Dr. J. Owens Smith
Dr. J. Owens Smith is a professor of Afro-Ethnic Studies and Political Science at California State University at Fullerton. He received his B.A. in Journalism at California State University at Los Angeles, and his MA and Ph.D. in political science at the University of Chicago.
His primary area of research is in the area of studying the causes of African Americans’ socioeconomic inequality. He has written and published eight books and numerous articles in this area. Specifically, his research focus has been directed toward offering a scientific explanation as to why Blacks have not been able to achieve the same socioeconomic success as other groups and what can be done to help them to achieve similar success.
After researching and teaching this topic for more than 34 years, he has concluded that at the core of Blacks socioeconomic problems is that we have developed the bad habit of enslaving ourselves into the debt-slavery system, which is the credit system. This enslavement is self-imposed.
This self-enslavement is a function of our failure to recognize the importance of raising the concept of money management to our level of consciousness as we moved into the middle class after the civil rights movement. Their failure to recognize the importance of this phenomenon can explain in part why we are currently losing the middle class gains that we made after the civil rights movement.
One of the most effective ways to raise the importance of money management to our level of consciousness is for the Black churches to start teaching tithing and money management as a tool for advancement. This approach will not only promote socioeconomic growth and development among Blacks but also spiritual growth and development as well.
At the typical Black church, only 10 percent of the congregants practice tithing. Pastors have tried various methods to convince the other 90 percent to be obedient to God’s command to bring their tithes and offering to His storehouse. Their efforts have been unsuccessful because this approach does not deal with the real cause as to why regularly churchgoers do not tithe.
Dr. Smith has developed a breakthrough approach to solve this problem. This approach consists of a behavioral modification model that is designed to change congregants’ mindset toward giving. This model is designed to produce positive results in turning grudgingly giving congregations into cheerful givers. It is based on the theory of reciprocity, which is a win, win, proposition.
The individual will win because tithing and money management will stabilize and promote his/her socioeconomic growth and development. The church will win because it will have more funds to carry out its mission. And the Black community will win because tithing and money management is the foundation of community development.
In his research, Dr. Smith argues that the current economic crisis facing America gives the Black churches an opportune time to convert their 90 percent nontithers to cheerful tithers by utilizing his behavioral modification model to convert nontithers into cheerful tithers.