Dear Editor,
Since autumn is often a time for church stewardship campaigns, when tithing might be promoted, I’m writing about concerns I’ve had for years about the unfairness of tithing. On the surface it sounds fair: everyone is encouraged to give the same 10% proportion of their income. However, the apparent mathematical “equality” belies a deeper truth.
Let’s compare, for instance, two people or households: one earning $20,000 a year (as do many seniors on minimum income), and the other earning $100,000 a year. 10% of $20,000 is $2,000, which, if donated as a tithe, leaves the person or family only $18,000 to live on and for all other expenses that year. Meanwhile, a person or family with a $100,000 income can tithe $10,000 and still have $90,000 for other expenses.
It’s quite difficult for even one person to live on $18,000 a year after tithing, given today’s costs for rent, food, medicine, transportation, etc. It seems cruel to me for churches to expect low-income people to tithe their income to the church — potentially leaving them almost destitute. Meanwhile, people on a high-income might barely feel the pinch and still have lots of money for luxuries (unless, of course, they’re younger people with monstrous mortgages, who are often pressed to desperation, trying to have a home and raise a family).
As Christians, we follow a leader who often made a point of helping the poor. For example, he chose mostly fishermen for his earthly disciples. History tells us how oppressed those fishermen were in that time and place, with excessive or crippling Roman taxes on all their catch. God sees the struggles of the poor much more clearly than we do — sometimes struggling mightily to make ends meet.
As churches, hopefully we can avoid shaming or embarrassing low-income people by promoting tithing as “equal for all.”
Sincerely,
Adela Torchia
Christ Church Cathedral
