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Yes. I like your argument: It seems reasonable. |
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There should be no collections at church services. Churches who pass round collection plates are
operating like branches of Mickey D's. Anyone who donates should get a burger and fries in return.
It's obvious that when you have a temple erected to celebrate the tenets of some superstition, and
you employ shamans and hierophants to officiate at the ceremonies, their upkeep needs to be paid for
in some way. The appropriate way for this to happen it to leave collection boxes at the entrances to
the temple. That way those who want to contribute can do so easily; those who do not can just walk
by.
The only point in having collections where a plate is handed round the congregation is to put moral
pressure on people. If people refuse to contribute then it will be obvious to everyone around them.
Is pressuring poor people through the stick of potential embarrassment really what these
superstitions are supposed to be all about? Most of them boast of their own credentials in helping
the poor, but, instead, they take every opportunity to oppress them by extorting every penny they
can from them.
Look back through history and see how oppressed people were by the tithing system, in which they had
to give a percentage of their income to the local shamans. Collection plates are a modern version of
that, using embarrassment as the prod instead of open coercion. |
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Sounds to me like you should seriously consider leaving that church. |
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Most churches are too consumed with turning a profit at the bingo tables. They should be spending
there time investing in saving souls. |
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I think that creating a community should be important to all churches and parishes. Without that,
you would have very little with which to attract new members and keep existing ones. At my Catholic
parish here in Canada, we attract agnostics and atheists to our masses and to our secular events on
a very regular basis, by creating that sense of community through various support groups--for
gays/lesbians, single Catholics, feminists, those suffering with addictions, etc--and by allowing
people of all walks of like to give the sermon (homily), rather than the priest. As such, those who
subscribed to a stereotypical and negative image of what Catholicism is all about can leave with a
far more positive impression of this church. The most unlikely people join our community--mainly
because we offer something different, hospitable and largely unexpected--and each year, people with
no Catholic or religious background at all, decide to formally convert and join the church.
I also think that having two collections makes sense, though perhaps not on every Sunday. The first
collection is necessary for the upkeep of the church building and its social/community services. My
church runs a soup kitchen in the parish hall, seven days a week, and people can come in at any time
of the day if they are hungry. It costs a huge amount of money to keep this operation running, and
we receive absolutely no public funds. The second collection, however, is usually for worldly,
charitable causes, such as building schools in Africa, helping victims of natural disasters, or
providing aid to those who are discriminated against in our own society and suffer economic
disadvantage for any reason at all. |
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What do you think churches are for.... In church do you understand the reasons of giving. Giving is
a blessing to the church. Also nothing in life is free ( That includes the word). Also if you didn't
learn anything from the word...why are you still there? Why don't don't you just not go to church or
choose another church? Wont that be better for you.....although you in my and my church's opinion
are blessed to be a blessing. Also this again in my opinion means that you are magnificently
bothered by giving. This means that you have money to give....but you just don't want to give. Now
that is straight up selfish. And lastly if you got a good word from the pastor...then what the
problem of giving. If you don't have the money ( other than your light bill money) then you deep
down inside don't have it. You cant give what you don't have. So why are you stressing to give if
you don't have it! |
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20 Jul 2008 13:31
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