Why faith inspires people to give [View all]

[yallerdawg]

Tis the season!

Source: The Conversation, by David King

According to Giving USA, the leading annual report of philanthropy in America, religious contributions, narrowly defined as giving to houses of worship, denominations, missionary societies and religious media, made up 32 percent of all giving in America in 2016.

In Judaism, the Hebrew Scriptures refer to “tzedakah,” literally meaning justice. Tzedakah is considered a commandment and a moral obligation that all Jews should follow. The commitment to justice places a priority on their giving to help the poor. Beyond giving just time and money, rabbis even spoke of “gemilut chasadim,” literally meaning loving-kindness, or focusing on right relationship with one another as the prerogative of religious giving.

In the New Testament, Jesus not only spoke of giving a tithe but challenged followers to give far beyond it. For instance, in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions. Pursuing those values, a long monastic tradition has seen men and women taking vows of poverty to give themselves to the work of their faith. Today, while the tithe might not be practiced by a majority of Christians, most understand the practice of giving as a central part of their faith.

For Muslims, giving is one of the five pillars of Islam. “Zakat” (meaning to grow in purity) is an annual payment of 2.5 percent of one’s assets, considered by many as the minimum obligation of their religious giving. A majority of Muslims worldwide make their annual zakat payments as a central faith practice...

Of course, charitable giving is not just for the rich. For those with no money to give, the Prophet Muhammad considered even the simple act of smiling to be charity, a gift to another.

In working through the mandate of various religious traditions toward the healing of the world and individual motivations to give, people might understand that they have more in common than perhaps they realize.

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Read it all at: https://theconversation.com/why-faith-inspires-people-to-give-88206