An email from my theist friend

[Solitary]

This was in response to a video I sent to him shown on here, that showed two young ladies asking donations to a children's hospital by atheists, and the other by Methodists.


The reason Christians gave less is they gave their money to the church! He He  But seriously, it did surprise me that the Christians gave less. As a group, Christians are usually a very giving people. I wasn't surprised by their comments though. Most Christians don't understand Atheism the way I've come to understand it after talking back and forth to you. Thanks for opening my eyes to Atheism brother Butch.

He's not my brother, it was a friendly joke I started.

[LoriPinkAngel]

I used to be a bill collector and I would have debtors who would say they could not budget payments for their bills because they had to keep giving their tithe to the church.  They would prefer ruining their credit and possibly getting a judgement against them over missing their tithe.

[Munch]

Your talking about the Jaclyn Glenn charity service she conducted with her friends. It honestly didn't surprise me, and it did highlight the kind of irrational caveman mind set of many Christians and there perception of atheism. 

The irony is that you know most of these theists have been saved by non-theists every time they are helped by medical science, since the majority of scientists, doctors and medical staff are of a higher percentage of non-theists. I guess when they are dealing with cancer or blocked bowls its okay to accept a non-theistic doctors help because god made him appear, but once better BURN DEM DOCTAS IN HELL.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

As a group, Christians are usually a very giving people.

Is that supposed to be funny?

[Solitary]

No, he was serious. I know, I know.  Solitary

[MagetheEntertainer]

that is one of the things that I feel Islam has a 1 up on christians with.  In Islam you are suppose to just give some of your money to the poor, or directly to charities etc...  tithes are complete nonsesnse, because even if you have a small church with say 60 members, each member giving %10 of their income to the pastor do the math and the pastor is making %600 more then the average individual and using the average income for an American adult which is $35,000 a year just as an example you now have a pastor making 210k a year which is also tax free

[Drummer Guy]

It's worth noting that Christians don't tend to be very giving as a group.  They have a terrible reputation for being really cheap tippers at restaurants when they go out for Sunday lunch.

[Munch]

It's worth noting that Christians don't tend to be very giving as a group.  They have a terrible reputation for being really cheap tippers at restaurants when they go out for Sunday lunch.

saving all loose change for gwad

[williemack]

that is one of the things that I feel Islam has a 1 up on christians with.  In Islam you are suppose to just give some of your money to the poor, or directly to charities etc...  tithes are complete nonsesnse, because even if you have a small church with say 60 members, each member giving %10 of their income to the pastor do the math and the pastor is making %600 more then the average individual and using the average income for an American adult which is $35,000 a year just as an example you now have a pastor making 210k a year which is also tax free

Yea if the pastor keeps all of the money for himself lol.  Most churches that I am familiar with, do more with the tithes than only pay the pastor's salary.

[Drummer Guy]

that is one of the things that I feel Islam has a 1 up on christians with.  In Islam you are suppose to just give some of your money to the poor, or directly to charities etc...  tithes are complete nonsesnse, because even if you have a small church with say 60 members, each member giving %10 of their income to the pastor do the math and the pastor is making %600 more then the average individual and using the average income for an American adult which is $35,000 a year just as an example you now have a pastor making 210k a year which is also tax free

LOL this is not how it works.  I grew up with a father who was a pastor, in a church with 60ish member, and we definitely didn't make 200k a year.  You have building costs, utilities, maintenance costs, secretaries and other support staff (admittedly many can be volunteering, but some still get reimbursement), materials for all sorts of functions that take place, and of course a portion of the donations are forwarded on to the district office to help cover their costs., which also has a portion forwarded to the national office to help cover their costs.  I have a lot of family members who are pastors (father, brother, cousin, uncle, etc) and I assure you that none of them make that kind of money in a church of 60-200 people.

[MagetheEntertainer]

LOL this is not how it works.  I grew up with a father who was a pastor, in a church with 60ish member, and we definitely didn't make 200k a year.  You have building costs, utilities, maintenance costs, secretaries and other support staff (admittedly many can be volunteering, but some still get reimbursement), materials for all sorts of functions that take place, and of course a portion of the donations are forwarded on to the district office to help cover their costs., which also has a portion forwarded to the national office to help cover their costs.  I have a lot of family members who are pastors (father, brother, cousin, uncle, etc) and I assure you that none of them make that kind of money in a church of 60-200 people.

I guess I could just be speaking from ignorance then.  I only closely know about the costs/income of the church I used to go to in VA, the pastor would rake in about 8k on Sunday (sometimes double if we had 2 services) and his utilities and shit really wern't that much.  The churches power bill was only slightly more then it was at my house probably because the lights were only on a few hours a week, and they got water for free.  There was no mortgage because the church was old and paid for, not sure if they paid property taxes, and the pastor said he was giving the money to certain charaties, but the list of "charaties" he had writtin down couldn't be found when I googled them.  The 8-10 other churches in the area operated similarly, although I don't know they're expenses I know the got several thousand a service.  Also the pastor at my old church would always stress how important giving %10 or more of your income was, he said even if you give %9.9 God will not bless you because it means that you are not generous.  So I guess it might be different in other states which is a big sigh of relief to me that everywhere is not as corrupt.

[Drummer Guy]

I guess I could just be speaking from ignorance then.  I only closely know about the costs/income of the church I used to go to in VA, the pastor would rake in about 8k on Sunday (sometimes double if we had 2 services) and his utilities and shit really wern't that much.  The churches power bill was only slightly more then it was at my house probably because the lights were only on a few hours a week, and they got water for free.  There was no mortgage because the church was old and paid for, not sure if they paid property taxes, and the pastor said he was giving the money to certain charaties, but the list of "charaties" he had writtin down couldn't be found when I googled them.  The 8-10 other churches in the area operated similarly, although I don't know they're expenses I know the got several thousand a service.  Also the pastor at my old church would always stress how important giving %10 or more of your income was, he said even if you give %9.9 God will not bless you because it means that you are not generous.  So I guess it might be different in other states which is a big sigh of relief to me that everywhere is not as corrupt.

I doubt it was as corrupt as you think it is.  A charitable organization such as a church needs to meet certain reporting standards and their financial records are made public.  If money was being funneled to the pastor in magnitudes of up to 8k per week for a church of 60 people, someone would have found out and called him on it.

And of course I'm aware that not all pastors are honest with their money, but the ones that aren't honest are the exception, not the rule.