Donations for your afterlife - or for the planet, here and now?

Reading Third Sector Magazine this morning I see that the Church of England is suggesting that churchgoers should contribute 5% of their earnings to the Church and other charitable causes.

As is well-known, numbers of regular churchgoers are in freefall in England. I live right next door to a rural parish church, where the three or four clergy are shared with a dozen other rural parishes, and the congregation barely scrapes into double figures.

A 5% contribution to secure an afterlife (if indeed such exists), is not considered unreasonable so why not a similar tithe to secure the future of the planet? The median pay in the UK is £479 a week, so 5% would would mean £1245 a year, as an average contribution.

But what about your current life on Earth? For £5 a month you could become a WLT partner and do you bit for the planet in the here and now.

(It has been pointed out that the Church traditionally received tithes -- which were one tenth, so 5% is a pretty hefty discount for modern times.)