A growing number of churches are accepting credit cards and electronic transfers -- not just cash and checks.

While that's created some legitimate moral concerns, Interest.com has developed three rules for religious donations that resolve most of the worries we've heard:

• Don't give with credit cards, especially if you carry a balance and donations will be adding to that debt.
• Have automatic withdrawals made from a checking account. That's the electronic equivalent of writing a check and dropping it in the offering plate. Don't allow pledges to be automatically billed to a credit card.
• If your church has an ATM-like "giving kiosk," swipe a debit card. That's also giving money you have -- not money you're borrowing.