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.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]