Tithing for Non-Believers

Observation #1 on Tithing for Non-Believers -- Secular Tithing is a Trend

There are many who tithe (to tithe is to set aside 10 percent of your income for God) for religious reasons. I of course think that’s a fine thing to do, but I am not able to comment on the practice beyond saying that. I am a churchgoer and I contribute to the support of my church. But my church does not require tithing and I do not tithe.

The observations below consider the practice of secular tithing, tithing by non-believers. With secular tithing, the money is given to a secular charity rather than to a church. Secular tithing has become increasingly popular in recent years. Secular tithing is a trend.

Why? I think it is because non-believers see the benefits that religious belief has long brought to believers and are attempting to find ways in which non-believers can tap into those benefits. Tithing is giving, tithing is overcoming the natural inclination to selfishness. Religious tithing and non-religious tithing are of course not the same thing. But there are of course similarities as well as distinctions.

Observation #2 on Tithing for Non-Believers -- Those Who Give More Receive More

The secular argument for tithing is a paradoxical one. The claim is that by learning to give you will also learn to receive. Giving helps you to overcome narrow thinking. Giving helps you to turn your focus away from petty concerns that hold you back from pursuing profitable opportunities. Giving gets you outside yourself, and you need to get outside yourself to become truly successful in a world in which success is achieved by paying attention to the concerns of others. So go the secular arguments for tithing.

Is it so? To some extent.

The truly selfish are as a general rule not highly successful. I personally am persuaded that there is a connection between developing the ability to give and developing the ability to receive.

Observation #3 on Tithing for Non-Believers -- There’s Not Always a Payback in This World for Tithing

Those who practice religious tithing are not necessarily looking for a payback in this world; their focus is on the the world to come. Many of the secular arguments for tithing are focused on what will come to the giver of charitable contributions in this world. That’s not always the case; there are some secular arguments for tithing that point to the good feeling that comes from helping others rather than to any financial gain that may come of it. But I have seen a good number of claims that secular tithing will help its practitioners to attain wealth in this world.

It might. It might not.

Good deeds are not always rewarded in this life. There is a connection between generosity and success. But there are a good number of people who are highly generous and who are not successful in a financial sense at all. And there are a good number of people who are at least to a considerable extent financially successful who are not generous at all.

I believe that the growing popularity of secular tithing is rooted in something real. I am encouraged to hear people considering the paradox of how greater giving can lead to greater receiving. Life really does often work like that.

I worry, though, that some of the arguments for secular tithing overreach. Learning how to give can be the first step to learning what it takes to become wealthy. In many cases, though, giving must be its own reward. I am uncomfortable with suggestions that givers will always be rewarded financially. Giving always brings non-financial rewards. Sometimes it brings no financial rewards at all.

There is a correlation between generosity and financial success. It is not a perfect correlation.

Observation #4 on Tithing for Non-Believers -- Aspiring Early Retirees Cannot Avoid Coming to Terms With These Questions

Most people spend little time worrying about whether giving leads to financial success or not. Most people give for non-financial reasons and are entirely content to receive only non-financial rewards for doing so. Most view any financial rewards obtained as a consequence of their charitable contributions as a nice extra.

Aspiring early retirees are different. Aspiring early retirees are seeking to obtain ambitious financial goals. They have budgets. They know where the money is going. They are more aware than most of the loss in financial terms that results from secular tithing.

Aspiring early retirees should of course give to the extent that they believe that giving is justified by the non-financial benefits it brings. I question whether aspiring early retirees should engage in secular tithing out of a belief that secular tithing will generate financial benefits. It might. And it might not.

Observation #5 on Tithing for Non-Believers -- The Pain Is Acute for Those of Limited Means

Those who earn big incomes can afford to tithe and also to save large sums of money. Can those who earn modest incomes do the same? Ten percent of the income of those who practice secular tithing is directed to charitable contributions. A significant percentage is directed to paying taxes. A significant percentage is directed to covering the essential costs of maintaining a decent middle-class life. What’s left for saving?

It’s possible for those with modest incomes both to tithe and to save enough to finance an early retirement. It’s a difficult business, however. I believe that even those with the most modest incomes should be giving, either to their church or to secular charities. It’s easy for me to imagine circumstances in which those with modest incomes should refrain from secular tithing until they have put their own financial affairs on a sound footing.

To cut out all charity is a desperate and unhealthy decision. I am not persuaded that it makes sense to commit yourself to giving 10 percent in all circumstances for solely secular reasons.

Observation #6 on Tithing for Non-Believers -- Non-Financial Giving is an Alternative

My income is low for the time-being because of the career shift I have made. I continue to give to my church and to other charities, but not to the extent that I would give if there were more money coming in. I like to think that I am giving in another way. The work that I am doing today helps more people than did the work I was doing when I was earning a big corporate paycheck. I am giving my time. No?

This is a dangerous sort of argument to entertain. I am the world’s greatest rationalizer and, once I go down the road of thinking of the work I do as a charitable contribution, I can see the devil whispering in my ear that there is no need to engage in the financial kind of giving at all. It’s my job to resist that argument, and it’s the job of any modest-income worker who resists the call to secular tithing to resist that argument. Still, I believe that you can give through the work you do as well as through the checks you write.

If a mother stays home with her children when they are young and sacrifices income by doing so, can she be said to be as “giving” as someone who practices secular tithing? I say “yes.” Can an advertising copywriter who becomes a teacher due to a belief that the world needs good teachers more than good advertising copywriters be said to be as “giving” as someone who practices secular tithing? I say “yes.”

Again, you must give or risk the emotional ruin that I believe can result from excessive self-concern. Again, giving often really does generate a financial payoff to the giver. Again, there is a risk of engaging in rationalization in thinking of the work you do as your gift to the world. All that said, I believe that there are circumstances in which secular tithing does not make sense for those of limited means.

Steve Pavlina makes the case for counting the work one does as a form of giving for tithing purposes at his blog.