Christian Charity vs. Non-theist Charity
Charity. The very word seems to be steeped in Christianity, doesn’t it?
This is probably due, in part, to the fact that the Vulgate often translated the Greek word agape (love of fellow man, also used to refer to the love between men and god) as caritatem (Latin, meaning “costliness, esteem, affection”, the word from which “charity” is derived) in what may have been an attempt to avoid the suggestion of the Latin amor which could be thought of in a more sexual manner. This translation made its way into the later English translations (Wyclif, Rhemish, and Tindale all used the word “charity”) and thus, the language of modern Christianity.
The other reason the idea of charity seems so connected to Christianity is that the scriptures mention in a number of places that the poor should be cared for. This is present in the Old Testament in some places and even more so in the New Testament. It is, by no means, the central point of any of the scriptures, but it is talked about. In fact, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
And Christians do give a lot. Most churches teach tithing (an idea which, though I have always felt was misinterpreted, comes from the old testament practice of giving a tenth of one’s produce to the Levites who, being charged with the operation of the temple were not allowed to own land, could not provide for themselves. But beyond that, they often support missions outside of their churches or give to religious charitable organizations.
I am sure that if you look at the amount of money that is given to nonprofits by people claiming to be Christian versus the money given to nonprofits by people claiming to be non-christian the scale would tip very favorably on the side of the Christians. (Possibly, I haven’t taken the time to look up actual numbers on this, so if I am wrong then please correct me. It is likely that the large donations of a few very rich non-theists like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have leveled the playing field.) However, I don’t think you can count all of Christian giving as charitable donations.
I will use the budget of the church I work for as an example. Our budget for the 2012 year is $367,441. This is for a church with an average weekly attendance of 100-115, mostly middle class to lower-middle class folk and a large number of retired people. Of that budget, 10% goes to the Southern Baptist’s Cooperative Program, 2% goes to the local Association, 1% goes toward benevolence, and 1% goes toward church missions. $64,884 out of $367, 441 is going to “missions” of one kind or another.
The rest is used for to pay the pastor, myself, and other employees, pay for insurance and supply costs, building maintenance, utilities, and literature. Christians see all of that as charitable work. They view the missions the church supports overseas, across the nation, and across the city as charitable and they also think of the work the church itself does as charitable. However, even if you look at just the 14% that the church actually designates as charity, only a very small percentage of that would be comparable to what a non-theist would donate. Of the largest chunk, 10% to the Cooperative Program, some is used to help the needy in our country and around the world, but more of it is used to educate ministers, support local associations, and send out missionaries. Christians see missions work as charitable, but they often provide very little actual help and a lot of evangelism. In the end, only 1% of my church’s budget goes to actually helping needy people directly (the 1% designated as benevolence). I would say it is likely that far less than 5% of the budget ever makes it into the hands of any needy person in a meaningful way.
I’m willing to bet (again, no hard numbers) that the charitable donations of Christians to organizations outside of their local church are far smaller than the donations atheists make to similar charities. They have, after all, already given 10% of their income to their local church, there isn’t a lot left over! (The churches I have been in teach that 10% is what is required of a Christian to give to their church, they are required to give sacrificially above that to support missions and organizations outside the church, it is taught!)
And even if you count those donations Christians make to organizations outside their church, they are often not giving to something that will spend the majority of that money only on helping the needy. For years I have sponsored a child through Compassion International. This is an organization that matches children in poverty with Christian sponsors. The child is provided with essentials for living: clothes, food, and water as well as an education. However, that education is heavily Christian-centric. They are taught the myths of the bible and Jesus as truth and I am sure they receive a second-rate education in critical thinking and science. Thus, the majority of what Christians give is used in the furthering of their message. One can hardly fault them for spending so much money on this, if what they believe were really true and the message they share is the only thing that will prevent people from suffering for all eternity then it would be money well-spent.
It does not give them the right to claim that they are more active and committed to helping the poor and needy of the world than unbelievers are. It is very likely that more atheist money goes directly to helping to ease the suffering of those in need than Christian money does. Christians are more concerned with the state of a person after they die than with their living conditions here. Most of the time meeting their “earthly” needs is only seen as a means to an end: converting them and meeting their “spiritual” needs.
I didn’t originally intend to write 1000 words on why Christians probably don’t support charity any more than atheists do, but it is a matter that I have run across quite often and felt that my position needed a little defending. That said, I wanted to provide some resources for the non-religious folks who want to give. Today in America we are, after all, celebrating all the wonderful things we have to be thankful for in our lives and many see this as a time to help those who aren’t quite as well-off as we are.
There were a few of things that prompted me to write this post, and I really had meant to make this a month ago. First was a friend of mine in our local Freethought group posting a link to a child sponsorship program for a secular humanist school in Uganda. The second was an e-mail I received from the Foundation Beyond Belief concerning the crisis in the Horn of Africa. A third reason is what prompted the first 1200 words or so of this post: I want non-theists to be known for giving, to be known for helping the less fortunate around us. I would love for it to be seen that Christian charity is only a means to spread their myths while the secular world is interested in helping ease suffering in this life.
So I’m going to give you a short list of non-religious charities that I know of, I am sure there are more and they can be posted in the comments.
- Amnesty International (Wikipedia article)
- Doctors Without Boarders (Wikipedia article)
- The Red Cross (Wikipedia article)
- Planned Parenthood (Wikipedia article)
- Water.org (Wikipedia article)
- Plan International (Wikipedia article)
- Oxfam International (Wikipedia article)
There is, of course, the Foundation Beyond Belief which I mentioned earlier. They do all the hard work for you in finding the most efficient charities in various categories. You set a donation level and select causes you are interested in and they do the rest. If, for some reason, you are not happy with a charity they pick for you then you can reallocate your donation to another.
The FBB are the ones who e-mailed me about the crisis in the Horn of Africa. The countries in the Horn are currently experiencing the most severe drought in 60 years, a situation which has been called the world’s “worst humanitarian crisis” by the UN High Commissioner. They have a project going on right now through the end of the year to raise money to help. You still have a little more than a month, so check it out!
There is also that school in Uganda that I mentioned. The Kasese Humanist Primary School provides a secular education for children in Uganda. The curriculum has an emphasis on critical thinking and science. $30 will sponsor a child for a semester, $90 will sponsor them for a while year. What better way to spread humanism and science than by helping educate children?
This is just for helping out with the larger situation. There are ways to give locally, too, though in some places it can be hard to find truly secular outlets for it. I encourage you to give of your time and abilities as well as your money. And, as I said above, feel free to mention other secular charities in the comments.
Thank you for this. I, too, am very tired of the word charity being synonomous with Christianity, when non-theists have morals that are just as strong as those of a theist’s, if not stronger. We also like to help people be who they are and achieve their own goals, instead of constantly trying to superimpose our own upon them, which I personally feel is a much better way to go about being charitable.
But how can you be moral and an atheist? Doesn’t god give us all our morals? :D Yeah, you are right, but the Christians try to pretend they have the monopoly on morality and charity and that without their god everyone are terrible, violent animals only looking out for themselves. If you make people believe that then Christianity looks pretty appealing, without they have lost a major selling point.
Another reminder that I don’t really fit into either of the categories — partially because I’m a Christian who has never thought to divide Christian and non-religious giving, partially because these days I’m attending a Mennonite congregation that has in its membership statement that they are committing to live simply in order to meet the needs of others (in the physical way you described). I believe all of it brings about the Kingdom of God — which, while you would certainly use different words, I think it really something we are both trying to create: a world where all have enough, where peace and love abound. The Christians I tend to be around most often these days don’t believe they have a monopoly on those traits. They seek to honor and care for all people, regardless of religious belief. Yes, my context is faith. I sponsor two Compassion kids. I think I’ve also given to almost all of the “non-religious” organizations on your list (I certainly try to push water.org every chance I get!). My biggest hope is that all of us can work together to care for others. I’m thankful that you are on the team with me — and do see you as with me, not part of the opposing team.
Yes, I know you push Water.org every chance you get, you’re the one who introduced me to them back when it was just Water Partners. :)
Also I would never argue that Christians, in general, do not help the needy. Just that they don’t all contribute nearly as much to that cause as they tend to think they do. Also, I’m sure that the average Southern Baptist in the pew thinks that more of their money goes to helping the needy than truly does.
I should also point out that there are some churches that do more, both in the name of missions and just helping those in need, and churches that do less than mine. As far as the SBC is concerned, I’d say we are average.
Where I live, there is a large percentage of Mormons – over 50%. Their idea of charity is that they share among themselves. They support each other and very little of their tithing goes to any outside cause. They have collective farms that are used to feed the poor among them. And as to tithing – if you don’t give, they will come to you and tell you how much you owe. One of them told me a long time ago that they came to his farm and told him he could donate a calf if he didn’t have any money.
I have heard other Christians argue before that Christ was only referring to fellow Christians when he was talking about “the least of these” since he includes “my brothers” in his statement. It has been a tiny minority, though, and usually Christians do agree that we need to help the poor, regardless of their beliefs.
Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian. And any cursory study of Jews shows that they believe their laws are for them, not for others. Jesus specifically said to not teach Gentlles, so Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was sort of going against what Jesus supposedly said, keeping in mind that if there were a Jesus at all there is no way that we could have known what he said. (Mark is a fictional epic, not a history.)
I don’t think there is much question as to whether there was a Jesus at all — it is whether he is the Son of God who was resurrected after dying that provides the struggle. There certainly are passages that seem to limit Jesus’s ministry, but even HE goes against that later. Folks argue on whether coming “for the lost sheep of Israel” was simply the beginning of ministry, or if Jesus grew in his own understanding. I think an argument that Jesus wouldn’t approve of teaching and/or caring for Gentiles ignores the large part of what Jesus did — which included healing Gentiles and caring for women: neither group held much status among the Israelites of the time.
As the resident (moderate-liberal) Christian, I would also suggest there is a lot of room between fictional epic and history.
I have to admit that the charitable infrastructure of the church is something to behold. If religion was to suddenly go belly-up, I’m not so sure us nonbelievers are prepared to fill that void. Although we have the hurdle of being generally disorganized, I think we do give as much as the religious and have an advantage of being free from the costs of promoting a jealous all powerful god (that can’t seem to do any of his own promoting).
I’ve been thinking about this one and I’ve come to the conclusion that if there were less religion there would probably be less poverty and fewer people who need help. Like Christopher Hitchens says, the way to end poverty is to empower women. And there’s a strong connection between the right-wing ideology and religious zealots.
@Jennifer -
There is certainly a very big question as to whether Jesus was a real person. I have no doubt that there were a number of Jesi street preachers. Flavius Josephus mentions at least 7 people named Jesus. But whether there was a real street preacher who became the central figure in the religion is certainly in question. Paul tells us nothing about jesus other than that he was crucified and came back to life, but we don’t know if he was speaking of a real figure or a figure in another level of existence, which was common thinking back then. The first gospel, Mark, is a provably fictitious account made up from such elements as snippets of Hebrew scriptures and Homeric epics. If there was a single bit of Mark that was some sort of history it would be impossible to sort it from the fable. The other gospel writers copied Mark, leaving out what they didn’t like and adding what they thought necessary to their own stories. And they were stories – these cultured Greek writers had no real idea what some street preacher in an undeveloped part of the empire may have said or done.
I wanted to let you know I’m sponsoring a child now at the Uganda Kasese school based on your column. What an amazing school. Thank you.
PS – it’s $120 a year now, not $90. Still a deal to help educate future leaders of Africa.
Thanks! I’m glad that my post has made a difference in your life and in some child’s life! Also thanks for the update on the pricing. It’s also still a deal compared to Compassion: $32 a moth comes out to $384 a year.
Interesting thoughts, I would say that it maybe depends which christian charity you’re talking about. Charities that work a lot abroad most likely have very high overheads which eat into the potential good work they can do, just the nature of the beast unfortunately.
The overhead isn’t so much my beef with them, I understand that. And actually, I hoped to point out that a huge percentage of the local church’s expenditure is on overhead costs that are just something that goes along with maintaining the spaces for the size groups they have. The issue I have with Christian charities is when they try to claim to be a charity while most of their work is in spreading their message rather than simply helping those in need.
Yes, there are plenty of Christian charities that don’t do this and that do provide a lot of help, but I just think that the average Christian considers a larger part of their giving to be charity than actually is, since they consider their donations to the church and those organizations which mainly proselytize to be charitable donations.
The overhead issue is why the cost for sponsoring a child through Compassion is so much higher than through the Ugandan school I mentioned. Since the Ugandan school is one school, run locally it is a lot cheaper than the mega-national entity that is Compassion International. I also think Compassion provides more for the children involved, but they do have a heavy faith-based education to go along with that. I would much rather help a child become a critical thinker than enslaved to the religion I have so recently escaped. :)
I am writing to thank the Administrators of the Secret Atheist website for listing Kasese Humanist Primary School project on your website.
I founded this school such that i promote free thought and humanist philosophy to the young minds, critical thinking and reason are the best we can give to the children, we should offer to them a balanced education that is free from dogmas and indoctrinations.
Keep monitoring the progress of the school and many thanks for standing with us.
Glad to help spread the word!
Ever wonder why they call it the Red “Cross” ??