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Sunday Thought

No particularly deep point here … but I contend that if we took every single dollar of taxation and instead directed it to religious institutions, we’d be a heck of a lot poorer today than otherwise.

I used to think precisely the opposite.

6 Responses to “Sunday Thought”

  1. Mike says:

    I would like to think you’re wrong, but I wouldn’t bet against it.

    I’ve been nominally RC all my life. It is clear that the closer you get to the parishioner, the more leftist the church becomes. There does appear to be an element in the vatican that understands markets and the creation of wealth.

    I’ve often left mass so angry with the priests that I’ve largely stopped going to mass. I belong for the education of my children (no public schools for them), and the social life. If two or more RC’s get together, someone is pouring drinks. I would wager that a good 75% of my fellow parishioners think the pastor is full of shit when it comes to economics. The other 25% think he’s full of shit when it comes to theology.

  2. Mike says:

    I’ll try not to swear anymore on your web site. It is rude of me.

  3. jb says:

    I hear you Mike, I am about to head to mass myself. Sounds as though wintercow might have just returned…discouraging indeed. There is hope though. http://www.acton.org check it out.

  4. Harry says:

    Jb, I checked Acton and their site has no content.

    I would be happy if tax rates were lowered to encourage economic growth, leaving us with more money to do as we see fit, and less devoted to government’s management of our lives.

    It would be awful if we were taxed and then the money were shipped to the Catholics, the Lutherans, the Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Hasidic Jews, Buddhists, Moslems, Orthodox Catholics, and Gaians, to mention a few. Let them earn their money the same way our choir makes it — by asking for contributions or any other voluntary enterprise. That’s Iran’s system, and we know what a big party that is.

    As always, WC makes a great point.

  5. RIT_Rich says:

    I’m not a religious person (far from it). I’m also not a catholic (far from it). I have also noticed a decidedly leftist distributive tendency within most (if not all) religions. (especially catholicism). But fundamentally, I have respect for their charities and efforts to help the poor. They do a relatively better job than government or other organisations, on a per dollar bases. Plus, they rely on voluntary charity, to deliver better results.

    If we gave all the money we have given gov, to religious institutions…if those donations were still constrained by competition between charities, plus its voluntary nature…I think they would probably still get better results than the welfare state. In my opinion, if we only sought to get comparable results to the welfare state, we may have had to only give 1/3 as much to religious charities.

    Of course, I could just be making all this up. I have no experience whatsoever with religion, or their charities and efforts, other than some observations from a couple of people I know (who are quite leftists, but do a lot to help “the poor”)

  6. Michael says:

    Another side thought, it seems that one of the best ways to destroy a church and religious society is to subsidize it with taxation. At least that seems to be the case in Europe. And no, I haven’t done any testing, just an armchair observation.

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