Gordon Monson: The LDS Church could take a break from tithing, boost its image and bless the world

What is a church, a rich one that purports to be God’s own, supposed to do to better its world, to better its name, to follow Jesus, to take the heat off its leadership for collecting by commandment annual tithes from millions of members, and for hoarding more than $200 billion?

Here’s an idea for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Give it a rest.

That is, take a year off — maybe one year out of every seven — from keeping for itself the 10% that faithful followers contribute. Call it a kind of Sacred Funds Sabbath.

The suggestion here doesn’t let the faithful off the hook from tithing, although that might not be a bad idea, either. No, in that designated year, Latter-day Saints across the globe would reap the blessings of heaven — while blessing countless lives on Earth — by being asked to give 10% of their income not to the church, but rather to worthwhile charities of their choosing. Latter-day Saints could help alleviate world hunger or clothe or house the poor or help educate the disadvantaged or aid refugees. Think about that — donated funds going not to building temples, rather to putting roofs over impoverished heads. Doing so would then fulfill the tithing requirement for members to remain, according to church dictates, in good standing to enter those temples.

The church is rather tight-lipped regarding how much it collects in annual tithes, but recent estimates have pegged the total at about $6 billion. Imagine the positive effect that kind of charitable giving could have on a world in both need and pain. Hungry children would be fed. Marginalized adults would be helped. Distressed families would get relief.

It’s not hard to imagine that God would smile on that gift to a world, the Bible says, he “so loved.”

Here’s why the church should make such a move:

• The church cares deeply about the way it is portrayed and perceived. Such an offering would be a clarion call of Christian giving, unmistakable in its empathy and purity. As it is now, Latter-day Saints are known for not drinking alcohol, not smoking, not drinking coffee or tea, and the like. Under this idea, they might become better known for kindness, goodness and, above all else, love.

• Since the church looks for ways to spread its gospel by way of its 70,000 full-time missionaries, such donations might help open some doors.

• It would make the world a better place.

• If the church itself doesn’t seem eager to share its wealth in more major ways — not beyond a few million dollars here, a few million there — its members could pick up the slack.

Latter-day Saints, of course, already donate money to causes outside the church. Some do so and call it tithing when they are asked in temple-worthiness interviews if they are full-tithe payers. Some ecclesiastical leaders accept that without further inquiry. Others do not consider that tithing. In church circles, that’s an example of what’s called “bishop roulette.”

Adopt this initiative. Make such donations not just acceptable but also encouraged.

If church leaders followed this course, it would or could, in addition to the aforementioned benefits, partially soothe the souls of those who find it difficult or outright objectionable to fork over hard-earned individual or family resources, money that could be used to pay off mortgages or provide educational opportunities for children or put better food on the table, to an organization backstroking through fathomless pools of cash.

There’s something inherently Christlike, healing and healthy, heartfelt and helpful, about humans giving directly to other humans — or giving to charitable organizations that legitimately and responsibly aid other humans without taking a large cut for themselves.

The whole of that exercise would bring inward spiritual strength to Latter-day Saints and an outward identity for them — “My, oh, my, those Mormons are not just teetotalers, but giving, charitable folks” — as well as lift the church itself, a faith that could use a little polish to its reputation. Not just as an organization that claims it is God’s own, an outfit that knows how to collect, invest and store up billions and billions of dollars, but one that actually acts like God’s own, too, forfeiting billions from time to time by encouraging its people to give to the needy and poor, just as Jesus taught.