Commentary; Posted: 10/10/07
How generous are we?
Rev. John C. Blackford,
Religion Columnist
The fall season is traditionally the time for financial campaigns in the churches. Other charitable organizations increase their appeals for gifts in this season.
It goes back to the days of the agricultural harvest after which people could decide how much of their bounties could be devoted to gifts for others.
Although our economy has changed greatly over the past several hundred years, the spirit of generosity still seems strongest at this time of the year, and so the requests will be coming to us again.
How generous are Americans? We gave nearly $300 billion to charitable causes last year, according to the Giving USA Foundation.
This amount was up slightly from a 2005 total, which had received a special boost because of aid to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and the Asian tsunami.
The Foundation reported a 9.9 percent increase in U.S. donations to charitable organizations focused on arts, culture and humanities, but a 9.2 percent decrease in giving to charitable groups that focus on the poor and other human services.
What about our support of the churches?
It is difficult to determine how much we give to religious institutions.
One survey reported that in 1960 churches received 51 percent of the charitable dollar, but that in spite of the greatly increased funding of our churches since then, the figure is now 32 percent.
One of the reasons for this gap is that in this period there has been an explosion of groups seeking our support, and they use more effective fund-raising methods than the churches.
If there is an economic downturn, the competition for the charity dollar will become more intense. In the past when the purse strings tightened, the churches fared better than other groups.
The effectiveness of financial drives depends not only on the resources available, but also on the need for support.
In this day and age, we are much more aware of the tremendous suffering in the world because of poverty, hunger, disease and war.
When people are made aware of the needs at home and around the world, they respond, often sacrificially.
In the past 50 or so years, Americans have been able to travel to parts of the world where suffering is intense, and their accounts have stirred those at home to give generous support to the needy.
Those who have not had this first-hand opportunity have thus been made aware of the plight of the sufferers.
When we realize that one out of seven of the events recorded in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John has to do with the stewardship of our possessions, we are reminded anew of the importance of our giving.
Others in less prosperous times have been generous, often to the point of sacrifice, for our benefit.
So we, in our affluent day, will want to continue the spirit of generosity for the benefit of our contemporaries, and for those who are yet to come.
The words of Jesus, “Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8), are still relevant.
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