Synagogues around here are like all-inclusive resorts; one price covers everything. There’s trips to Israel and whatnot that cost extra, but otherwise it’s a fixed fee to take advantage of most of the normal services and programs.a synagogue offers.
The only snorring is when the sermon is a bit boring.
Oh. Never Mind.
I don’t doubt they did. But it doesn’t really say much about how good it is at preventing pregnancies, does it?
I can’t remember what mine were for (I tossed the last bunch out), but I think they were all for the same organisation, and I think there were a few others besides. No, I don’t want to give to Catholic Social Services, I’d rather fund someone who provides condoms.
Like I said, I’m a bit torn because I do agree with some of it, but I feel like they expect me to pony up, like there’s no other options, and that bugs me.
And do these churches run daycare centres, sunday schools, have weddings - and are these, including all salaries for the pastor, the teachers, and the ceremonies, all paid for out of “voluntary donations” or are you expected to pay-per-event?
Well, that certainly would be cheaper. 
Exactly my opinion. Seems obvious to me that the cash has to come from somewhere.
There are no restrictions on Jews worshipping as they please - all you need is 10 adult Jews, or what is known as a “minyan”. A rabbi isn’t strictly speaking necessary, and you can do it anywhere.
How disgusting.
The responsible thing to do is to compost Grandma, to return her nutrients to the soil in a biologically and ethically responsible way.
Daycare - separate payment for those using it during the week (free during the service & Sunday school)
Sunday school - paid for by tithes (for the professional head), parents volunteer to teach. Open to all, regardless if you tithe.
Ceremonies
- Weddings have a charge for the space, honorarium for the Minister.
- Funerals are free to members, with the Deacons providing assistance. There might be a cleaning charge, I honestly do not know.
- Baptisms are part of the regular church service, no fee.
Minister and all other professional staff paychecks are covered by voluntary tithes and offerings. The rent is paid for by voluntary tithes & offerings.
The plate gets passed every Sunday. If you pledge, you get numbered envelopes for every Sunday, plus special envelopes for special donations. If you use the envelopes, the church sends you a quarterly report of your donations to use for your tax records.
Seems to me somewhat naive to expect the same level of services from an “all voluntary giving” organization, even one fleshed out with lots of volunteer work, as from one with an admittedly onerous and mandatory set of dues.
It is a simple matter of mathematics. How many members are going to “voluntarily” donate more than $3,000 in either money or time? No doubt some do - but will they donate so much more as to make up for all those who donate nothing?
Take your 80/20 rule. Assume 100 members in each congregation. The one requiring dues will accumulate $300,000 - $3,000 per member. The one using “voluntary donations” can only rely on 20% of members to contribute. In order to reach the same level, each one of those 20 members would have to voluntarily contribute $15,000 worth of either cash or volunteer time. And that of course assumes that no-one in the first group does any volunteer work at all.
That being said, naturally one may not want so many services from one’s organized religion. Which is fair enough. But there is nothing stopping anyone from either joining another congregation, or forming one’s own - all that is needed is 10 like-minded souls.
BTW, it isn’t as if a synagogue sends “Guidos” around to break kneecaps - any more that an “all volunteer” church holds shake-downs during services. They are merely different ways of achieving the same ends. Some find being importuned for donations all the time “crass” and would simply prefer to give a regular lump sum; others prefer it otherwise … but one thing is sure: in no case does the money appear miraculously.
Fair enough, and maybe it is more fair to have as it were a fee-per-use system - though it can be somewhat regressive as well (paying for daycare for example affects families with kids more, who may have less ready cash).
It may be naive to expect, but in reality the opportunities at all voluntary donation congregations are great. We would have to hold a side-by-side comparison to see what the differences are. My church has youth group, holidays, counseling, sunday school, music, and summer programs - all are free to any who wish to participate.
I guess. Though how all of this is achieved by people who find giving the level of fixed dues discussed above incredibly onerous is a mystery to me - unless they are “voluntarily” giving considerably more each.
We are crossing each other in posts!
I won’t argue that either system is superior. As I posted earlier, I was happy to understand the religous reason why you don’t pass the plate at the Temple.
The problems I can see with the required payment system is that the amount required is either going to be regressive, progressive or arbitrary. In every one of those, someone gets burned (though not at the stake, I hope). I remember friends in graduate school trying to scrape up the cash for the High Holy Days (apologies if I get the term wrong). For us, it was free to go to the several services around Christmas and Easter - and nobody commented if we only put $1 in the plate.
However, the fee based system WOULD eliminate the free-rider problem. It would also make church budgeting MUCH simpler.
Is your goal more at the service, or a predictable revenue stream from your existing congregants?
By eliminating the required fee, our church has a better chance of getting more people to come by and try it all, to then stay if they like.
Stewardship campaigns, however, are painful.
We find that people pay what they can when young (and they volunteer a lot). As they get older, they pay more. Finally, we get a big chunk at death through bequests.
Personally, I am in that multi-thousand dollar range in my donations. However, I have also been in the multi-crumpled dollar bills range as well. In both instances I felt that my membership was equal, and I was never kept from any level of participation. That engendered a lot of goodwill over time.
I don’t know of one church that requires tithing. (Actually, what is the Roman Catholic doctrine on this?)
See, this is why I’m not into gardening. You guys are weird.
My church “requires” (they aren’t going to do anything to you if you don’t, but it is treated as a commandment) that you pay 10%. We do not pay clergy, it is 100% volunteer and there is no fee for any (wedding, funeral, etc) services.
We compost my Grandma, and you are going to get an interesting mix of pharmaceuticals and gin in your compost. You think the pharma residue in drinking water is bad - wait until you spread GranniePost around the tree. The apples will be like the Looney Tunes acid you used to be able to get in the Haight, with the addition of having every breeze sounding like grandma correcting your bridge mistakes as trip down the lane.
Hmm. Maybe I should give her a call about a change to her will.
Just wanted to clear up a possible misconception…the Catholic Church generally expects individual parishes to support themselves, they don’t collect everything into a big pot and redistribute it. We do have sharing parishes, as I mentioned, where a parish in a more comfortable neighborhood will help support a poorer one, and in certain circumstances you can get help from the diocese, but in general the parish sets its own budget and has to raise its own funds.
Doesn’t Mormonism require tithing?