Komparasi Zakat Profesi dalam Agama Islam dan Persepuluhan dalam Agama Kristen Protestan

This study aims to discuss the similarities and differences between professional zakat in Islam and tithing in Christianity. This research method is a qualitative type through library research and field studies by applying comparative descriptive analysis. The results and discussion of this study indicate that professional zakat in Islam and tithing in Christianity both originate from the holy books of each religion, it is found that there are similarities and differences between professional zakat in Islam and tithing in Christianity, and the meeting point of both has implications for the development of religious philanthropy in Indonesia. This study concludes that tithing is required in Malachi 3:10-11 and professional zakat is required in QS al-Baqarah verse 267 where the wisdom of both is for the benefit of the people or congregation, while the difference is that tithing can be carried out by anyone and professional zakat can only be implemented by people who have reached nishab, and the first aims to return God's gift and the second aims to clean up wealth.

Humanitarian Interventions

This chapter explores the anthropology of humanitarianism in relation to regulation, governance, and law. Humanitarian agencies and individuals navigate multiple intersecting social-legal fields of international and domestic law in their efforts to address human need and suffering. Building on rich ethnographic studies of humanitarian practitioners, the chapter surveys different regional contexts for humanitarian work as well as varied approaches, including: bureaucratic and charismatic modes of humanitarian authority, military intervention through ‘humanitarian wars’, reconciliation in post-conflict settings, judicial advocacy, religious philanthropy, and vernacular aid. While some humanitarian interventions are highly regulated, other types exist outside regulatory frames, and some others use the logic of humanitarian intervention to change law itself.

Hinduism and New Age

One of the latest transformations of Hinduism concerns the appropriation of Western New Age influences, which in the 1990s and 2000s gave rise to a burgeoning spiritual field dominated by urban middle-class Hindus. This chapter discusses its growth and fuzzy contours and analyses its rapid growth. Drawing on psychology-inspired social theory, the chapter argues that the rapid societal changes brought about by the liberalization of India’s economy created a demand for self-development techniques that facilitated adjustment to these changes, some of which were spiritualized in the guru movements that began to mushroom. Cultivating a New Age emphasis on human oneness in a country as hierarchical and multi-religious as India makes Indian New Age stand out in at least two respects. First, by the friction between oneness, class-stratified organization, and religious philanthropy, here conceptualized as ‘patrimonial oneness’. And, secondly, by its self-conscious effort to bridge religious boundaries, though religious cosmopolitanism was difficult to accomplish in practice.

A Prelude to Civil War: The Religious Nonprofit Sector as a Civil Means of Debate over Slavery, Christian Higher Education, and Religious Philanthropy in the Stone-Campbell Movement

This paper examines the role of Christian higher education and religious philanthropy in the debate over slavery prior to the Civil War. Competing religious views regarding slavery led to the founding of Indiana’s abolitionist Butler University. The school’s decision to brazenly support the cause of abolition directly conflicted with the leadership of The Disciples of Christ and mired the Indianapolis school in one of the most impassioned debates about the role of religious practice in civic life in the nineteenth century. In this case, the religious nonprofit sector functioned as battlefield upon which competing forces engaged in a form of civil conflict. An examination of the role of Butler University’s philanthropic action provides fresh insight into the debate over slavery brewing on the eve of Civil War and the way individuals use philanthropic institutions, especially religious institutions, as a means to assert their values within society. Research for this study has employed primary archival research of documents held at Butler University, Christian Theological Seminary, and The Indiana Historical Society. The author has consulted period specific newspapers, journals, and handwritten documents. The author has also employed a host of secondary resources ranging from academic journals and religious histories to personal interviews and literature on the State of Indiana.

Religion, Charity, and Philanthropy in America

Giving to religion makes up the largest percentage of American charity and philanthropy. Religious charities also make up the largest percent of U.S. nonprofits. Beyond the numbers, however, religious charity and philanthropy has shaped America’s religious and cultural contexts and served as a bedrock to American civil society. With a more vibrant nonprofit sector than any other Western nation, America’s religious and charitable sector is unique in many ways. Under a disestablished church and an open religious marketplace, religious institutions able to raise their own support often grew while institutions or denominations locked into funding models reliant on state support stagnated. In the 19th century, religious voluntary associations competed with one another for dominance even as their growing numbers began to shape a Protestant consensus that sought to guide religious initiatives and moral reforms that defined the young nation while distinguishing themselves from others. Minority religions also had traditions of religious giving, and they employed these traditions and practices not only to care for their own communities but to carve out their own space within the American landscape. While terms such as charity, philanthropy, and benevolence were often used interchangeably throughout much of American religious history, religious giving primarily focused on charity as care for those within one’s religious community as well as a priority of giving to the poor. By the late 19th century, a rise of rationalized, professional, and sometimes secular philanthropy countered the traditional focus of religious giving through more systematic charitable organizations. The rise of major donors and foundations added a new wrinkle as they sought to reshape the focus of philanthropy and garnered increased attention even as small, individual givers still served as the bedrock of religious philanthropy. In addition to congregations, mission societies, humanitarian organizations, as well as parachurch agencies dominated this ever-evolving landscape. Religious giving became a diffuse, competitive marketplace that often shaped the winners, losers, and trends within American religion. The story of religious philanthropy, however, is not simply the one-way transfer of time and money from individuals to institutions. Rather the exchange between how religious individuals and institutions have engaged the shaping of civic society; moral outlooks; and the formation of boundaries, communities, and traditions of charity and philanthropy are an important aspect of American religious history. Religious philanthropy has accomplished great good even if it occasionally promoted distasteful actions. Across history and across a broad religious spectrum, religious philanthropy has always remained a vital part of both American ideals as well as the actual practices of the nation-state and civil society.

Running a Religious Philanthropic Enterprise

Religious philanthropy is now in a new age. In 2012, the State Bureau of Religious Affairs and other 5 state agencies published a document to encourage and regulate religious philanthropic activities. It means that the central government’s new religious policy is to cultivate religious philanthropy. However, many religious groups, since their engagement in philanthropy, have encountered a series of problems, such as the immaturity of theory, the inefficiency of resource use and search, the shortage of organizations and staff with experience, and the unclear division between serving and preaching. Even if the religious environment in Taiwan is different from that in Mainland, the success of the waste sorting and recycling program of Tzu Chi, the largest Humanistic Buddhist group in Taiwan, still brings some valuable experience to religious groups doing philanthropy in Mainland. First, Tzu Chi’s leader, Cheng Yen, was good at linking Buddha’s teachings with recognized environmental issues. Her style of speech might be learned by other religious leaders who intend to generate philanthropic discourses. Second, Tzu Chi’s waste sorting and recycling program always made use of contingent opportunities and resources outside it to develop itself. This way of expansion should be noted by religious groups that want to establish philanthropic organizations. Third, the division of labor among Tzu Chi’s leader, volunteers, and professionals and their high level of autonomy could be taken by other religious philanthropic organizations. Finally, Tzu Chi’s religious philanthropic practices prioritize public interests and set an example for the separation between serving and preaching.