Introduction

My name is Val Girilovitch. I’m Russian born, and moved to Australia in 1966 as a child. Since 1993 I have traveled around the world and worked on projects in Ukraine, Russia, China, America, Europe and Australia. Speaking English & Russian, and having lived in and visited many parts of the world, I have a deep appreciation for a variety of different cultures. In addition, I have been fortunate enough to meet and spend a considerable amount of time with people of all ages and backgrounds, largely because of my being a recovered addict of 30 years. My experiences in recovery have also provided me with a sincere affection for all things spiritual/religious.

As someone who has spent a considerable amount of time in recovery and among other cultures throughout the world (most importantly in Australia and Eastern bloc countries, two very opposing environments and value systems) has given me rare insight into the role of spirituality, religion and the workings of financial systems of different countries. All of which has provided me with a unique insight/concept for a documentary film.

As with many documentaries, its purpose is to enlighten and educate. Our goal is to ultimately have a positive impact on people’s lives and give clarity understanding on values, and hopefully contribute to making the world a better place. My small dedicated team and I hope to provide transparency and clarity of our current world’s religious/spiritual values and the role they play, or could play, in shaping people’s ideas, emotions and attitudes.

We are writing to you because we require your assistance to successfully produce this documentary. Apart from other professional people we are approaching leaders of 10 major religions, many of which may be sub-divided into denominations to help obtain clarity, and to inquire as to what their official stance on tithing is and its history within each religion. Should you not practise tithing, we are interested as to whether you practise an equivalent such as charity, free-will giving, and donations, and/or voluntary services, etcetera. This will enable us to define the positive and negative effects produced as a result of practising or not practising tithing, charity and their equivalents.

We do hope you can also see the genuine need for such a project, and that you find the idea intriguing enough to offer whatever support you can.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I look forward to discussing the project with you further.

Yours sincerely,

Valeriy Girilovitch and the Team.