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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: haqihana who wrote (21290)	6/23/2000 12:42:00 PM
From: Gordon A. Langston	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

cults France has decided to deal with them. marketwatch.newsalert.com Note the large public approval figures.

To: haqihana who wrote (21290)	6/23/2000 6:00:00 PM
From: Thomas C. White	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

Tithing is actually a very prevalent practice, particularly in the Southern Baptist and United Methodist congregations and their offshoots. It is also common in Presbyterian churches, and in the Catholic church on a parish-by-parish basis. Mormons also have official tithing requirements. While tithing is not formally specified in the the Southern Baptist Convention's Faith and Mission Statement, it is in fact the way almost all Southern Baptist churches operate on a local level, largely under the "informal" influence of the Southern Baptist Convention, which, as it happens, takes a big chunk of change off of its member churches. It is actually specified as in the United Methodist Church's governing documents. Inasmuch as the Southern Baptist Church is the country's largest Protestant denomination, and the United Methodist Church is the second, it would seem to be more than the occasional "bad egg" preacher doing this. Also, it should be no surprise that tithing denominations are by far the richest ones. Basically, tithing (that is, a more or less mandatory contribution of ten percent of one's income) is referred to specifically only in the Old Testament, particularly in Deut 14:22. Malachi 3:8 is the most commonly cited supporting scripture, which to some minds implies that you are robbing God if you do not turn over your tenth to the Church. There is little reference to it in the New Testament; tithing churches and pastors generally refer to Matthew 23:23 (in which Christ criticizes the Pharisees for their attention to the minutia of tithing, neglecting things like mercy and justice) as justification, because Christ's language implies to some that the Pharisees should maintain their tithing but not neglect these more important facets of religious life. But the interpretation is tenuous at best. In general, it can be considered a holdover from the "Old Covenant" that many churches find convenient to keep in place. In many (though not all) Southern Baptist congregations, the pressure to ante up for the ten percent tithe is ferociously intense, including even more or less "shaming" those who fall short, if not in the context of the service itself, then through the church "grapevine" of suppers and the like. Pastors often use relatives (often wives of recalcitrant husbands) and friends to pressure those who come up short. As to my own experiences, I attended college at Baylor, the world's largest Southern Baptist university, and attended a variety of Baptist churches in the Texas heartland. I certainly do not have anything in particular against Baptists themselves -- I got an excellent education at Baylor, and they paid a lot of my way through school -- but I can vouch for the fact that the tithe is certainly alive and well.