The New Tithe

Mega-churches have used religion as fund-raising tool for too long. They shower their followers in sanctimonious platitudes, then clamor for their cash. This video encourages a new definition of tithing by giving to causes with accountability.

Written by Tony Wann & Justin Wilson
Directed/Edited by Justin Wilson
Motion Graphics by Tony Wann

Music: Good Old Neon
"One Never Says Verbal When One Means Oral"
licensed under a Sampling Plus License
freemusicarchive.org/​music/​Good_Old_Neon

Stills licensed from iStockphoto LP or shot by us

Sources:

Senator Grassley Senate Finance Committee files
Review of Media-Based Ministries - January 6, 2011

- taxdollars.ocregister.com/​files/​2011/​01/​SFC-Staff-Memo-to-Grassley-re-Ministries-01-06-11-FINAL.pdf

Forbes - America's Biggest Megachurches - June 26, 2009

- forbes.com/​2009/​06/​26/​americas-biggest-megachurches-business-megachurches.html

USA Today - View of God can predict values, politics - Nov. 12, 2006

- usatoday.com/​news/​religion/​2006-09-11-religion-survey_x.htm


Special thanks to our on-screen talent: Sierra Sintic, Justin Lochlear, Artie Pena, James Rayburn, Matt Pittman, David Slack

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• The New Tithe
• megachurch
• mega
• church
• religion
• tax
• atheist
• atheism
• tithe
• preacher

[SuperRaceify]

This is ridiculous.

[TheRestlessRhyme]

@SuperRaceify i know, right? mega-churches have got to go.

[cutes22]

Well done, Justin.

[TheRestlessRhyme]

@cutes22 thanks, although Tony deserves some gratitude as well. His motion graphics make the piece.

[HonorBoundRider]

@TheRestlessRhyme - Why are you so afraid of the Church? Why are you so afraid of a man who laid down his life and took your place at the cross and died so you could live? Face it, God loves you. You will never be able to change that fact.

[TheRestlessRhyme]

@HonorBoundRider Who said anything about being afraid? God is an ever-evolving idea that changes with humanity. Your claim that an omniscient super-intelligence sent his mortal son to be tortured and sacrificed for my sake is both disturbing and grotesque.

[koala8]

i think if a church operates like a business, it should be taxed like one...

[MrSantikos]

think about it. a person gives money to attend once a week. To listen to some dude read from the bible. If i was a good speaker and reader and had the gift of speaking i would do the same thing. I just work for 2 hrs during the week and get cash. only in america

[CrunchBogus]

@Porche911Turbo71 But really the point here, in relation to this video, is that mega churches are a shill that cash in on religion to exploit the faithful to satisfy their own mortal vanity. Whether you are a believer or not, that can't sit well with a decent human being, and I am sorry to lead the topic off-track to an irrelevant side-argument.

[CrunchBogus]

@Porche911Turbo71 ...he'd been raised to believe. Now being 5 or 6 years after the doc came out, I've started to find some counter-arguments for some of his claims. It could be argued that, though Matthew and friends didn't write about Jesus til 40-80 years after his death, basing their writing on oral tradition, Jesus may have well existed and they just happened to get the most accurate version. Point is, if you don't believe, it's all very obscure and fishy.

[CrunchBogus]

@Porche911Turbo71 On further inspection, I did mis-quote how long these authors lived after Jesus, but they did write about him decades-to-a-century after his death all the same, according to most accounts. I can't post any links in a YouTube comment, but I recommend checking out the documentary "The God Who Wasn't There" by Brian Flemming. He was raised a fiercely fundamentalist Christian who realized the hypocrisy of his own church and sought to argue much of what... (cont.)

[Porche911Turbo71]

@CrunchBogus I would agree, torture and death are things that are not good. Though I would argue that Man's VIEW or CONCEPT of "God is an ever-evolving idea that changes with humanity," because to someone who knows or believes there is a God (in the classic monotheistic sense) would be contradicting their own beliefs if they thought their God "changed" simply due to human views. The rest of what you said needs to be cited though, they are huge claims that, to my knowledge, have no backing.

[CrunchBogus]

@Porche911Turbo71 Let me make it clear that I'm not insinuating you are either right or wrong. I'm just giving you things to consider, and an answer to your question from an onlookers' perspective in case TheRestlessRhyme doesn't get back to you.

[CrunchBogus]

@Porche911Turbo71 Probably because torture and death are grotesque things. That, and it could all be just as made-up as the Tooth Fairy. Consider the thousands of other religions that have existed throughout human history - "God is an ever-evolving idea that changes with humanity." Also consider that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John lived hundreds of years after Jesus' death and, according to early versions of the scripture, may have only written about him allegorically, not as a real person.

[CrunchBogus]

@HonorBoundRider Because arguing that mega-churches exploit the faithful to line their own pockets, instead of spending their tax-exempt income on things that actually further the tenets of their religion, is equal to dissing said religion entirely. God sure blessed you with one logical mind!

[Porche911Turbo71]

@TheRestlessRhyme What makes Jesus dying for your sake disturbing and grotesque? Saying something doesn't make it so. I would like an explaination to your statement.

[mjb519]

Mmmm.