There you go again
It can be such a pain in the ass trying to talk to you, Tom, because everything you write is so heavily spun and framed. Like this:
The utter cluelessness of many on the Left about what Middle America is like is why you keep losing elections.
You talk as if it's a matter of understanding alien psychology, when in fact I and "The Left" are pretty much all of us "Middle American". We're middle class, many of us live in small towns or have lived significant periods in small towns. We go to church, we know the conventions just as well as you do. Knock off the demagoguery of defining "The Left" as if we're not Americans too.
That said, it's much easier to debunk your remarks. We all understand that a congregation is generally obligated to contribute to the upkeep of their churches, because if they didn't, there'd be no churches. We all understand that the congregation is obligated to keep a roof over the pastor's head and food on his table. We all understand that many people are born into a religion, and the obligations thereof weren't chosen voluntarily. We all understand that in many small town there's intense social pressure to attend church, and many people attend just to placate their neighbors.
We all understand that a few people game the system, but we all also understand that, when it comes to the collection plate,
From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
Luke 12:48
Let's face it, Jesus was a Leftist...
BTW, notice it's called a "collection plate" and not a "donation plate"?
We all understand that making a donation in church is not really optional for regular members of the congregation. It's not enforced by anyone, but the fact that it's run on the honor system tells you that it's considered dishonorable not to pay your share.