Mormons are all about self-reliance and personal responsibility, but they are also insistent that all members pay a full tithe. These principles come into conflict when members are hopelessly mired in debt, especially when that debt isn’t the result of poor planning or poor choices. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could help both its members and itself by paying off its members’ medical debts.
Recently, a church in Indiana raised $40,000 to pay off $7.8 million in medical debt for almost 6,000 families in the state. This followed the efforts of churches in Chicago to pay off $5.