Who gives more to charity?

[catknit 144]

Wow - I'm betting you think I'm one of those scary, self-righteous liberals who only donates money to save-the-lesbian-whales plus the pretty unicorn alliance and shuns your god too? Right?

At no time have I knocked giving money to a church. At no time did I say the leftist charities [whatever those may be] don't have administrative costs. But keep in mind, specifically with churches, it's called membership for a reason. In short, most people's donations are membership fees renamed as tithing. Is that how the church's charter or polity is set up - most likely not - but it's how it is.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Ok so are you still saying they don't count as charity?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Wife's family used to be part of a church that collected membership tithes - until they found out that the moneys they paid into it were used to fund an extravagant lifestyle for the preacher and his family...

[HAL 9000 96]

Definitions of Political liberalism on the Web:

Liberalism is a broad class of political philosophies that considers individual liberty and equality to be the most important political goals.

Definitions of Political conservatism on the Web:

Conservatism is a political and social term from the Latin verb conservare meaning to save or preserve.

So what does being a liberal or a conservative have to do with being charitable.

Sounds like another nut is writing biased articles.

Pretty much. Which is why after you get passed the typical sour grape whine drinkers, you notice charitable contributions ascribed to a whole kind of political ideology is equal when comparing the population of ideology. Mean is not the same as median, and the mean behavior of a 'group' is not always the same as its median behavior.

It would also be interesting to know individual donors' motivations.

Yup.

And actions, too.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Wife's family used to be part of a church that collected membership tithes - until they found out that the moneys they paid into it were used to fund an extravagant lifestyle for the preacher and his family...

This would never EVER happen at a leftist or secular charity

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http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/lecture/lec17011/index.htm

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Wife's family used to be part of a church that collected membership tithes - until they found out that the moneys they paid into it were used to fund an extravagant lifestyle for the preacher and his family...

This would never EVER happen at a leftist or secular charity

I think you would do well to stop assuming more than I actually said - its just going to be a recipe for disaster.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Ahh so you didn't mean that to imply that all churches or most churches are that way? Ok, I accept that.

[catknit 144]

What I am questioning is the concept in the article as stated specifically in the article's title about compassion and linking that directly to a monetary sum.

You know what, I haven't a clue if the liberals listed are donating to organizations that have HIGHER admin costs than the conservative ones. They may, that info isn't presented.

And, believe it or not, people who identify themselves as liberals go to church and tithe too.

I was mentioning one specific group of organizations that do readily get donations - whose day to day practices and bookkeeping I'm very familiar with. But, the $1 that goes in doesn't necessarily equal $1 going to feed the hungry. And I am positive that is true across the board - regardless of who is getting the donation.

Especially with the further clarifications on the article, if you can say that in the case of the conservatives a significant portion of that money is going into the coffers of a church, that money is paying for salaries, electricity, snow removal in the winters, etc etc. All perfectly legitimate expenses - but not necessarily compassion based expenses.

It's like - say - Newman's Own food brand - yes they give a certain % of their profits to the camp for sick kids. But, a big portion of the $3.99 your spending on that bottle of salad dressing is going into the ingredients, the bottle, maintainence of the factory, etc. Is the $3.99 for the bottle a charitable donation or is the $0.39 that goes to the camp a charitable donation? I'd say it's the $0.39 because that's where the compassion part of this argument lies.

[The Dude 206]

Ahh so you didn't mean that to imply that all churches or most churches are that way? Ok, I accept that.

Do you ever bother to actually read any posts in threads before jumping conclussions? Nobody said that donating time or money to a church is any less meaningful than any other charity organization. I and others have asked, for some sort of information to quantify the findings in the OP seeing as there have been prior studies that have found the difference between the two to be negligible.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Ahh so you didn't mean that to imply that all churches or most churches are that way? Ok, I accept that.

No, why would I?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Ahh so you didn't mean that to imply that all churches or most churches are that way? Ok, I accept that.

Do you ever bother to actually read any posts in threads before jumping conclussions? Nobody said that donating time or money to a church is any less meaningful than any other charity organization. I and others have asked, for some sort of information to quantify the findings in the OP seeing as there have been prior studies that have found the difference between the two to be negligible.

This thread needs one of these

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Priceless image.

[sly_wolf 199]

I agree with the title ..... Who Really Cares. The fact that someone took the time to come up with stats on this is disturbing too.

[Danno 1,228]

Wife's family used to be part of a church that collected membership tithes - until they found out that the moneys they paid into it were used to fund an extravagant lifestyle for the preacher and his family...

I can relate.

Every time I see the high lifestyle some in Government enjoy, it galls me. (The latest are those private jets).

I guess the big difference is, you can control what you give at church... not so much with taxes.