Critical of church spending

 

Critical of church spending

A column appeared in The Dallas Morning News (DMN) titled, “Beyond the church offering,” written by Jamie Anne Richardson, an author and columnist.

In Ms. Richardson’s column she starts off listing the following as wasteful spending:

1)      Allen (a small town in Texas) taxpayers spending $60 million on a football stadium.

       2)      The presidential candidates spending more than $800 million.
      3)      Texans spending $3.3 billion on lottery tickets in the first six months of 2012.  

Meaning no disrespect to Ms. Richardson, her criticism is so representative of liberals in the USA trying to tell others how to live and spend their money.  Ms. Richardson being a native of Texas should know firsthand high school football in Texas is king and Friday nights in the fall are reserved for high school football.  If the taxpayers in Allen, Texas are happy to spend $60 million of their tax money on a high school football stadium, then that is their business.

Spending $800 million dollars on a presidential race is a lot of money.  Where does Ms. Richardson think that $800 million dollars go?  Did President Obama and Mitt Romney take the money and hide in under their mattresses or burry it in coffee cans in the backyard?  That money was spent on advertising, employing many middle class people.  Catering events also employing middle class, as well as their staff.

If people in Texas want to participate in a voluntary tax known as a lottery, guess what?  That too is their business.  No one is force to purchase a lottery ticket, it is pure choice.  Once again this also fills into the category of it’s none of your business. 

The column then approaches the church giving in the USA.  Writing $103 billion a year is given by churchgoers.  Quoting from a group “Believers Resource,” only 15 percent of that $103 billion is doing anything outside the church.  While 85 percent of the $103 billion is spent on internal operations. 

Ms. Richardson suggests the figure should be flipped and 85 percent of that $103 billion should be spent back into the communities.  Once again one must ask:  Does Ms. Richardson thinks the 85 percent spent on the churches is stuffed in boxes stored in the basement?  The money is spend on staff, building and grounds upkeep, all of which is in turn rolls back into the community. 

Basically once again we are at another “mind your own business” junction.  If Ms. Richardson feels money donated to a church is not spent well then Ms. Richardson has every right to withhold her money from the church and spend it in the community satisfying to both her and her family.

Liberals are not happy spending their money the way they want to, they find happiness and fulfillment in telling others how to spend their money. 

By all accounts Ms. Richardson seems like a very nice person, however with this column much disagreement with.  The beauty of our country is Ms. Richardson has every right to attempt to tell others how to spend their own money, as others have that very same right to tell her to “mind your own business.” 

The column referenced in this video:

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/local-voices/headlines/20120921-jamie-anne-richardson-dont-judge-others-checkbooks-lest-yours-be-judged.ece

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