The cycle of poverty is a vicious trap where a parent’s poverty affects the lives of their children. Families in poverty often have limited resources, which makes it difficult to escape. Some examples of self-reinforcing disadvantages that can trap families in poverty include: Lack of financial capital, Lack of education, Lack of connections, Poor health, and Low working capacity.
President Russell M. Nelson visited Africa in 2018 and preached tithing to those trapped in the poverty cycle. He even proposed that their poverty cycle would continue unless they paid their tithing.
He also said tithing can break cycles of poverty in poor nations and families.
“We preach tithing to the poor people of the world because the poor people of the world have had cycles of poverty, generation after generation,” he said. “That same poverty continues from one generation to another, until people pay their tithing.”
President Russell M. Nelson, Special Devotional in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday, April 16, 2018
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/london-and-nairobi-stops-of-president-nelsons-world-tour-highlight-churchs-cultural-diversity?lang=eng
Nelson promises those in poverty financial prosperity if they give the church money. This is not new for the church, they repeatedly preach that even (or especially) destitute families should pay tithing. They even go as far as preaching that the destitute and poverty stricken should pay the church before feeding their own children. These church leaders omit key facts in their claims.
The do not share that they are personally paid by the church, and despite their statements their paycheck is not modest, especially relative to the destitute or those trapped in poverty cycles. They twist quotes from past leaders who stated tithing should only be paid by those who have means by removing this exception from their teaching. They omit the fact that the church has hundreds of billions of dollars set aside at Ensign Peak Advisors just for a rainy day as well as the fact that previous leaders have promised that as soon as the church needs are met, tithing would be done away with.
The message on tithing has shifted from providing for the church to testing obedience of the members. Paying a full tithing, or at least 10% of one’s income is required to receive a temple recommend and visit the most sacred places in the church, and make eternal covenants with God. Those who do not pay the church money, are not welcome in the House of the Lord, or the celestial kingdom. Besides promising tithe payers celestial glory, what is the church doing to help them out of poverty?
The church teaches that tithing breaks the cycle of poverty. However, a 2024 study finds no evidence that the presence of a Mormon temple in a county reduces poverty rates.
Employing several difference-in-differences models on county-level data from 2010-2018, this paper finds no statistically significant evidence that temples reduce poverty rates. The results suggest that the presence of a temple has no effect on county-level economic outcomes, contrary to Mormon doctrinal claims about the power of tithing to alleviate poverty. This finding is likely attributable to the way in which the church allocates tithing revenues, a highly centralized and hierarchical affair with no clear mechanism to reduce poverty in the communities from which funds are sourced.
Dallin Overstreet, The Elusive Economic Blessings of Tithing: Mormon Temples and County Poverty, Journal of Economics, Theology and Religion, vol. 4, no. 1 (2024)
https://j-etr.org/2024/04/03/the-elusive-economic-blessings-of-tithing-mormon-temples-and-county-poverty/
This study examines the relationship between LDS temples and tithing rates in local church populations, revealing no significant correlation between tithing rates and local poverty levels. While church doctrine teaches that paying tithing brings spiritual and material blessings, leading to prosperity, the data does not reflect this promise of prosperity. Temples are often built based on tithes of local membership, yet the prosperity of these communities does not align with the tithing contributions expected to be tied to temple-building decisions.
Using the presence of Mormon temples as a proxy, this study empirically evaluates the claim of the LDS church that obedience to the law of tithing could reduce poverty in communities with high levels of tithing participation. Applying difference-in-differences models to county-level poverty rates and temple presence data in the U.S. from 2010-2018, the findings revealed no statistically significant impact of temple presence on poverty rates. This outcome provides a critical perspective on the economic implications of the financial practices of the LDS church, particularly regarding the reallocation and distribution of collected tithing funds.
While data limitations currently rule out explicit testing, the stark gap between the promised prosperity gospel benefits of tithing and the actual null results revealed is likely attributable to fundamental flaws in the way in which the senior leadership of the LDS church reallocates tithing revenues. The church’s financial management is highly centralized and lacking in transparency, with key spending decisions made by a small, insulated group claiming divine guidance. This opaque, top-down decision-making structure has no robust system of checks, balances, or accountability to rank-and-file adherents who supply billions in annual tithing revenues. Only a small portion of collected tithes returns to the local congregations from which they originated. Moreover, a mere fraction of the church’s revenues is explicitly directed toward humanitarian aid or charitable initiatives that could meaningfully alleviate poverty. Even for these relatively small outlays, funds are not necessarily deployed in the specific communities where tithes were paid, which undermines any clear causal mechanisms for localized poverty reduction as described.
Instead, institutional priorities and incentives appear to lie with continued expansions in global scale and real estate, with public relations/branding, and perhaps most critically, with consistently growing the church’s recently revealed $100 billion investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors. This rapidly ballooning investment fund may create insular financial incentives and path dependencies that reinforce self-sustaining asset accumulation while neglecting other potential uses of revenues such as localized poverty relief. Sociological factors around authority and obedience that are present in rigidly hierarchical organizations likely play a role as well; routine unquestioning deference to church leaders effectively exacerbates principal-agent monitoring problems, enabling misspending with no repercussions. In sum, severe corporate governance issues, misaligned institutional incentives, lack of financial transparency, and tight consolidation of decision-making power appear to decouple tithing revenue allocation from official doctrinal aims and directives.
This study makes an important contribution to the growing academic literature examining the intersection of economics, religious practices, and institutional decision-making. It builds on limited prior research by empirically scrutinizing the economic outcomes related to Mormon tithing behavior and the church’s prosperity gospel teachings. Although greater religious devotion may be associated with reduced poverty, requiring members to give up substantial income through tithing without receiving (the promised) economic benefits (either directly or indirectly) in return could undermine this positive effect. Given the immense wealth the LDS church has accumulated through collected tithes, including amassing an investment portfolio surpassing elite university endowments, rigorous analysis of how these billions in tithing funds are allocated appears warranted (Voytko 2019). The findings raise critical questions about whether maintaining the church’s tax-exempt and deductible status is justified when its opaque financial practices seem disconnected from stated aims such as poverty alleviation. More localized control over tithing disbursements by local congregations could better align spending with community needs and potentially unlock innovative solutions to address economic hardship in tithing-source areas.
This paper also makes an interesting case study for research linking religious hierarchies and power structures with organizational decision-making. Financial decisions made by the LDS church are a highly centralized process. When organizational decisions are left in the hands of a few individuals who claim to speak for God on all matters, questionable policies and practices may emerge. In this case, the mechanisms through which poverty alleviation would occur through the faithful payment of tithing are not clear. The church’s finances are handled exclusively by senior officials and are not transparent. Additionally, estimates from available sources appear to show a disconnect between the expected uses of tithing funds and their actual uses. Unfortunately, the financial practices of the church do not appear to target poverty in any meaningful way, resulting in the null results found by this study.
Dallin Overstreet, The Elusive Economic Blessings of Tithing: Mormon Temples and County Poverty, Journal of Economics, Theology and Religion, vol. 4, no. 1 (2024)
https://j-etr.org/2024/04/03/the-elusive-economic-blessings-of-tithing-mormon-temples-and-county-poverty/
Paying tithing does not break the cycle of poverty. While the church teaches that tithing brings blessings and prosperity, which implies material and financial improvements, the immediate impact of paying 10% of one’s income is challenging for families already struggling financially.
The concept of tithing is viewed as a faith-building practice, where blessings may come in various forms—such as spiritual peace, a sense of community, or unexpected help—but rarely are financial returns guaranteed. In practice, especially for those in poverty, paying tithing depletes resources that could otherwise be used for essentials, such as food, rent, or healthcare.
How is it that these leaders who are paid well by the church for their service, can ask the impoverished to pay the church. How can they promise that they will be lifted out of poverty by living on 10% less. The church does have internal support systems, like the Bishop’s Storehouse and welfare programs, that aim to assist members in need, but these supports are not intended to be ongoing or to substitute for personal income. Studies on financial management suggest that families in poverty generally benefit more from retaining their income for necessities or saving for future needs rather than allocating a portion to tithing if it impacts their immediate well-being. It feels more like more lies from church leaders to those who have the least to give.
The church preys on everyone, even the poor and destitute, in order to grow their own bottom line, just like a true corporation.
Ultimately, while the Church encourages paying tithing as an act of faith, the financial burden on already struggling families more likely perpetuates financial stress rather than providing any path out of poverty. What are your thoughts on the poverty cycle and tithing? Does paying tithing to the church break the poverty cycle? How is it done, or must it be left to a matter of faith and the next life? Please share your thoughts in the comments, or if you are so inclined, share your own story of faith deconstruction from the mormon church at wasmormon.org!
More reading:
- Tithing—a Commandment Even for the Destitute
- The Prosperity Gospel and Tithing
- Elder Anderson claims “We Are Not a Wealthy People”
- Are Mormon Church Leaders Paid?
- How Much Are Mormon Church Leaders Compensated?
- How Much is a Modest Living Allowance for Mormon Apostles? How Much Do LDS Church Leaders Get Paid?
- https://www.deseret.com/2018/4/16/20643748/dowry-is-not-the-lord-s-way-in-kenya-lds-president-nelson-says-tithing-breaks-poverty-cycle/
- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/london-and-nairobi-stops-of-president-nelsons-world-tour-highlight-churchs-cultural-diversity?lang=eng
- https://www.thechurchnews.com/2018/4/19/23213759/london-nairobi-demonstrate-cultural-diversity-of-international-church-during-president-nelsons-tour/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_of_poverty
- https://archive.org/details/HowTheMormonsMakeMoney/How%20the%20Mormons%20Make%20Money%2C%20Bloomberg.com/mode/2up
- https://missedinsunday.com/memes/finances/we-preach-tithing/
- https://j-etr.org/2024/04/03/the-elusive-economic-blessings-of-tithing-mormon-temples-and-county-poverty/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_of_poverty