Why is charity found in so many religions?

Answer 1

Because most religions believe that Jesus Christ wanted to help people therefore people know that Christ would start charities.

Primarily there would be absolutely no need for charity if God was truly resourceful and compassionate. Through his resourcefulness and compassion he would have made all humans physically, emotionally, economically and spiritually equal.

Charity generally has two functions. In the first instance individuals get an opportunity to play God. Some people hope that it would lessen their burden of guilt for all their selfish acts of profiteering or exploitation.

In the second instance it was a political tool of the administrative hierarchies skillfully administered to sustain their established social divisions. Charity was used as an economic tool to motivate those servile people at the lowest levels of the social structure.

The above is absolutely correct in that there would be absolutely no need for charity if God made all humans physically, emotionally, economically and spiritually equal. I cannot speak for other religions, but in Christianity (and Judaism) this is exactly what happened. Christians believe that we are all created in the sight of God, equal with no race more important than another.

However, it is not a God who lacks compassion that is to blame as the above suggests, but man's own inhumanity to man. The earth has ample resources, providing we are sensible, for eveyone to have enough to eat, drink and live a reasonable life. However, the rich western countries for centuries have exploited those who are weaker in the developing world. The west, for centuries, has been greedy for food, oil, minerals, and most of the rest of the world's resources. Countries like the USA and UK and the rest of the European Union, have 'helped' developing nations by lending them money at exhorbitant rates of interest so that they get further into debt. They have given 'aid' in the form of cheap grain - so cheap that it undercuts the local producers who go out of business, so that subsequent famines are even worse. Governments like the USA and UK's leaders spend inordinate amounts of money fighting illegal wars rather than helping the poor both in the developing world and even in their own countries. As the above states, the rich nations sate their guilt by performing advertised acts of 'charity' that often do more harm than good, and also help the rich nation too get even richer through trade deals and arms deals.

With regard to Christianity - my area of expertise - Christ did not frequent with the high and mighty, but with the outcasts of society, the poor, the oppressed. If he was walking the earth in today's society, he would minister to the AIDs sufferer, the famine victim, the homeless drunk on the street, the traveller, the gypsy and any oppressed outcast. Christians are called by their faith to be more Christ-like in their lives. This therefore involves getting our hands dirty in ministering to those who are needy. It is fair to say that the Christian Church throughout history has been the one organisation that has consistently introduced free healthcare and free education to the world, campaigned for the abolition of apartheid, slavery, child labour, and continues to campaign against exploitative prostitution, child pornography and so on. Christian organisations like Cafod, Tear Fund, Christian Aid, USPG, Methodist Overseas Mission and many others, unlike the governments of rich countries who are sitting like fat-cats in their ivory towers talking about helping, are there, in the thick of it, in AIDs infested, war-torn areas, trying to help those who are most in need. Even secular institutions like Fairtrade recognise the impact that Christian members of their organisations make when trying to make the world a fairer place.

In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians chapter 13, he talks of what real charity is. The word used in the Greek is "agape" (pronounced AH-ga-pay) - a deep spiritual, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, deliberate, and thoughtful love. That is what Christ showed to the weakest in society, and that is what all Christians are called to show to others. That is why, in Christianity at least, charity is found and acted out - in Jesus' name.