Conservatives and charity

Meant to write about this earlier, filed under "please lose your stereotypes". In this time of giving, I thought I would point out a recent set of studies that found conservatives are considerably more charitable than liberals. From Scientific American:

Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks argues in Who Really Cares (Basic Books, 2006) that when it comes to charitable giving and volunteering, numerous quantitative measures debunk the myth of "bleeding heart liberals" and "heartless conservatives." Conservatives donate 30 percent more money than liberals (even when controlled for income), give more blood and log more volunteer hours. In general, religious people are more than three times more generous than secularists to all charities, 14 percent more munificent to nonreligious charities and 57 percent more likely than a secularist to help a homeless person. In terms of societal health, charitable givers are 43 percent more likely to say they are "very happy" than nongivers and 25 percent more likely than nongivers to say their health is excellent or very good.

More money, more volunteering, and even more blood. Not only is the above true about conservatives, but you will note that it is even more pronounced among religious people.

Which is why, even though I am not religious, I have an admiration for people of faith. Mostly because I find them to be more honest and less narcissistic when it comes to personal morals. They are more likely to understand what faith is and isn't. And, broadly speaking, religious ideals point toward things which are good for communities and individuals.

Predictably, many will point to religious zealots and ask, "how can you say this?" Well, all I can say is that if you seek stereotypes, you will always find them. And if one believes that that the extremes of a particular group represent the rest of the group, that's simple bigotry. In making such an argument, one might look inside and ask how skilled in tolerance one really is.

Mainstream religious folks -- my Mom comes to mind -- like their beliefs, like their morals and, perhaps most importantly, value community. They have very little interest in thumping any sort of book. But they walk the talk when it comes to generosity and tolerance.

Faith, ultimately, is about optimism. Perhaps this is why I think it's worth defending.

Merry Christmas.

Comments

[Mark]

Nice post. Religion and conservatism get a bad rap in this town.

[bridesmaiddresses]

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