There was a spate of articles in the papers recently about how ‘indecent’ the salaries were of religious group leaders, and their involvement in businesses. You can read here, here and here.

For better or worse, the conduct of various charities and religious organisations have been put under the microscope because of the NKF scandal. Most recently, we saw how the CEO of Ren Ci Hospital, the Venerable Shi Ming Yi, was accused of misusing donations. The need for charities to be above-the-board, whiter-than-white in their wheeling and dealing is a must, since they are using public funds. And, for the longest of time, they were operating with very little oversight or questioning by the public till the NKF scandal opened the can of worms.

Now, with news of mega churches involved in businesses, I suspect another round of questioning will arise. “As poor as the church mouse”, goes the idiom. Obviously, it doesn’t really hold true today. However, is it right for the public to expect religious (all religions, not just Christianity) leaders to be ‘poor’, or at least appear to be poor? Is it fair?

People like to quote ‘money is the root of all evil’, without realising they are actually mis-quoting the Bible. Actually, it reads ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.’ (1 Timothy 6:10) Money in itself is amoral. But, when greed comes into the picture, problem arise. If you examine the recent scandals we have with charities, essentially it is a problem of greed.

Too much money is a problem. On the other hand, too little money is a problem. One of the letters to the forum quoted (again) from the Bible of the example of the Levites. The Levites were supposed to be the priests to the people of Biblical Israel. While the Levites looked after the spiritual well-being of the Israelites, in return the Israelites look after the physical well-being of the Levites. The Levites were forbidden to own any riches. The writer to the forum implored the religious leaders to follow the example of the Levites and be poor.

Do you think the writer has a point? Is it feasible?

Labels: Religion