You may be thinking of me, Tom.
If you were, let me remind you what we were talking about.
You persist in saying that charity was private in the past because it was funded by churches.
I keep correcting you by pointing out that, until the adoption of the Bill of Rights, the churches were authorized agencies of government, and have sometimes been the government, with governmental monetary collection prerogatives and punitive enforcement practices. Therefore, "private" charity wasn't private at all.
In some places even today, the dominant religion is established, or an agency of the government. In those cases, the charity dispensed by those organizations is likewise government sponsored, and in some cases, collected under less than voluntary conditions.
I also take exception to the idea that, in order to get a warm place to sleep, people must listen to sermons, but that's just me. My family taught me that charity is supposed to be free, and that any behavioral change by the recipient has to do with the example set by the giver rather than the harrangue inflicted on the recipient.
Regards--
Mary Anne
Current Events » in reply to Re: Charity
Re: Charity from churches