In her letter "Gospels vs. government I" (April 9 and TribLIVE.com), Linda Gourash's argument that involuntary redistribution of wealth is foreign to Christian practice overlooks the tithe.
From an unknown date in the first few Christian centuries, the church followed its Jewish roots in teaching that each member had to give 10 percent of annual income to the church.
By the early Middle Ages, when almost everyone belonged to the church, this was a compulsory religious tax that the secular government could enforce when necessary. It funded parishes and monasteries, which supported what we would now call homeless shelters, soup kitchens and hospitals.
But there was nothing voluntary about it. After the Reformation in Protestant countries, in some cases until and into the 20th century, even members of other churches had to pay tithes to the legally "established" church.
All along, the church was the welfare state. If we Christians had been better at sacrificial voluntary giving during the Depression, here and abroad, perhaps governments would not have had to take over to keep the poor from starving. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
William H. Campbell
Swissvale
The writer holds a doctorate in medieval church history from the University of St Andrews, Scotland.
