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Monday, March 01, 2010

1633-1833: No tithing Taught

"During the nearly two centuries (1633-1833) while religion was understood by early Euro-Americans as a public good deserving public support a variety of means to finance religion evolved, much as a hodgepodge of user fees, licenses and taxes is used to this day to pay for public goods. ... In the case of religion there were poll and property taxes which could be quite high. As late as 1838 Connecticut congregations were taxing their members nearly 0.26 property value each year ... Massachusetts taxed pew holders. Annual poll and head taxes were used ... Some churches used pledges." In Pursuit of the Almighty’s Dollar, James Hudnut-Beumler, 2007, Vanderbilt University, page 9.

1 comment:

David H. Willis said...

Thanks for the history lesson. Interesting stuff.