[Hodar]

But the bishops are more than willing to accommodate the faithful who have nothing to give. It is an issue of those deliberately refusing to support the Church as a matter of principle, as opposed to some kind of membership fee.

It's a slippery-slope (I think we may agree here), my church has a very strong commandment on what we call "Priestcraft" (selling of sacriments for money or services). Among my faith, this is perhaps one of the major sins - up there alongside murder.

We believe that Christ commanded us, to give 10% of our PROFITS (not total earnings - profits) to his church. Those who do not, have broken a commandment and will be held accountable for this lapse. Our church leaders may ASK a petitioner if they have tithed 10% of their profits (if you have debts, do you have a profit?; if you are scaping by, do you have a profit? - IMHO, nope). But, under no condition does money play any part in your worthiness to receive a sacriment.

[Cronos]

I think we agree on the basic point that it’s not good for the govt to be collecting money for the churchs — whether catholic or protestant