"Religion And Giving: More Religious States Give More To Charity" Do they really? I have three problems with studies like this: who's giving, who are they giving to, and why are they giving? If there is no attempt at answering all three the study is of little meaning or use. All three are equally important if you want to equate it with generosity. One of the few references to methodology behind the study involve the IRS. Basically, some of the most important information in determining level and nature of giving would automatically be missing.
I am an excellent example of how this actually plays out. Some of my volunteering and donations would not show up on tax records to begin with. As an individual I have donated time, resources, and money to a variety of causes through various groups. If you track charitable groups by their affiliations you would learn very little about me or why I have chosen to donate or volunteer. For example, I have acted as a chaperon for Catholic affiliated events. That probably sounds odd coming from someone who loathes the church and outright hates the Pope, which I do. Whether others agree with my motivation or not I find them perfectly sound. My wife is a lifelong Catholic and has been involved with youth ministry. It is import to her so I support her in her efforts. I also see no reason not to separate the individuals from the institution. If one less chaperon meant a particular event not happening why should I fill in. Kids were looking forward to it and I thought it would be shitty not to let them have it because the hierarchy of the church (no doubt was chosen for them) are a bunch of assholes. The same is true for a variety of project. If a group in my area is looking to aid the homeless/jobless with a food drive I don't give a shit if they have a religious affiliation.
Basically, I do not necessarily pay attention to who I am giving to if it is for a worthy purpose. That is not always accounted for in these studies. It can be rather misleading. I do not consider it charitable if the individual or group is looking to get something out their volunteering or donations. On a larger scale, Bill Gates is NOT a philanthropist. Everything he does that gets labeled as such seems to have major ulterior motives. Many religious individuals and groups I do not accept as being "generous" since they often have very personal self-serving interests. Many, though certainly not all, see volunteerism and donations as part of "good works" which is in their minds essentially an admission ticket to heaven. Sounds more like bargain shopping to me. Serve a few hours here and there or donate a bit at a time and in compenation you get eternal life.
The last thing that is not always accounted for is the idea of shear numbers versus percentage. Regardless of motivation, if religious people did not give more in terms of numbers it would be a rather pathetic statement about them. Depending on how you define "non-religious" we only make up between 1% and 9% according to most studies. Flip that around and think about it for a minute. Believers account for somewhere between 91% and 99% of the population. If they did not give more with those numbers in mind they would have to be truly stingy bastards. The studies that have looked at believers versus non-believers as a percent of the population have varied in their results. This current study uses percentages but not in this manner. There does not seem to have been any attempt at accounting for non-believers as a percent withing the states they talk about. Instead they are making blanket assumptions about the demographics of each state then comparing the states to each other. In other words, this study is useless in regard to the underlying question it claims to tackle. True, it directly seeks to compare States but it uses that to imply deeper significance, which it cannot support.
Overall, I don't buy into the common perception that religious people are more generous. After all, by the standards of such a bias we have far less reason to give and yet we still do. We cannot count on an eternal reward and even many of us who see it as having a potentially positive affect on the here-and-now have no guarantees that it will. Many of us give simply because we believe it is the right thing to do. I'd be curious to know how many religious people can honesty claim to do the same (references to Jesus and God are disqualifiers since that is an external motivation).
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