Today a friend said:

If budgets are moral documents then Hell is going to be over-crowded with church folk.

and another replied:

also pretty much most families. Do you have a budget? Do you look to the interests of others before the interests of your own?

I have been thinking a bit about church budgets lately.  It started when I heard that the U.S. set a new record for charitable giving last year despite the economic downturn (from an article by Philip Rucker in the Washington Post):

Americans donated $306 billion to charities in 2007...most of the donations, about $229 billion, came from individuals...giving from private foundations increased 7 percent and through personal bequests 4 percent, adjusted for inflation...international aid agencies, environmental groups and human service charities saw the largest increases in charitable gifts. Gifts to international groups, which were so small 20 years ago that the category was nonexistent in the survey, have grown steadily, increasing by 13 percent last year to $13 billion.

I've mentioned before that Robert Reich has argued that most charitable donations are made by the rich to institutions that serve the rich:

This year's charitable donations are expected to total more than $200 billion, a record. But a big portion of this impressive sum -- especially from the wealthy, who have the most to donate -- is going to culture palaces: to the operas, art museums, symphonies and theaters where the wealthy spend much of their leisure time. It's also being donated to the universities they attended and expect their children to attend, perhaps with the added inducement of knowing that these schools often practice a kind of affirmative action for "legacies."

It turns out that only an estimated 10% of all charitable deductions are directed at the poor.

I started thinking about churches as charitable institutions and how church-spending typically fits this pattern too.  What fraction of American's "charitable giving" to church actually goes to the poor and needy?  Churches have ministers to pay and facilities to maintain, so what fraction of a typical church's budget goes to benevolence?  For us, it's about 7 %.  I'm not saying that the other 93 % doesn't go to good things too, but much of it isn't charity as I would define it.

I'm glad Americans are setting giving records again this year, but I wonder if our priorities couldn't use some adjustment.

Lisa has had some issues lately with her Obama magnet being stolen in the grocery store parking lot and the bumper sticker she replaced it with being partially removed in the center for the arts parking lot.  It makes me wonder what will happen when we put up the yard sign, but at least we haven't yet experienced this...

From The Huffington Post:

Robin Harris of Illinois can now claim having experienced 'dirty politics' first hand, literally. Harris, a Barack Obama supporter, awoke one morning to find that the campaign posters she had erected for the Presidential candidate had been vandalized, via fecal smearing. Harris says she "felt outraged that someone would do this to signs."

CBS reports that the Obama camp has been notified.

One of the last films in the bachelor's film festival was Invincible (2006, PG) (ScreenIt! Review).  From ScreenIt!:

Despite the long odds, his age, size, and lack of experience, an unassuming 30-year-old man tries out for a spot playing professional football for the 1976 Philadelphia Eagles.

I liked this one so much and it was so clean (check out all of the moderates, minors, nones, and milds in the ScreenIt! review), that I watched it again as a movie night selection with Lisa and the boys.  Since my boys are crazy about football, I knew they would love it...and Lisa did too.  It's an enjoyable film and an inspiring story.  It's not exactly deep or anything, but I thought it was excellent for what it is.

I give it 5 out of 5.

This Films is Not Yet Rated (2006,NR) was another film watched during a few days of bachelorhood.  The filmmaker examines the MPAA's rating system and its lack of transparency.  One of the more interesting aspects of the film is how he hires a private investigator to determine the identities of the ratings and appeals board members.  The MPAA is certainly providing a useful service with its rating system, but it also seems like there should be more transparency and that the ratings should be applied with more consistency.

I enjoyed this film.  I give it 4 out of 5.

Another film watched during a few recent days of bachelorhood was Black Snake Moan (2007,R) (ScreenIt! Review).  From ScreenIt!:

When a farmer finds a young white woman beaten and unconscious, he sets out to save her from herself, by chaining her to his radiator so she must stop seeking solace in sex with strangers.

I really didn't know what to expect from this one because all I had seen was a bizarre trailer in the theater one of the few times that I had been there in the last few years...but I was pleasantly surprised.  I enjoyed it.

I give it 4 out of 5.

Another film watched during a recent few days of bachelorhood was X-Men: The Last Stand (2006,PG-13) (ScreenIt! Review).  From ScreenIt!:

A group of superhero mutants battles other mutants who are upset about a cure that's been developed to turn all of them back into regular humans.

It was OK.  I felt like it had been a little too long since I'd seen the previous two and so was missing some of the back-story.  I was kind of surprised that there would be a last stand so soon, but I see now that there are several "origins" films planned.

I give it 3 out of 5.