Photo with 10 notes

The above photo is from a pamphlet my father received from missionaries sent by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, of which my father is a member.

Under cover of anonymity, I have no qualms about saying that the underlined passage hits particularly close to home. Due to poor decisions made in his young adulthood, my father has never made a lot of money. In these trying economic times, it is absolutely ridiculous for an organization which believes themselves to be a force for good in the world to demand placing regular contributions to them over simple necessities, such as food and heating.

It is understandable that the Mormon Church requires money to stay afloat. However, it is absolutely deplorable that they would print a passage specifically meant to tell people that their concerns over not having enough money are not a valid reason for failure to pay a full 10% of their income. If they particularly needed money, they should seek alternative means, such as asking for donations from their richer members or selling products from the large amount of farmland that they own.

This is reminiscent to many of the upper class’ objections to progressive taxation. What these people utterly fail to understand is that, for a rich family, additional taxes will come out of fourth or fifth homes and a third yearly vacations. For a poor family, additional taxes will come out of food. If additional revenue is needed, seek sources and cut corners which do not require an absolutely repugnant sense of morality.

I have to admit, the Mormon Church’s charity efforts are a positive contribution to their communities. This in no way excuses their support for anti-LGBT governmental policies, such as proposition 8, or this blatant attempt to tell the poor that money in the Church’s pocket is more important than food on their table. If they absolutely must solicit donations from those who cannot afford it, it should be mandatory for them to give food packages to tithing members below a certain income level.

I cannot overstate just how disgusted I was to read this passage and I will be making every effort to spread it to as many people as possible. It is nothing less than disgusting that the people who wrote and published these pamphlets would think that this is acceptable and even morally right.

EDIT: Something I found out about later on is the Islamic practice of Zakat. Don’t get me wrong, Islam has a lot of its own problems, but this particular aspect is something I really like.

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, and a requirement of all Muslims. It is an obligation to donate 2.5% of one’s excess wealth to charity. Excess wealth meaning wealth after all of one’s own needs are met. As in, actual charities that help the poor and not churches that are just as likely to use your money for food drives as a church leader’s salary.

Global zakat contributions are estimated to be over 15 times global humanitarian aid contributions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakat