Charity as religious practice

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[Hyacinth Belle]

On the other hand, it's ok that your religion doesn't speak to charity.

Thanks. I think it's great for people to do that, but I do not feel any sort of call to follow suit. *shrug*

[sailor_tech]

Charity is a funny old word though. I think a lot of people put 'charity' down as being an organization of some sort that is set up to help one particular area of life- orphaned children, poverty, endangered animals. But I have always viewed charity down as the action of 'showing love'. 

For what it's worth, the Hebrew word is "tzedakah" is usually used for charity. It's more exact meaning is "justice, fairness, rightousness".  There are eight levels of tzedakah. 

Also, of interest to the recons, it's taken the place of animal sacrifice.

[FunkyDemon]

In relation to the thread on favorite charities.

Is charity considered a requirement in your religion?  Does the type of charity matter?

No, charity is not a requirement in my religion.  But there isn't much in the way of dogma or requirements.  When I was looking for a religion I wasn't looking for any 'thou shall' or 'shall nots', so such meaningless requirements would automatically make me move on.

However, if 'charity' is required, I don't think it is still charity but a simple fulfillment of obligation.  You aren't doing it to do good or be nice or any of that, you are doing because you have to.  Someone that does charity for no reason other than to help others is showing real charity.

[Mari]

Ah, no go on that one! I am *deathly* phobic of hypodermic needles and IVs. I'm not even going to say more than that about the subject... just the suggestion is starting to freak me out.

Aside from the point that not everybody should be or could/can be donating blood in the first place...

[Marilyn (ABSENTMINDED)]

However, if 'charity' is required, I don't think it is still charity but a simple fulfillment of obligation.  You aren't doing it to do good or be nice or any of that, you are doing because you have to.  Someone that does charity for no reason other than to help others is showing real charity.

Personally, I would judge 'real' charity by its results.  Fulfilling an obligation of charity by joining an outreach group and giving gloves  and blankets to street people has the result of fewer street people dying of exposure.  Satisfying a desire to help people by joining an outreach group and giving gloves  and blankets to street people has the result of fewer street people dying of exposure.  The motivation behind joining this group and providing these articles is irrelevant.  The people have been helped and that is the point and purpose of the exercise.

If people feel obligated to give, whether by their religion, their social class, the clubs they belong to, etc., I will honour them just as highly as the people who feel no obligation to give and do it anyway.  Once the gift has left their hand, or the tree is in the ground, or the gloves belong to the recipient, where and why they came doesn't matter.  Charity has happened.

The only time I have a problem with charity, whatever prompts it, is when it comes with strings.  'You can have this food, but you have to listen to my sermon/political speech/rant while you eat' is not charity but commerce.  I can listen to you in exchange for this food, but don't kid yourself that you have 'given' me something.  You have 'sold' it to me.

The mayor-in-waiting who gives a truckload of stuff to the food bank because it's a good photo-op?  Thank you.  People will be fed.  They may still not vote for you, but that's what makes it charity instead of commerce.  You can't enforce any implied string, and your motivation doesn't matter.  Charity has happened, and at least you picked this way to get your phot-op instead of all the ways you could have done it that wouldn't have helped anybody.

I have no problem with encoding charity as social or religious obligation.

Absent

[sailor_tech]

If people feel obligated to give, whether by their religion, their social class, the clubs they belong to, etc., I will honour them just as highly as the people who feel no obligation to give and do it anyway. 

Absent

I'm going to comment that what you describe is described in the levels of tzedakah I mentioned earlier. The least meritious is to give begrudedly. The next to highest is to give where neither the donor or recipient know either's identity. The highest is to give to make the recipient self-sufficient. Note though that all are honorable, far beyond Not giving anything.

[Juniper]

The only time I have a problem with charity, whatever prompts it, is when it comes with strings.  'You can have this food, but you have to listen to my sermon/political speech/rant while you eat' is not charity but commerce.  I can listen to you in exchange for this food, but don't kid yourself that you have 'given' me something.  You have 'sold' it to me.

Yes, I feel the same. IMO, if somebody does this when giving 'charity', then it isn't charity at all. Something is only given charitably if the giver doesn't expect anything back.

[Whiterabbit]

Its not required as far as I know. To me , its sometimes common sense to give if I can. But not just money to charitable causes. I can give of myself, of my time. Sometimes its enough just to be present and aware.
 My personal ethics on this is, giving and sharing is  good. It makes me feel good. It may not change the world, but its basically good and adds to the overall good in the world. Its very simple really.
I have had some trouble trusting some organizations that wants your money for this and that, and I always been rather poor, so quite frankly I have not been able to donate. I worked for free to help homeless and poor people, through organizations that runs second-hand stores. But as I said, I didn't always trust that the money from this ended up in the right places...
My religion does not require it, but my overall philosophy does. So I felt an urge to do something after seeing how the gorillas are sometimes treated in Virunga. My husband and I decided to "adopt" one gorilla, so we did (from the Dian Fossey foundation). I think I want to do more things like that in the future.

[Allstar]

I see volunteering and giving donations as a way to serve the Divine.  I think that divinity can be found in every person, and by serving people, I am also serving the Divine. 

If that makes sense. 

I never thought of volunteering as a requirement for myself as part of my religious practice, but it's something I've done for years and plan on continuing indefinitely. 

[Lunamoth42]

In relation to the thread on favorite charities.

Is charity considered a requirement in your religion?  Does the type of charity matter?

As I'm still definining my religion... path... thing... it's, well, at present undefined.

That said, I do find charitable acts very important, and will probably work it into whatever I end up defining as my religious practice. 

The strange thing is, my job IS a charity.  I'm paid for the hours I work, obviously, but where I work is a 501c3 charitable organization whose sole purpose (albiet a state mandated one) is to distribute grant funds and/or provide much-needed equipment and continuing education opportunities to area trauma centers and responder organizations.  Some days I forget about "charity" and think only "paperwork and beaurocratic junk".  So I don't know where that all fits in to charitable acts, per se.

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