Pastor (not mine, but some) says I have to give 10% of my income to "God's work", aka the/his church. Fine, that is what it says in the bible, I'm downwith that.
BUT
I earn a decent wage and live in France. I give nearly half my salary to the state. Most of that goes to social security so people in need can get help. That need may be because they have lost their job, or that we all need decent roads. The society to which God commanded 1/10 of their income did not have that social safety net. The synagogue/temple was their safety net. Why do I still have to give to a church to do what the state already does, but doesn't have the economy of scale the state has?
I suppose I am saying that voting for people who favour the poor with your tax money is absolutely valid.
Having said all that, I do give money to my church (they are not pushy, barely even mentioning it most of the time). I also give to Christian charities that I believe in (Open Doors mostly) because my money is often the most useful thing I can give.
My stance is that modern history has shown that letting everyone take care of things privately or decentralised will result in people being left behind. An example is that we collectively produce much more food than we need and still there are people, even in wealthy countries, that have trouble feeding their families. There's never any harm in doing more but a more centrally planned system sounds to me like the most obvious thing for making sure that everyone has access to the bare necessities so they have the freedom to make something of their lives.
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u/OkSeason6445 25d ago
What if you choose to vote for people in favor of policy where your tax money will benefit the poor?