This is found over at "The Good Atheist" and is interesting how it looks at church giving. It makes it sound like we're rolling in dough and, I think, equates all churches with the megachurches (which, to be honest) get all the press.
Their article states:
I can’t imagine a bigger waste of money than giving it to churches. Seriously. It would actually be more productive if you threw it away in the garbage, since at least in this instance some poor homeless guy might actually find some of it.
Here's the video:
What do you think?
(HT/ Christian Nightmares)
Question: Does the Girdwood Chapel pay any taxes? Like property tax? If you don't, do you still expect the fire dept. to come if there's a fire? The police if you have a burglary? If you do expect these things and don't pay for them, is it fair to all the other people in Girdwood who are subsidizing you, whether they want to or not?
If you do pay taxes for these things, then I apologize for sounding off.
As for the video: makes a good point. Who is the big, fancy church for anyway? Not God, he doesn't care were you worship. Seems to me it's the ego and pride of the paster and congregation. Their envy of some bigger church? The greed of the church officials? (Hmmm, three of the seven deadly sins.)
If you could use a bldg that costs $1M but build one that costs $10M, think of all the good things that $9M could be used for: scholarships, health care, etc.
A lot of organizations "expect" fire protection but don't pay for it through taxes. And, perhaps, we could say that a church that is doing ministry in the community is really subsidizing the community without pay. For example, I've been working with the fire dept., providing a service without pay. Or, we now offer a safe place for youth on Fridays without pay. Surely, we may be the exception, but when it comes down to it, I think the video is showing the exceptions as well...the megachurches that have huge buildings. The average is much smaller than this.