In
class, when we were discussing what shaped our core values, several people
expressed how their religion helped them have a clear idea of what these values
were. I would like to further
explore the role that religion plays in the development of core values and of our
idea of philanthropy.
Growing
up in an Episcopal Church, I was taught many of the core Christian values such
as the importance of love and service.
We were taught that since we were all so fortunate, it was our Christian
duty to help the underprivileged.
Each Sunday in church, we passed a plate through the pews and each
person made a monetary donation.
Even kids were encouraged to give through a program that only required
us to donate $1 per month. As a
child, I was always under the impression that these donations went to the
people we learned about, the underprivileged. I was both surprised and disappointed to learn that most of
this money actually went towards paying the clergy.
To
make things worse, every week we were encouraged to give more. A representative of the church would
get up in front of the congregation each week and preach about the importance
of “stewardship,” saying that we had a responsibility to the church to donate
all that we could. Though I am
fully aware that churches require money to run, wouldn’t it make more sense to
donate this money to an organization or group of people who truly need the
money to survive? In his tweet a
few weeks ago, Charlie questioned why a religion that preaches selflessness and
giving would spend so much money on ornate buildings instead of giving it to
the poor, an idea that I struggle with myself.
A
few years ago, I became very annoyed at my church’s concentration on its idea
of stewardship and complained to my mom.
I found out that I was not alone in my questioning. For the past few years, my mom had been
keeping track of each time pledging more to the church was mentioned during a
service, and for each mention, she made a charitable donation. I was impressed at my mother’s ability
to turn her annoyance with the church into a charitable game.
I
know that this is probably a unique experience, and it has not changed my
perspective on my religion as a philosophy, but rather on my religion as an
institution. I wanted to share
this experience, as it helped shape my core values. Though I still believe in the Christian values I was taught
in Sunday school, the church itself is not what motivates my philanthropy. How has your experience with religion
(or lack thereof) shaped your core values? What motivates your giving?
Like you Martha, I grew up with religion as a pretty average part of life. My mom was even my religion teacher for a period in my earlier years. She was great; giving meaning to beautiful concepts that could have estranged a young child. We attended church with regularity and went through every religious milestone in our faith out of choice. However, over time, our presence at church became less frequent despite the fact that we still shared the same beliefs. The ideas it instilled in me were still there but the constant institutional influence was not.
ReplyDeleteWe may have stopped attending church frequently because of time restraints (as sorry as that is to say) but there was still some prodding idea in our minds that the institution was changing. To say it in a less than scholarly way, it felt different. Humans have an amazing intuition and, when something doesn’t sit quite right, we are aware. It felt as if the church was less about the people within and around it and more about the particular institution. I believe that is what you were sensing too Martha. I believe it is also a sad outcome of our evolving culture.
There is one thing that church taught me that continues to stick in my mind. It is more of an observation than a teaching. There was always a sense of community in the pews. Despite all of the nuances in our lives that made us so different, we shared a strong commonality in that church. I find this particularly interesting at Christmas mass, one of the most popular masses of the year. There are parents with screaming children, widowed elderly people, disabled individuals, priests from various cultures and more, yet, there you all are in the same place with the same goal.
While religion is a part of my life, I don’t think the church would motivate my philanthropic activities. Institutions are fickle. The value of togetherness, on the other hand, is not.
Up until I was 13 years of age, I had neither heard the term Episcopal nor understood what the term would come to entail later on in my life. By the age of 13, I had attended more than 5 different churches, all seeming rather similar. However, upon my introduction to the Episcopal church at this young age, I was blown away-- not in a religious aspect, but rather at the structural organization of the church. Every church I had previously attended stressed the importance of donating a minimum of 10% of your weekly earnings to the religious institution. More times than none, if you did not make your weekly contribution to the church, you would receive dirty looks and most definitely stir up a rather displeasing conversation held over a cup of coffee, amongst church members. This is precisely why when I came to my Episcopal church, I was blown away. This was the first church that did not make offering seem like a duty of obligation. Like other churches, my church emphasized the importance of donating time and money to those who are less fortunate. However, at my church these statements seemed to hold actual weight, not only to the congregation but to the members of the church.
ReplyDeleteI can safely say that it is my church that has really motivated and encouraged me to engage in activities that bring a benefit to society while simultaneously allowing me to realize how important it is to contribute the little that I can. I can thank my church for getting me involved in giving back to the community and for helping water the philanthropic seed within me. Although distance serves as a barrier to my weekly attendance at my church, I have learned to truly value the importance of philanthropic endeavors. It is much harder to engage in such activities by myself, however, I have been making a conscious effort to offer my time and resources in a beneficial manner.
I find it rather interesting, yet not hard to believe, that we experienced such different experiences in churches that are supposed to be grounded on the same values. However, I am pleased to read that you have not allowed your church's desire to collect money, discount your religious beliefs. I applaud you for that.
This is a very intriguing blog topic, which I'm pretty impressed by; I never thought I'd be having a discussion such as this one in a university class at a public school. However, I'm glad you brought up this issue.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a moderately religious household, where attending church on Sundays was encouraged, but always my decision to make. I have very positive feelings toward the Catholic church as an institution, and while yes, it does make some very questionable choices, it has still contributed, in my opinion, more good to the world than bad. It is a core teaching of the church that no one is perfect, and while we strive to follow the teachings in the Bible as closely as possible, it is understandable that everyone makes mistakes, even the clergy themselves. As for the collection of money every week, I personally see no problem in this money going partly to the clergy. They receive no other form of payment for putting on the services every week. Also, not all of the money goes directly into their pockets; most of it goes into paying the bills of the church and for the payment of all the items the church uses on a weekly basis. Therefore, when I hand in a collection every week, I know that I am helping the church to continue and thrive, which will consequently allow it to keep providing its services to everyone who wishes to use them, and allow them to continue their many programs which help the underprivileged, such as their food bank. So yes, the Vatican is extremely excessive, but even our current Pope has come to realize that and is rejecting the wealth and channeling it into helping the poor instead. This allows me to continue to have faith in the church as an institution and support it one hundred percent.
I have feelings very similar to that of Heawon. I firmly believe that my religion has shaped my core values and made me into the person I am today. One of the most important teachings of the church is that we must help our neighbor, neglect obscene riches, and care for people who can not care for themselves. Because of my exposure to this from such a young age, there is no denying that my religion has instilled in me a sense of compassion could not have come from anywhere else.
I had mentioned in class that my philanthropy is shaped by my religion, but I have had a different experience then most. My religion is pretty small, most of you probably haven't heard of it. I am Unitarian Universalist. I said that religion has shaped my core values because the principles in which my religion upholds stress the importance of equality to all people and acting in a way which will make the world better. Like many other religions we do pass around a plate where people can donate money, but it is split in half. Half the money goes to the congregation and half goes to what ever charity we have chosen for that month. This is all stated and the charity explained before sending the baskets around during service. I have grown up in this community since I was a little girl and honestly love it. I have never felt forced to give money or do community service work but have always wanted to because of the values that my religion instilled on me.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post and the comments, I felt that I should respond myself to give a different view. I grew up in a very unreligious family and have never attended a single service at any church. Religion has no played no role whatsoever in my life and so I began to wonder what has shaped my core values and what motivates my giving if I have not been influenced by something that has so largely affected other people's lives.
ReplyDeleteI believe that much of what shaped my core values are based on my experiences in life and what my family has taught me. Like all little kids, I was appreciative of everything I had but never realized the true depth of how lucky I really was. As I have grown older, I have developed a strong social conscience. For me, this is most like because of the media, mostly the newspaper and novels. Since fifth grade, I have read the paper every morning, usually focusing on international and nation news. These news articles would highlight struggles of the poor and the widening gap between the rich and the poor. To a certain degree, the Great Recession also affected me because of the widespread suffering. Recently, I read "The Poisonwood Bible" and that book focused on the struggles in Africa.
My family has always taught me to treat others as equals and this has helped me develop such a social conscience. Much of my giving at this point of my life has been volunteering and support, as I don't have the money myself to give. In high school, I volunteered at an elementary school. I believe this because my family has always placed such an emphasis on education.
I must admit that religion has made me question giving. When I am driving by megachurches, I question how much money the churches cost, much like Charlie's tweet suggested. I wonder where the money could have gone instead going to the church and how many lives could have been saved or improved. Also, is the money going to the church really more beneficial to the church or could it used better for better causes? I don't mean that as an attack on the church or religion, but as a question that should be evaluated as, "Where will I get the most bang for my buck?"
First, I would like to clarify that my blog post was not meant to be an attack on religion or churches and though it does not seem that anyone took it that way, I felt that it needed to be explicitly stated. Next, I would like to address the intriguing responses to my post, as they forced me to think more about the relationship between my religion and my values.
ReplyDeleteKaitlin, I do believe that you were able to put my concern for the evolution of religious institutions into words. Your point that “institutions are fickle” really resonates with me.
Heawon, I also find it interesting how we had such different experiences in the same type of church. However, during my senior year of high school, I began attending a different Episcopal Church, much like the one you mentioned. The new church helped me realize that I was not uncomfortable with the idea of donating to a church, but with the focus on these donations.
Dina, I do believe that you made a good point about how the clergy must be paid, so thank you for helping me to better understand the structure of a church. Also, I admire your dedication to your religion and its teachings.
Emily, I love your church’s idea of choosing a cause to donate half of the collection to each month. The transparency of the donations is truly appealing, as I know that I am much more comfortable giving when I know exactly where the money is going, and that it will help people.
Nick, I want to thank you for offering a new perspective on the topic. Though your “bang for my buck” question seems a little harsh, it gets right to the point of my concern about how I spend my money.
I suppose that I was not expecting such diverse answers to my questions, but I am extremely happy with the responses I have gotten.
It is very interesting to read about all the different religious, or lack of religious experiences. I was raised in a Christian home, and from before I can remember we were at church every single Sunday. I can remember my parents teaching me how to put a percentage of my earnings in my savings account, 10 percent for church, and the rest was mine to spend. As I have gotten older, we drifted from attending as regularly and now we hardly attend except for on holidays. My parents are still religious, but they no longer feel a connection with churches in the area. Although I believe in God and am a strong supporter of all religions, I question much of what I was taught when I was younger and attending Sunday school. Looking back on what I can remember of my time at church, it seemed that we were taught and encouraged to give money to the church yet I don't ever remember them talking about their goals to help others. As I look back and compare what I was taught at church to what I believe now, I realize that while some of the basic morals are still here, I have been more influenced by my parents than the church.
ReplyDeleteMy parents are always emphasizing treating all people equally, working hard, and helping others whenever possible. While their beliefs came from Christianity, their actions were, and still are more influential to me than all the time I spent at church. And even though my parents are not part of a church, they still help others and support all I do to help as well.
I am motivated to give by what I am passionate about. It’s not because the church encouraged me to, but because I am passionate about certain movements and know that I can make a difference. Also after reading Peter Singer’s book, I am more motivated than ever to make sure I do whatever I can to help others in need. I was surprised at how much his work impacted me.
Though I was baptized as a child, I have gone to a few churches (two Catholic, one Unitarian and one Baptist I believe) only a handful of times. Over the course of my life my relationship with religion has changed many times, and I feel that my perspective has developed with each change. I have never been religious, nor was I expected to go to church services (except for the occasional Easter Sunday, before Christmas, or for a funeral). Religion seemed foreign to me, though I had the few experiences with my family. At first religion appealed to me. I liked to hear about how one should be a good person, and to sing. I wondered why we didn't come to church more often. But then I'll never forget the first time I was told I was going to hell. It must have been first grade, though it happened a few times, even when I moved to a new school in 4th grade. Why? I guess God doesn't approve of long haired boys and bastard children? (He really did tell me it was because of my hair.) Even from my few experiences inside a church, I knew this hateful accusation couldn't really be religiously derived. Religion was just an excuse. Nonetheless, I found myself associating these distasteful accusations with religion itself. I thought of them whenever people mentioned religion beliefs for reasoning. Who needs that? I'll be a good person on my own. Do you really need an almighty figure to procure morals? However, as time went on, the boy who once told me I would go to hell grew up, and I saw instead how religious values drove him to be a good person. I disagreed with him on many levels, but I grew to forgive him for his past cruelty. I saw how he did many good things for the community and cared a great deal about continuing to do good. I think this forgiveness helped me repair my attitude towards religion. I agree with Kaitlin that institutions can be fickle, and this has become the reason that I often feel iffy about religion. However, when I meet someone whom has clearly benefited from their religious community I am very happy. Anyways, getting back to philanthropy: I would like to draw a comparison to banking. Larger banks can be less efficient than small ones, through many levels of bureaucracy they become top heavy and through a large and geographically diverse clientele they lose touch with communal information and become less savvy in investments. Along these lines, I would never consider donating to a religion for the sake of supporting the faith, or to most churches. I feel the investment would diffuse into administration. However, on a smaller term, where one can see the changes that may be implemented, I would invest in a church or religiously affiliated organization. So long as I see good being done, and love being preached, it seems worthwhile to me. After Dina’s post I do think I would donate to a church of my own in order to preserve it’s function, however being churchless and all, I am more fond of donating to an organization like To Write Love On Her Arms.
ReplyDeleteI would love to write more about this topic but it is getting rather late and I am losing faith in the clarity of my writing. Perhaps someone would like to continue this conversation with me after class? I really loved this post though. I thought it was a great way to bring in religion and discuss it “safely.” Religion has influenced many core values and should certainly be addressed as a component that may influence and drive philanthropy. I would like to clarify that I am accepting of religion as a personal belief system and harbor no ill will towards anyone for being religious (or towards the two kids that accused me of being bad for looking different for that matter).