“Iron Law of Oligarchy” and Tithing

Posted July 22nd, 2009 by Ervin Taylor

In 1932, the German sociologist Robert Michels coined the term the "Iron Law of Oligarchy" (in German, of course) to describe what he viewed as the inevitable tendency of political parties to become centralized, bureaucratized, and eventually conservative and sometimes reactionary.

Michels argued that no matter how noble and idealistic the original goals and intents of the founders of any given organization might have been, for the group to survive and expand, a small group of leaders must emerge who exercises power in the name of the group principally by the control of resources, usually known as "money" and what money can buy.

With those resources, "leaders" create administrative bureaucracies, forge policies that impose order on the group, and create an ideology that justifies the power of the controlling leadership cadre. These actions are absolutely necessary to ensure the long-term survival of the group especially when faced with the inevitable internal divisions and external opposition. They are not "bad" or "good" in and of themselves, they are simply necessary if the group is to survive into the next generation.

Subsequent commentators on Michels original thesis have expanded the types of organizations to which this "Law" applies to many other corporate groups including religious organizations. Anyone familiar with the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church can easily understand how the "Iron Law of Oligarchy" applies to political system now operating in the contemporary corporate Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Millions of dollars of tithe funds given by the ordinary lay member-mostly in the United States--are used to support a very large hierarchical bureaucracy which has more levels of organization than does the Roman Catholic Church. An ideology was created that says that a member is not "really" tithing to God if he is not giving his tithe funds to the corporate Adventist church. Remember the often quoted Biblical passage "Bring ye all your tithes into the storehouse?" If most of the lay members believe that the "Storehouse" equals the "Corporate, Institutional, Seventh-day Adventist Church" the bureaucracy does not have to worry about cash flow.

There have been many calls for the downsizing of the Adventist clerical bureaucracy by consolidating local and union conferences. Almost all of these calls have been either ignored or studied to death in a committee. The reason is clear. It is one of the corollaries of the "Iron Law of Oligarchy" is that "All other things being equal, no bureaucrat-secular or religious-is going to vote to have his position in the hierarchy eliminated." It is not at all a matter of these individuals being devious or ungodly. Far from it, most (regretfully, there are exceptions) are sincere, honest, hard working members of the clergy. But they are human.

Only under great pressure does major change happen in any large, institutionalized, bureaucratic system. In the modern world, almost the only circumstance that will force major changes is a lack of resources, i.e., funds, i.e., money. Since the overwhelming source of funds that keeps the Adventist ecclesiastical bureaucracy functioning are the tithes and offerings of it members, the only realistic path of reform of the Adventist political system is if a large group of ordinary lay person redirects his tithing to other worthy causes. It is here proposed that the most worthy cause would be the local Adventist Church.

A question: Would tithing to the local Adventist Church be a good or bad thing?

“Iron Law of Oligarchy” and Tithing

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