ric27
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2010
- Messages
- 7,541
- Reaction score
- 3,195
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
That is quite accurate. In fact, many Christians (and I should note so do many non-Christians) not only give large sums to charity and the needy, but also a lot of time. So do a lot of churches.
Your analysis is correct. The government taking money via taxes and doing whatever they do with it, including social programs, is NOT seen as charity. It is seen for what it is, taxes. The view of many is the government takes SO MUCH that it then just spends on itself they see the government as the antithesis of charity.
Somewhat relevant, is most Christian churches set the standard at 10% of income, much less than the government particularly when ALL forms of taxes and fees are counted, no just federal income tax. Some any see government is preventing charity rather than distributing charity.
People need to be careful not to allow the media to define religions particularly when mixing it with partisan politics.
In 2008, the MOST valid criticism of the Obamas in my opinion was that despite being in the top 1%, they give essentially nothing themselves to the poor and needy or any other charitable contributions. Yet no one cared about that. I think that showed where the Obamas' focus is. Singularly on themselves.
Agreed
Here's an irony for you. The liberal left is the first to cry out Separation of Church and State. They are the first to castigate religious beliefs of our leaders and to remove all religion from public life, especially Christianity. But their social welfare programs actually mirror much of Christian teaching regarding charity, looking out for one's brother/neighbor, etc. The difference is that the Bible says it is an individual duty and it has to be voluntary to be of any merit. You can't impose it on anyone, yet that is exactly what the liberals do. By not adhering to it personally, with their own wealth and property, and imposing it on the people, without their voluntary contribution, they completely pervert the idea.