This might be a dead forum, but it's something I have been thinking about lately. My wife and I are Mormon and we give 10% each month to the church. We aren't in debt, but there is something very humbling about having your second biggest bill being tithing. It is difficult, I'm not going to lie. There are a ton of reasons why I still do it, but everyone has pretty much mentioned them already. Just wanted to explain a little bit about how money works in the LDS church. I have enjoyed learning about some other religions in this forum, so I thought I would share a bit about mine to see if someone else finds it interesting.
There are two main ways to give money in the church: tithing and offerings. Tithing goes towards day to day costs like lighting, building construction, and other physical needs of the church. The local clergy is not paid, but the full time clergy (known as general authorities) do get a living stipend because they no longer work once they become general authorities. The church also employs a lot of people, IT guys, travel arrangers, writers, etc. The offerings can be given whenever and are used for helping local folks who need food, clothing, rent, etc. It is also used for giving foreign aid (food, blankets, medicine, wheel chairs, things like that.) The first Sunday of each month the members are asked to abstain from food for two meals and then give the money they would have spent on those meals as a "fast offering."