[Bolding added, when you hate fat people so much that you consider it a mark against feeding the poor]

Sorry Bill. Not quite right. The 10% tithing does not go towards welfare at all.
The welfare program comes from a system we have where we are expected to fast for two meals a month, and pool that money to help the poor. Unlike taxes, we literally sacrifice our meals to feed others. The recipients of this assistance know that they are quite literally having others go hungry to help them out. While there are still abusers and freeloaders, of course, I think this cuts down substantially on the sense of entitlement I often see in tax-based government welfare programs.

Don’t get me wrong though — there is no public shaming or the like in the program. The congregation is unaware of who is receiving the funds, aside from a couple of trusted volunteers that are in the know in administrating the funds (which are fully audited as well, of course, to prevent abuses).

The program works quite well, and my son once did an analysis of data on hunger in the US that indicated that if this “skip two meals once a month to help others” program were deployed nationally, it could end hunger in the US.

Thanks for the info. So there’s actually a separate “tax” beyond the 10% tithing, which comes out to roughly what? I know Mormons know how to eat on the cheap (so do I; I have been known to visit the bulk aisles at Winco from time to time), so the cost of two meals could vary considerably.

Also, what about the hard cases? Say you have someone who just sleeps in until noon every day, spends the rest on social media and blows her child support check on frivolous entertainment and sexy clothes, yet still has an pharaonic sense of entitlement. This is actually a pretty common profile, BTW. How do you deal with her?

As to your son’s idea, I’m sure he’s correct. Skipping two meals a month would more than eliminate hunger in the US. However, it would have another less desirable consequence: it would exacerbate the class difference in obesity rates by making the middle class and above thinner while making the underclass even fatter.