Stop the Hypocrisy. Education is Education.
"This time of year, we get hit up by a lot of charities."
These were the words uttered by a pastor in a tithing sermon delivered, a few years ago, around Christmas time.
"So far, I have been hit up by Billy Graham. I have been it up by prison ministries. But your tithe should go to your church. We are your family."
Thus continued the man who probably did not know my name. I believe he had said "hi" once when he entered the church's pastoral position a few weeks before.
Now, I have always had a soft spot for prison ministries - even before I started volunteering. So when I heard him say he had been hit up by prison ministries, I admit my thoughts were, What gives you the right? When I see you go to a murderer on death row and care about if that person's soul is saved and if that person gets into heaven, then I will say you have the right to say you have been hit up by prison ministries.
I left that church soon after that. I could not get that sermon and the hypocrisy of it out of my mind.
A few years later, I read a letter to a newspaper editor posted by a friend on her Facebook. The author of the letter complained that her town (a town known for its preservation of history) had paid with tax dollars for a historic cattle drive through the town. The town has a huge cowboy history. In times past, it was the important town on the Chisholm Trail. The cattle drive celebrated this town's heritage while, at the same time, it educated the public about town history.
I felt the same irritation I had felt when I heard the church sermon years prior. This cattle drive was a part of educating the public. Did this honorable citizen care that her tax dollars went to pay for public schooling? Probably not. She probably had been conditioned to believe education has to take place in a school. Obviously, she did not care about the educational value of the town sharing its history.
Just this past week, my sons and I attended a civic discourse event at a local coffee shop. The topic up for discussion was public funding of the arts. The speaker gave a superb presentation on how the arts benefit our community and how little tax money actually funds art in comparison with other programs. He included information about how the city funds art programs in schools. I completely agreed with everything he said.
When it came time for audience participation, I brought up the point that art is a part of society's education. When a member of society, be that person two or a hundred two, visits the local art gallery or takes an art class or visits a museum or observes statues lining downtown streets, he or she is gaining an education. Education of society is of utmost importance.
In centuries past, people did not doubt societal education. Regular, everyday people attended lectures, frequented poetry and book readings, studied for the enjoyment of studying, regularly visited art galleries, attended theater events. They realized education does not have to take place in a brick building with sign that reads "school." They realized the world is educational.
I admit when I took part in the discussion over public funding of the arts that I had in the back of my mind social media memes I have been seeing. These memes condemn those individuals who donated money for the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral. They guilt people into believing the donations could have gone for better causes.
Now I do agree that we all should be helping worthy causes. As my past blog posts prove, I am a huge advocate for the rights of the poor and of helping anyone who needs help. However, I dislike these memes for a few reasons.
1. They are manipulative. They remind me of the memes that convince people they have to type "Amen" in order to get God's blessings or of the memes that picture a sad-looking puppy and proclaim, "Share if you have a heart and are against animal abuse." The creators of these memes create them to get likes. They manipulate people's emotions for their own, selfish motives.
2. These memes remind me of that Christmas tithing sermon. Their creators feel the need to put themselves on a pedestal of hypocrisy by proclaiming they would never give to someone who hit them up for money. There is a place one's money needs to go, and it isn't to Billy Graham, prison ministries, a historic cattle drive, or the rebuilding of the Notre Dame Cathedral. These memes promote this idea as their creators and sharers pay for extra-curricular activities for their children, buy news clothes, and make home improvements with money that could have gone to feed the poor.
3. Just like with the woman who complained over the cattle drive, I have to wonder if the memes' creators would be complaining if the money to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral went to the local public school or state college or Harvard University. I have to think, to reason, the memes would probably not be in existence in these circumstances. I say this because there are donations made to these forms of education everyday. Every tax season, people who make such donations take them off of their taxes to get a bigger refund. I've never seen any memes about how those donations could have gone to feed the hungry or clean up the environment. Notre Dame Cathedral, like the historic cattle drive, contributes to the education of society. Notre Dame Cathedral, like the arts programs in my city, provides education outside of a brick building that bears a "school" sign. One form of education is just as important as another.
I am weary of the hypocrisy of our society. I am weary of the conditioning that leads people to believe one form of education is more worthy of monetary support than another. I'm weary of individuals who try to guilt people into doing what they want them to do. It is time we stand up to such manipulation.
Photos of my sons taken at the civil discourse over public funding of the arts
These were the words uttered by a pastor in a tithing sermon delivered, a few years ago, around Christmas time.
"So far, I have been hit up by Billy Graham. I have been it up by prison ministries. But your tithe should go to your church. We are your family."
Thus continued the man who probably did not know my name. I believe he had said "hi" once when he entered the church's pastoral position a few weeks before.
Now, I have always had a soft spot for prison ministries - even before I started volunteering. So when I heard him say he had been hit up by prison ministries, I admit my thoughts were, What gives you the right? When I see you go to a murderer on death row and care about if that person's soul is saved and if that person gets into heaven, then I will say you have the right to say you have been hit up by prison ministries.
I left that church soon after that. I could not get that sermon and the hypocrisy of it out of my mind.
A few years later, I read a letter to a newspaper editor posted by a friend on her Facebook. The author of the letter complained that her town (a town known for its preservation of history) had paid with tax dollars for a historic cattle drive through the town. The town has a huge cowboy history. In times past, it was the important town on the Chisholm Trail. The cattle drive celebrated this town's heritage while, at the same time, it educated the public about town history.
I felt the same irritation I had felt when I heard the church sermon years prior. This cattle drive was a part of educating the public. Did this honorable citizen care that her tax dollars went to pay for public schooling? Probably not. She probably had been conditioned to believe education has to take place in a school. Obviously, she did not care about the educational value of the town sharing its history.
Just this past week, my sons and I attended a civic discourse event at a local coffee shop. The topic up for discussion was public funding of the arts. The speaker gave a superb presentation on how the arts benefit our community and how little tax money actually funds art in comparison with other programs. He included information about how the city funds art programs in schools. I completely agreed with everything he said.
When it came time for audience participation, I brought up the point that art is a part of society's education. When a member of society, be that person two or a hundred two, visits the local art gallery or takes an art class or visits a museum or observes statues lining downtown streets, he or she is gaining an education. Education of society is of utmost importance.
In centuries past, people did not doubt societal education. Regular, everyday people attended lectures, frequented poetry and book readings, studied for the enjoyment of studying, regularly visited art galleries, attended theater events. They realized education does not have to take place in a brick building with sign that reads "school." They realized the world is educational.
I admit when I took part in the discussion over public funding of the arts that I had in the back of my mind social media memes I have been seeing. These memes condemn those individuals who donated money for the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral. They guilt people into believing the donations could have gone for better causes.
Now I do agree that we all should be helping worthy causes. As my past blog posts prove, I am a huge advocate for the rights of the poor and of helping anyone who needs help. However, I dislike these memes for a few reasons.
1. They are manipulative. They remind me of the memes that convince people they have to type "Amen" in order to get God's blessings or of the memes that picture a sad-looking puppy and proclaim, "Share if you have a heart and are against animal abuse." The creators of these memes create them to get likes. They manipulate people's emotions for their own, selfish motives.
2. These memes remind me of that Christmas tithing sermon. Their creators feel the need to put themselves on a pedestal of hypocrisy by proclaiming they would never give to someone who hit them up for money. There is a place one's money needs to go, and it isn't to Billy Graham, prison ministries, a historic cattle drive, or the rebuilding of the Notre Dame Cathedral. These memes promote this idea as their creators and sharers pay for extra-curricular activities for their children, buy news clothes, and make home improvements with money that could have gone to feed the poor.
3. Just like with the woman who complained over the cattle drive, I have to wonder if the memes' creators would be complaining if the money to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral went to the local public school or state college or Harvard University. I have to think, to reason, the memes would probably not be in existence in these circumstances. I say this because there are donations made to these forms of education everyday. Every tax season, people who make such donations take them off of their taxes to get a bigger refund. I've never seen any memes about how those donations could have gone to feed the hungry or clean up the environment. Notre Dame Cathedral, like the historic cattle drive, contributes to the education of society. Notre Dame Cathedral, like the arts programs in my city, provides education outside of a brick building that bears a "school" sign. One form of education is just as important as another.
I am weary of the hypocrisy of our society. I am weary of the conditioning that leads people to believe one form of education is more worthy of monetary support than another. I'm weary of individuals who try to guilt people into doing what they want them to do. It is time we stand up to such manipulation.
Photos of my sons taken at the civil discourse over public funding of the arts
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