. As my ex-Mo friend said, they don't need your tiny pay-cheque. I'd rather keep my money for myself, and if I'm going to give it away I'll give it to those who need it the most.

Why would you give 10% of your money to some of the richest organisations on the planet? They've been squirrelling away money, gold, land, jewels, and much more for centuries. Just look at the Vatican.

Giving to help your fellow humans and other residents of this planet is quite another thing.

Nope!

No. How would one go about giving money to God anyway?

You throw it in the air, if it comes back down God has no need for it.

But maybe don't try that today.

No
Would never give to a church or religious charity

We give when we can to non religious charities but it's not set amount or timeframe, just whenever

I tithe to my church, it’s not 10% of my income but I make up the rest by volunteering. I’m a street pastor and work regularly for the food bank.

Not a cat in hell's chance.

It’s a great racket for churches.