• hzl@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    10·
    2 days ago

    Why has it been wasted? We could have raised maybe 300 silver pieces or more. People who are hungry, people who are starving, they matter more.

    Than your
    Feet and haaaaaaiiiirr

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 day ago

      Surely you’re not saying we have the resources to save the poor from their lot? There will be poor always, pathetically struggling. Look at the good things you’ve got.

      Think while you still have me! Move while you still see me! You’ll be lost, and you’ll be sooo sorry

      when I’m goonnee!

  • Retail4068@lemmy.world
    1543·
    2 days ago

    Look, I know the church has been completely hijacked and this is a meme, but they donated well over 50B last year as a whole unit. Plenty of churches use some of that money to go back into advertising good causes.

    • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      1 day ago

      Developed nations with social safety nets don’t have to outsource keeping their fucking citizens alive to religious institutions that build giant megachurches and try to take over politics and try to decide when people should have fucking empathy.

      I don’t care if they saved a trillion puppies, we should not be praising religion for doing the bare-fucking minimum I expect. I’m not mad at the churches who literally keep communities together and raise money for the poor, I’m mad at the churches who build media empires and try to oppress anyone who isn’t a white, male christian. You know, the actual vast majority of Christianity. The church has way, way too much blood on its hands for me to give them a pat on the back.

      I don’t have the energy to fact-check the 50-billion, which I am sure has about 5 asterix next to it, but that’s not as much as it sounds when we’re talking nations with hundreds of millions of people. (A fast check of US statistics shows US churches MADE 150 billion in 2025, but I guess that extra is just to afford Jesus’s jet fleet.)

      • Retail4068@lemmy.world
        34·
        15 hours ago

        And that has to do with the church spending some of the money advertising how?

        You’ve invented an argument to have online. I don’t disagree that stupid but you’re ranting off topic 🤷‍♂️

          • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
            4·
            12 hours ago

            Matthew 6:5

            “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

    • normalentrance@lemmy.zip
      51·
      2 days ago

      How much did they take in? Mega churches convince people to tithe large percentages of their income.

      Joel Osteen encourages tithing 10% of income, framing it as a way to trigger divine blessings, favor, and prosperity for the giver and future generations.

      His church alone takes in tens of millions in annual revenue and only donates about 1%

      • Retail4068@lemmy.world
        41·
        15 hours ago

        Is Joel representative of churches at large? Since when does he represent the entire Christian, Catholic, and team church at large? Do his actions cancel out the actual money that’s raised in far far higher amounts than non Christians?

        • ExperiencedWinter@lemmy.world
          1·
          10 hours ago

          Yes, he represents Christians in the eyes of normal people. So does the Catholic church, the Morman Church, and the Westbruo Baptist Church. All of these groups go around saying they are in the same club as you, why should we care that you think your part of the club is different?

          • Retail4068@lemmy.world
            11·
            6 hours ago

            I think, if you actually cared and didn’t want to just sum up a diverse group which does inclunde truly generous people, many partiparing in progressive movements, you’d probably have a better time identifying good progressive Christians by region, socioeconomic class, and race vs the generic denominations.

            Stop pushing folks out of the tent based on religion. It’s a lost cause that harms, at a bare minimum harms anti fascism and the hell the GOP is creating.

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.worldEnglish
      47·
      2 days ago

      Plenty of billionaires “donate” shit tons of money to their own tax write offs charities, so pardon me if I don’t give a shit about raw numbers

      • skisnow@lemmy.caEnglish
        24·
        1 day ago

        I went to an evangelical type church many years ago and all their charity spending was “missions” to spread the Word. One of the missions while I was there was to Six fucking Flags.

      • scintilla@crust.piefed.socialEnglish
        12·
        1 day ago

        1. I can’t find any sourcing for the claims made on that website.

        2. they keep switching back and forth between per capita and total whenever it’s convenient to the point. Of course most volenteers in the US come from a religious background most Americans are religious by a wide margin.

      • tetris11@feddit.ukEnglish
        15·
        2 days ago

        to who though?

        If I was a billionaire I also would spend money on the people that I like, just them, and no one else.

        • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
          35·
          1 day ago

          Ah yes, your average Evangelical Christian is a billionaire

          • tetris11@feddit.ukEnglish
            9·
            1 day ago

            You know what I mean though - effective altruism rewards only the groups those spending the money want to prosper, which is usually in that groups’ own self-interest

            • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
              22·
              1 day ago

              Sounds like we’re just unproductively strawmanning here with no real proof

              • tetris11@feddit.ukEnglish
                2·
                14 hours ago

                or quietly backpedalling in an attempt to not get entrenched in frank discussion

                • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
                  21·
                  13 hours ago

                  Are you a Christian? Do you have any Christian background? Did you witness Christians only helping other Christians? I and my fellow congregants have given to charity that doesn’t discriminate, such as foodbanks, foreign aid, etc. On occasions we have donated to a Church, but that was mainly for building maintenance repairs - it’s actually very pricey to maintain an old listed building. There was a parish which had roof issues and a potential risk of falling masonry. It was on a backlog to repair, not necessarily an imminent threat unless something crumbles off and falls. So to deal with it, they installed a discreet grating above all entrances into the Church for health and safety until they can actually get around to fixing the roof. Unfortunately, the council got upset that they fitted this discreet grating on a listed building, made them remove it which meant they had to last minute before the harvest service, ask for donations to fix the roof instead of their usual collection for a food bank. This church building is also open during the week and has a small little museum exhibit in one of the transepts, so it does lend it’s heritage quite well to everyone in the community whether or not they are believers.