A recent study, "How America Gives" by the Chronicle of Philanthropy reveals that states where religious participation is highest, particularly in the South, give the greatest percentage of their discretionary income to charitable organizations. Conversely, states that are less religious give less.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy based the study on IRS records of people who itemized deductions in 2008, the most recent year statistics were available.
The most generous states were Utah, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina. The least generous were New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Utah residents gave 10.6 percent of their discretionary income to charity. New Hampshire residents gave 2.5 percent.
Contrary to what one might expect, the wealthy aren’t the most generous. Middle-class Americans give a much larger share of their discretionary income to charities than the wealthy, with households earning $50,000 to $75,000 giving an average of 7.6 percent, compared with an average of 4.2 percent for people who make $100,000 or more.
The report also found that the eight states where residents gave the highest share of income to charity voted for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in 2008, while the seven lowest ranking states supported Barack Obama.
"Liberals are the least likely to help the poor," said Catholic League president Bill Donohue. "That’s the inescapable conclusion of this new study."
The results of the study are consistent with other research conducted on the subject. Sociologists Mark D. Regnerus and David Sikkink examined data in the Religious Identity and Influence Survey and came to a similar conclusion, as did Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, in his book "Who Really Cares," and David Campbell and Robert Putnam in their book "American Grace."
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I don’t know that it’s so much that liberals are less likely to give to the poor…I currently live in North Carolina and the Protestants here, particularly the Baptists, are called to give a ten percent tithe - so I would think that call accounts for the high number. They tend to be Republican but I think it’s their religion more than their politics that accounts for their generosity. Unfortunately,one might conclude from this study that it might be that the Catholic lay people are less likely than the Protestants or Mormons to help the poor.
I agree with karyn. Mormons are required—not asked—to give 10%. Giving is monitored and if you haven’t been coughing up your 10% you can expect the Mormon bishop at your door. Utah sits top of the list at 10.6%.
Although it is consistent with my own anecdotal experience that believers are more kind and generous and secular-leftists less so, I think the study is too broad in scope and leaves room for too many variables.
A study co-written by Cragun and recently published in Free Inquiry estimates that the Mormon Church donates only about 0.7 percent of its annual income to charity; the United Methodist Church (a size-comparable example) gives about 29 percent.
I’m sorry, but Utah is an outlier. That money isn’t given. It is coerced and is really a form of religious tax. The social cost of NOT paying it is too great. It isn’t money given to charity in any normal sense of the word. It is used to build meeting houses and marble edifices and pay for young men and women to go ring doorbells. Sure, some of it goes to help the poor. But not much.
You might conclude that conservatives give more than liberals, but that wouldn’t be the point. The point is that the middle-classes and the poor give more than the rich. And if you notice it is poor states giving a greater portion of their income to charity.
Maybe if they were liberals they’d be richer and they could give more money - just a lower percentage of their income.
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