Andy Muhl sent this along. No more stewardship committees?The most annoying volunteer job I’ve ever had is that of treasurer at my synagogue; three years at one place, and I was dumb enough to volunteer for three years at another.
Trying to eke dues out of the small number of delinquent members had bad effects on my blood pressure.
Synagogues and other religious organizations are public goods; it’s easy to enjoy the services offered (pun intended) without paying your fair share of the costs.
Many European countries do it differently. When you move to a town in Germany, for example, you are asked to state your religion at the city office. Unless you say none, you are then assessed a surtax of 8 percent on your income tax liability, and the funds are paid directly to your religious community.
With a progressive income tax, this means that the rich pay a greater share of their incomes to support religious institutions than the poor do.
No need to go harassing delinquent members; it’s pay to play.
As a synagogue treasurer, I would have loved that; as a U.S. citizen, I realize that this is inconsistent with the separation of church and state in the United States (but any more so than Bush’s faith-based initiatives?).
And I realize that it might be difficult to determine what constitutes a religious organization — a problem that has arisen in Germany.
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/why-cant-religion-be-pay-to-play/
1 comment:
A problem with Germany's system (which is similar to Denmark's) is that there is little incentive to develop a sense of community within individual congregations, at least as far as I've seen (a son lived in Germany with his family for several years, and is married to a Dane). No welcoming visitors, no coffee hour, etc. and of course no pledging. On the other hand, the first day of school in the little town where the family lived was fun: it started at the local church, where there was hymn singing, blessing of the children and teachers and classes, followed by everyone walking up the hill to the school (my granddaughter was in first grade). --Friends in Germany have told us that if you de-identify as a member of a certain congregation, that decreases the amount the congregation receives from the government, and there is a sense of hurt. In addition, only certain denominations can receive money from the government: Mormons, I think, and Christian Scientists don't make the list.
--In Denmark, parents can count on the public schools to teach their children important things to know about the Bible (unless they ask to have their children excused); they don't have to take their children to Sunday School, or teach them at home--the responsibility is completely out of their hands.
Here in the U.S., if parents don't go to church--or teach the Bible, etc. at home--children will grow up knowing nothing about the Bible, and they won't even know Christmas carols (only secular Christmas music is permitted in many schools). Some Danes like the idea that the cultural aspects of Christianity
(they are leery of the other aspects, fearing intolerance, fundamentalism, etc.) are retained by their system of teaching religion in the schools. Here in the U.S. the cultural aspects of Christianity
are in danger of being lost in the next generation or two (let alone the more genuinely religious aspects of Christianity).
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