Religion and social justice should dovetail
I have been to church every Sunday since I was an infant and have only heard the poor mentioned in connection with an annual Christmas stocking charity program and the Bishop's storehouse program. But the stocking program is just a once a year thing, and I've only been to the Bishop's storehouse once. Meanwhile, I got my Laurel project doing three things: making a blanket for my brother, reading the Book of Mormon, and making the annual Father's Day booklet. Those are NICE things, but when people are going hungry in my own community, I think I've missed out on far more important ways to serve.
Look, I'm sure poverty has come up...but the fact that I don't remember when it last came up says something. I think it also says something that only fast offering money (the tiny amount on the donation slip relative to tithing) is used for humanitarian aid and Bishop storehouse stuff. Helping the poor--unless they're our own, Mormon poor--is not on the church's agenda.
They say the church helps out quietly in other ways. I'd like to know in what ways. And we shouldn't do it so quietly. Maybe we'd have a higher profile as a church and our congregation, at least in my area, wouldn't be so, well, white.
So where does the Church spend it's tithing money? I've been paying tithing all my life and all I know is that it builds temples. Great. Temples are important. But I remember a non-member friend describing the Oakland temple as grand and imposing. Does the Lord deserve the best? Yes. But I think His definition of best expands to include the poor. Frankly, I'd rather have my 10% go to the fast offering category. Jesus said the poor will always be with us. Let's care for them first.
Well, people need to get their ordinances done. But what about this life? I just read about an earquake in Indonesia that killed thousands. And then I got an e-mail from the Red Cross. They need more money because of hurricane season is fast approaching. I don't understand why the Lord would want us to spend all our 10% on temples, meetinghouses, and manuals. (The Church publishes lots and lots of manuals!) Food and medical treatment are more pressing needs. I desperately wish I could donate more to organizations that I think are more closely fufilling Jesus's command that we care for the poor.
Meanwhile...I'm going to Church tomorrow. Plenty of SUVs will be parked in the lot. (That is NOT to say that everyone in our ward is doing well.) But we are a long ways off from poverty. In fact, as a Church, I think we're quite wealthy. Meanwhile, the directive inside Church is to choose the right, to keep the commandments. The emphasis is on individual accountability and purity. Look, purity's great. But the exclusive focus on it along with the repeated prayers of thanks for our many blessings can sound a little hollow and, dare I say selfish? when there is so much poverty in the world. Basically, I go to church to scrutinize my conscience. But church doesn't bring me any closer to helping people in material need. Heck, if I were chaste and pretty with a Mormon missionary on my arm and a temple marriage on the calendar, I'd have my golden ticket to heaven as far as appearances are concerned. But virtue's a luxury when you're starving.
Look, I'm sure poverty has come up...but the fact that I don't remember when it last came up says something. I think it also says something that only fast offering money (the tiny amount on the donation slip relative to tithing) is used for humanitarian aid and Bishop storehouse stuff. Helping the poor--unless they're our own, Mormon poor--is not on the church's agenda.
They say the church helps out quietly in other ways. I'd like to know in what ways. And we shouldn't do it so quietly. Maybe we'd have a higher profile as a church and our congregation, at least in my area, wouldn't be so, well, white.
So where does the Church spend it's tithing money? I've been paying tithing all my life and all I know is that it builds temples. Great. Temples are important. But I remember a non-member friend describing the Oakland temple as grand and imposing. Does the Lord deserve the best? Yes. But I think His definition of best expands to include the poor. Frankly, I'd rather have my 10% go to the fast offering category. Jesus said the poor will always be with us. Let's care for them first.
Well, people need to get their ordinances done. But what about this life? I just read about an earquake in Indonesia that killed thousands. And then I got an e-mail from the Red Cross. They need more money because of hurricane season is fast approaching. I don't understand why the Lord would want us to spend all our 10% on temples, meetinghouses, and manuals. (The Church publishes lots and lots of manuals!) Food and medical treatment are more pressing needs. I desperately wish I could donate more to organizations that I think are more closely fufilling Jesus's command that we care for the poor.
Meanwhile...I'm going to Church tomorrow. Plenty of SUVs will be parked in the lot. (That is NOT to say that everyone in our ward is doing well.) But we are a long ways off from poverty. In fact, as a Church, I think we're quite wealthy. Meanwhile, the directive inside Church is to choose the right, to keep the commandments. The emphasis is on individual accountability and purity. Look, purity's great. But the exclusive focus on it along with the repeated prayers of thanks for our many blessings can sound a little hollow and, dare I say selfish? when there is so much poverty in the world. Basically, I go to church to scrutinize my conscience. But church doesn't bring me any closer to helping people in material need. Heck, if I were chaste and pretty with a Mormon missionary on my arm and a temple marriage on the calendar, I'd have my golden ticket to heaven as far as appearances are concerned. But virtue's a luxury when you're starving.
posted by Kristin @ 11:44 PM
3 Comments:
At 10:14 AM,
Anonymous said…
We can always do more for sure, and there is waste and such I'm sure. That said, if you build a short list of programs/issues where the Mormon Church is the world standard, it is in providing relief to its people. The whole commodity distibution and creation process is really quite incredible. A visit to any local Bishops Storehouse makes this point and I know the Church provides alot of consulting to other orgs as to how this has been put together and how it works. If the rest of the worlds major orgs got up to Mormon Church standard on this one, there would be at least a small dent in the problem.
One thing you mention that as a society if really heading to crisis is that the secure middle class, which has been around the bulk of the 20th century is really under seige.
When I grew up you could feel confident that if you would work hard you could make ends meet. You might not have much, but you had insurance and could pay rent. The % of our society that can lay claim to that is shrinking and creating a real fear. This is one our most pressing issues with no easy answers. Education and training is certainly one answer.
At 4:43 PM,
Kristin said…
I know that the Mormon church is an expert at delivering relief to its people. But does it provide relief to others? To the majority of people who live outside of the Mormon community? And what better way to do missionary work than to expand into the community. And even if we wanted to provide relief exclusively to Mormons. Why wasn't that more a part of my experience growing up? I went to more ice cream socials. In fact, at Church today, they passed around the sign-up sheet for service projects for women in Relief Society. Know what they were: making jam, helping others to make jam, providing someone with desserts for 3 months, babysitting so that a sister can go to the temple (that's better), sharing favorite books with another sister. It was friendshippy stuff like that. Again, it's not bad, but it isn't the most valuable service that our society needs.
At 2:47 PM,
Anonymous said…
I love your blog!
Tough to argue with you on this one. No doubt the Church can do better, and I think since I was a boy there has been much more reaching out and this has been for alot of reasons I'm sure. It took a few generations to get over all of the persecution. You can see that fear and anger ease as you read the leaders from Brigham Young to today. Very different.
On the point of service, I always remember the GB Hinckley quote that "the genius of the Church is Service". This is a gem with many facets, one of which is that the service benefits the one who provides it at least as much as the one that recieves. I don't know if making Jam is a valid service to provide, but if it helps build a friendship or allow two people to get together and talk maybe it was time well spent.
The real question I've wrestled with in all of this is "what do I do" and I don't mean that as a way to push off the question, but as a real way of trying to understand where service fits in my life. With all of the real demands we're faced with ends up being one of those nasty questions of priority.
I can say that those times when I've gotten outside of my own needs and problems I've felt the happiest and best about myself because I felt that what I was doing was making a difference, and it provided meaning in my life and that is I think, what we all crave.
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