The Dow Jones is a virtual roller coaster with enough ups and downs to make the snarkiest broker hurl in dolor and agony. The gas prices finally have reasonable “per barrel prices” yet we are still having to pawn gold just to fill a tank.

And Christmas retail has yet to hit the toilet… but wait, their time is coming unfortunately.

But now, we have another victim – no one is tithing and the churches are getting pinched, thanks to this story from the Christian Post.

The level of activity in U.S. churches when it comes to monetary giving and displaying care for others in need is “lukewarm,” authors of a new report state…

A survey of a group of 34 Protestant denominations found that, on average, two cents of each dollar donated to their affiliated congregations in 2006 funded international missions through the denominations – a level of support for overseas missions that was lower than that in the 1920s.

Furthermore, the total portion of per capita income given to churches in 2006 was lower than in the worst year of the Great Depression.

The rest of the story is alarming, but it raises one stark question: “What some folk call lukewarm giving, I call people frozen with fear about paying the light bill… you know, just in case they don’t want to read their Bible by candlelight.”