Wednesday, September 02, 2015

 

Thou shall not extort


Maybe Moses’s tablets could accommodate only ‘ten commandments’, as otherwise extortion would have been mentioned in it, as not religiously or morally right. Then when the Church itself indulges in it, then the followers would need to resort to ‘tablets’ than prayers. The world in which we are currently living (or dying) in, has seen all weird forms of religious atrocities, from religious extremism to religious fanatics to religious fundamentalist to religious terrorism and even religious color, where in India if a terrorist act is alleged to be done by a Hindu outfit it becomes saffron terrorism. Though the color of Jesus is still debatable, but HE can be my God as it does not matter if he is ‘Black or White’.

What does matter and is concerning is, I never knew to follow HIM, I had to pay. Since it was my personal tryst with ‘religious extortion’ I thought I explore what this sham is all about, which was packaged as ‘community fund’. It was a letter a teenager from a ‘challenged family background’ wanted, which would allow him to receive the sacrament of confirmation from another parish, as his family may require to move from their dilapidated dwelling, which means he would move to a different parish jurisdiction. When the letter was requested, he was questioned why his family is not contributing to the ‘community fund’. The teenager just did not know what to do, but to go home in humiliation. I intervened mainly out of curiosity as this was a child who is supposed to be a recipient of funds, if there is a community fund; on the contrary told to contribute towards it, what a dichotomy. Have heard of medieval practices in history where one paid a tax if they did not subscribe to the religion of the state, but this was ‘pay to be in the religion’.

Since I did not want to be a part of a ‘subscription paid religion’, took the feedback of some in the community who confirmed it was ‘voluntary and not a compulsion’, then why was the priest insisting on it. On questioning the priest he started squirming with technicalities on the ‘request of the letter’. My question is if there is a community fund, who are the recipients? Why are the accounts of this fund not displayed in the public domain; so people would get encouraged to contribute when they see where the money gets utilized, rather than extort? How can one be a recipient of the fund in case one hits dire straits? Who decides the recipients? In the quest I had one religious who enlightened me, that in the bible it states one has to contribute 10% of their income, which is now only 1% which is contributed to the ‘community fund’ (looked like a discount offer). The Bible does not anywhere indicate that ‘tithing’ is applicable or expected in our time at all. It was a system which was brought in following the exodus from Egypt and the forming of the children of Israel into a nation of their own.

Thank God that the religious only mentioned of the 10% payment which is now on discount, that one can be in the religion by paying 1%. Imagine if he had to quote Luke 18:22 from the Bible to me, I would be looking at a community fund to fund my existence and maybe apply for the Prime Minister’s LPG subsidy fund to keep my kitchen flame burning. Besides the funds the Church collects during mass, there are other funds collected, but what was most baffling was a contribution to ‘Peter’s pence’, which funds the expense of the Pope. With one of the biggest financial scandals being in the Bank of Vatican, what funds is required for the Pope. Pope Francis is the best Pope Catholic religion ever had; on a lighter vein even better that St. Peter, as he betrayed Christ thrice. This Pope smacks you in the face with realism and not ritualism. Guides you towards Spiritualism and not religion. Thanks to his strong ‘Christ like whipping’ of the Church and its follies, the bank of Vatican earned €69.3m (£49m), compared to just €2.9m in 2013, when it was hit by bad investments and clean-up costs. With all this profit what ‘Peter’s pence’ we need to contribute too? High time for ‘Peter to dispense’ money to countries like India.

Why just ‘Peter’s Pence’ and not a ‘Thomas Pence’? St. Thomas was a disciple of Christ who brought the teaching of Christ to India, and there are times one sees volunteers seeking donations for a Church to be built in India, donations sought from various Christian (and other noble) Organizations who needs funds, and here we are urged to contribute for the Pope’s expense, when the earlier Pope lived a swelling lavish life, retired and is now living in a Palace. Is this what I am supposed to contribute too? How much funds from the Vatican or foreign churches reach India? So with the community pence wish there was some community sense that one could contribute with their 2 cents.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]