Good evangelical Protestants are supposed to ‘tithe’ i.e. give (at least) ten per cent of their incomes to ‘God’. But what does this mean in practice?

According to recent surveys (Ellison Research, reported in Australian Prayer Network International News, 10 Jul. 2006), a majority of American Protestant pastors say that the tithe should go to ‘the local church’ (i.e. to the pastors). But only about one-third of their congregations agree with them. Indeed most congregants believe that a Christian’s tithe need not even be limited to religious groups or causes.

And only a minority of those churchgoers who believe that they should give their tithes to the local church actually do so.

And then, of course, there’s the question of whether the ten per cent tithe should be calculated on pre-tax (gross) or post-tax (net) income. Churchgoers are split about 50-50 on this one, but not unexpectedly the clergy plump heavily for the pre-tax option. One pastor (hopefully?) pointed out that, ‘When we calculate our tithes based on net income, we put the government ahead of God’.

Isn’t Christian unity a wonderful thing?

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