A new study is out about tithing in church.  Published by Oxford University Press, this book is a carefull look at what, why, and how people give to churches.  You can order the book here:

There were a few really outstanding findings.  One of them had to do with what would happen if tithing were required.  An interesting question, and here are the results.

Active American Christian church members were asked, “Suppose your church made a new requirement for church membership: members must give ten percent of their after-tax income to the church or other good causes. Those giving less than ten percent could still attend church, but would not be considered members in good standing. How would you most likely respond to this requirement?” The results showed that 51% of American Christians would either drop out of church or move to a different church if required to tithe. Only 7% said they would just start giving ten percent. 16% said they already give ten percent of their income. 25% would continue to attend, but they would give less than ten percent. 35% said they would move to a church that doesn’t have this requirement, and 16% said they would drop out of church life altogether.

This is quite a finding.  What would you do?

DSL