EA - Tithing: much more than you wanted to know by Vesa Hautala

The Nonlinear Library

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Tithing: much more than you wanted to know, published by Vesa Hautala on September 18, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
Summary
This post explores the practice of tithing (religiously mandated giving of 10% of income to the church or other recipients) among Christians, including:
1. contemporary beliefs and practices (especially in the US)
2. questions about Biblical interpretation
3. wider theological themes related to Christian giving
This piece is mainly written for a Christian audience but should be useful to anyone interested in the topic.
Some key points
US Protestants usually believe tithing should be practiced (about 70% think it's a Biblical commandment)
However, only 4% of US Evangelicals donate 10% or more (I didn't find data for all Protestants, but the number is likely similar)
yet 38% of Evangelicals believe they are giving one-tenth or more, so they vastly overestimate their giving (again, no data for all Protestants)
There are different opinions on who the tithe can be paid to, with a local church being the most common answer
The Catholic Church does not teach tithing, Orthodox views are mixed, and the Church of England "challenges" its members to give 10%
The Torah has legislation on tithing that seems to command giving 20-30% of agricultural products and animals
In my view no New Testament passage sets a fixed percentage to give or provides exact instructions on how to split donations between the church and other charities
However, the NT has passages that promote radical generosity[1] and encourage significant giving to those in need, which suggests 10% may be too low an anchoring point for many Christians today
Introduction
This [Susbstack] post is an abridged version of the article An In-Depth Look at Tithing published on the EA for Christians website. [Note, I've also included some additional content from the full version and some other small changes to this forum post.]
Tithing is a contentious subject. Some Christians preach blessings on tithers and curses for non-tithers. Others used to believe tithing is a binding obligation but now vigorously advocate against it. If there is an obligation to give 10% to the church, this greatly affects the giving options of Christians.
This post first discusses contemporary views and practices and then the main Bible passages used in relation to tithing. Finally, I will present some wider theological reflections on tithing and giving.
A note on definitions: By "tithing" I mean mandatory giving of 10% of income to the church (or possibly other Christian ministries or other types of charity, there are different views about this).
Also, for the sake of transparency, I want to state right in the beginning that I don't personally believe in a binding obligation to donate 10% to one's local church. However, even if you disagree, I believe you will find a lot of this post interesting and helpful for deepening your understanding of the arguments for and against tithing.
Contemporary views and practices
This section is going to be rather US-centric for a few reasons. The US very likely has the largest religious economy in the world and tithing is a part of the US religious landscape. There is more data available about tithing in the US than for example the UK. US Christians also seem to be generally more interested in the tithing question.
US Protestants
According to a survey by Lifeway Research, 72% of US protestant pastors believe tithing is a biblical commandment that applies today. In a similar survey, 77% of churchgoers said the same. People have different ideas about what "tithe" means, but in the survey of pastors, 73% said it's 10% of a person's income (gross or net). The number of people who actually donate 10% or more is much lower, though.
The average giving among US adults who attend worship at leas...