When I was in Washington, DC, participating in the summer class abbreviated as NSLC, I decided to give my spare change to a man who asked for money as I was coming out of a building.

One of my group members saw this, and, as we were leaving the area, remarked, “You know, you’re not supposed to do that.”

Although, as many of you know, I’m an atheist, I replied, “That’s not what Jesus would have done.”

I have no idea if the girl was Christian, but I’m sure a great number of Christians believe the same thing: These people don’t deserve the money, or they need to get a job, or they’re not really homeless, or whatever other rationalization they think in their middle-class minds.

Yet, Jesus did say, “Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5.42). And yeah, it’s not easy. It’s not easy to “go also the second mile,” when someone forces you to go the first.

Too many people are simply Diet Christians — driving to church on Sunday and thinking that qualifies them as a Good Person ™.

Hypocrites. The lot of them.

As for me, I’ll keep giving my spare change (yeah, even when it’s my own hard-earned money). What good does it do me? Will it really add up to a noticeable amount eventually? I doubt it. And even if they are “fake” homeless, the money will still do them more good than it’s currently doing me, jingling in my pocket.

But… I guess I’m a hypocrite too. I hardly ever have change in my pocket to give in the first place. That’s okay, though, I’m just an evil atheist.

Moreover, I’ll only give to anyone on the street who directly asks me, unless s/he is playing really good music.

And… I’m a bit partial to the message of Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth. Yet, I don’t think a bit of spare change now and then hurts anyone. To quote from the Bible again, “Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15.27). The full extent of the Gospel of Wealth, however, is another discussion for another time. (Sorry to be such a tease.)