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 ?

It isn’t 10%, either.

Gertrudesgarden Sun 09-Feb-20 14:28:41
Nope. There's no poor churches. They want cash, they can sell off some of their gold, statues and other possessions......I do give to charity (air ambulance) but its not 10%. I'd be using a foodbank if it was....
.......
I haven't been to church for a while but used to go regularly and my church didn't take money 'for the church'; we put money in collection plate on Sundays which went towards upkeep of church etc but it wasn't much.

They would ask for donations for a few things supported by the church such as a homeless charity, an Ethiopian well, that sort of thing and that was voluntary - collection boxes in the vestibule.

The church was also extremely generous to parishioners in need.

Churches cannot all be tarred with the same brush.

Ah ok Forrandom. What you described just reminded me of somewhere, that’s all.

@OhTheRoses this made me stop and think. I wouldn't resent paying for a school place for a child, but I would if said child's parent didn't work for no apparent reason (disability etc not included in that). Raises the interesting concept of charity, but only on my terms.

For us it's not 10% because we can't afford it although I'd love to if I could. We're atheist so don't give to a religious organisation although I can see the benefits of a local church supporting their community.

We have monthly direct debits to:

-Trussell Trust (food banks)
-GOSH (I went there as a child)
-Stonewall (we're a two mum family)

We also make sure we donate a tenner to food banks (which works out to £20 with Ocado's double up scheme) every time we do an Ocado food shop.

Here in Africa it is a terrible racket. Charismatic people set themselves up as pastors and prophets. Prophesying is very big in Africa, for people who think magically and need hope. .

Some of the things:

spraying congregants in the face with fly spray to banish evil (that is now in the patois "I will Doom you!"
getting them to eat grass
Getting young women to suck 'holy milk' [yes, exactly]
Other sexual abuse, trafficking and rape.

And, of course, the 10% tithe. Off the poorest people on earth. Because their congregations are in the thousands, they amass a lot of money.

One of the prophets bought his 4 year old little girl a Maserati SUV

Bluerussian You're absolutely right - not all churches can or should be tarred with the same brush. Not all charities are run well, or ethically either, and I have a dim enough view of humanity that I believe all humanitarian aid comes with a side order of evil somewhere down the line - usually when a sociopath realises they can use it as an easy route in so they can undertake some pillaging.... Jimmy Saville springs to mind (hospitals rather than churches). But the "church" as an organisation.....they've got more money than god. That's why Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries after all - he wanted their riches for himself, him and his cronies. The "church" as an organisation chooses not to distribute the wealth they hoard. I understand that they can justify that in multiple different ways, and it's probably not for me to judge or object, as I neither contribute to the coffers nor do I attend any churches unless I have to (funerals, weddings).

But the question asked was, did I feel I had a duty to hand over 10% of my income to a church and my answer was no.

Religion really is the greatest con of all time. I can’t believe there are poor people on this thread giving money to an organisation because they made you believe in a god. It’s a massive scam and it makes me fucking angry.

No. I do believe it's your duty to pay your taxes and not try to wriggle out of it though.

Lol no chance not a penny - but I’m an atheist

Not all churches are wealthy. I think people may be thinking of the Church of England, or even the Catholic church, when they talk about selling gold.
Our local Methodist church has a small congregation trying to maintain a large Victorian building the best they can. There certainly isn't much wealth there.

We donate to the food bank weekly (just a couple of cans and cereal) and I volunteer at an animal shelter once a week.
I’m also a nurse who does more than my hours most weeks so guess I give to the hospital

As Christians we are encouraged to give a percentage of our wages. My church asks us to consider it. I sometimes set up a direct debit but not at the moment as I can't afford it

But @MaxPaddyandHarry, is it part of a larger group of Methodist churches? You might find that there is wealth held at a central level.

For my own part I give monthly to the Red Cross and to Unicef. We have also left a large bequest to a hospice in our will.

I dedicate my time much more than my money to charity

@Be1atrix The Trussel Trust was set up by Christians. It's not religious as such, but it it comes from a Christian background and with a Christian ethos.

I'm not telling you this to put you off (heaven forbid) but just pointing out that a lot of churches set charities up without making them ' religious' The vast majority are open to all and not judgy or preachy in any way. The vast majority of those who volunteer and who benefit will probably have no idea that those behind it are religious.

I used to live around the corner from a ‘charity shop’ in London. It looked like a charity shop, was arranged like a charity shop and for years I bought odd things from there and took in donations. The people were lovely and I just thought of it as ‘the charity shop’ ergo, ‘must be doing good’. It was often busy and had a good turnover of stock.

One day it occurred to me that I didn’t actually know what charitable work it was supporting. The signage outside was very generic. I couldn’t see much info up and eventually found an A4 handwritten sign in the back room, with a glued-on picture of a church in Africa, a smiling minister outside and an badly-worded message about ‘spreading the good news in X district’. Christian Aid it was not!

Now it may have been doing good in that district. Or it may have been one of the dubious preachers described upthread. But the point was, a lot of people were giving quite a bit of money/donations with very little idea of what that money was doing.

@FabbyChix it isn't is it? She with two wonderful boys? If it's the old Fabby where the chuff have you been? If it is, so thrilled. If not somebody has robbed a name.

Maybe doctor it isn't my church, a friend goes there, but the Methodist church is not famed for its wealth.

No way, after attending a funeral for one of my mum's relations who happened to be catholic I would never donate to anything to do with religion. The priest attended the wake afterwards & as people were leaving it was surprising how many were slipping a few notes to him to say a prayer for them, my dad & I were stood not far away & saw how much money was changing hands. I would have been very interested to know exactly how much of the donations actually reached the church funds.

I think it applies to any situation where a lot of money changes hand in cash and there isn’t a huge amount of oversight.

No I don't, I'm an atheist and have never been to a church service. I don't agree with any form of organised religion.

I give on an ad-hoc basis, at my workplace we seem to be asked every week for sponsorship money for someone running a marathon and there's the endless cake sales charity dress down days etc. The PTA at DD's school seem to cost me a small fortune. Old clothing and furniture is always donated the the BHF shop.

A few years ago I sponsored a guide dog puppy. I got seriously harassed by the charity, they were on the phone daily asking me to increase my monthly donation and they used to post books of raffle tickets to me all the time expecting me to sell them. In the end, I got so sick of them, I cancelled my direct debit and the experience has put me off ever giving my details to a charity again.