Tithers are probably more upset about Taxes [View all]

[cthulu2016]

There are millions of middle and lower income Americans who give 10% of their income to their church. It is voluntary, but they believe it is what the Bible demands. This is a serious financial burden for many, but they do get to see their money in action. Sometimes building a new church, sometimes going to charities in Africa, sometimes helping people in the congregation who have suffered a terrible set-back.

Tithing provides the other side to the RW culture of selfishness. For every Ayn Randian who wants to see the streets heaped with the corpses of the weak there is a poignantly christian Christian who has great empathy for individual suffering but a great antipathy for the government which aides the poor without also saving their souls.

Such people think their taxes are excessive because they already give so much to help the deserving poor while the government demands more to (in their minds) give to the undeserving poor—to criminals and perverts and fallen women and all those people the government is assumed to help.

It is good to be aware of these typical American tithers. I helps explain the depth of support for the RW obsession with privatization of the safety net. Many people who are far from rich are deeply financially engaged in private charity, and the idea that charity should be private is not absurd to them.

They are mistaken, of course. The social welfare demands of a civilized society cannot be met privately. But it is wrong to assume that the cannon fodder of the RW are not generous. Many of them actually are, but due to their religion have a distorted view of civil governance.

I was thinking about this from speculating about what is on Mitt's tax returns. One thing that will be there is some staggering annual charitable giving... quite possibly more charity given than taxes paid most years. The problem is that unemployment insurance and Medicaid is more important to our social welfare than whatever global charities the Mormon church is involved with.