The following is the unedited version of my letter to the editor that was printed in yesterday's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

In his Correspondent of the Day letter, Cordell Bowman accurately points out the biblical admonition to not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing when engaging in charitable activity. This was a commandment given by Jesus. Bowman goes on to say that the reason for doing so is to prevent our charitable giving from being held over the heads of those we are giving to. Well, yeah, that’s obviously one positive outcome of secret giving. But Jesus was speaking in the context of earthly and heavenly rewards. He specifically said that the reason to keep one’s giving a secret is to avoid the praise of people. Because, as Jesus said, if we get the praise of people, then that will be the only reward we get, and we will not get any heavenly reward for our good deed. If, on the other hand, no other human being knows about our giving, God will see our secret deed and reward us openly in heaven. Sadly, Mr. Bowman has trumpeted his family’s giving in your newspaper.

One other thing I would like to point out is that Bowman makes the same mistake as do most others of his apparent political ilk. That is, he implies that the Bible endorses political solutions to poverty. Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus even suggest that we enlist politicians or the government to help the poor. Besides, wouldn’t it violate our constitutional principle of separation of church and state to tax a non-Christian in order to follow the mandates of Christ? Indeed, every time Jesus spoke about giving to the poor, He was strictly addressing individuals.