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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I fear we'll very likely see increasing effects in the areas of charitable giving and volunteerism as religious affinity weakens.  Our society is just not developing enough civic-mindedness in secular individuals to make up the difference and the government sure isn't either.

http://marripedia.org/effects_of_religious_practice_on_charity[/quote]

Too bad that you think people's generosity is so tied to the hope for eternal life that people won't be generous with their time or money unless they believe it will assure them a place in heaven.[/quote]

Well, church-going conservatives give more to charity than atheist liberals, so I'd say that's a fair assessment.

"Religious practice is the behavioral variable most consistently associated with generous giving. Charitable effort correlates strongly with the frequency with which a person attends religious services. Evangelical Protestants and Mormons in particular are strong givers. Compared to Protestant affiliation, both Catholic affiliation and Jewish affiliation reduce the scope of average giving, when other influences are held constant.

Finer-grain numbers from the PSID show that [b]the faithful don’t just give to religious causes; they are also much more likely to give to secular causes than the non-religious.[/b] Among Americans who report that they “never” attend religious services, just less than half give any money at all to secular causes. People who attend services 27-52 times per year, though, give money to secular charities in two thirds of all cases. (See page 1138.)

Sociologist Robert Putnam has chronicled the many pro-social and philanthropic overflow effects of religious practice. Not only is half of all American personal philanthropy and half of all volunteering directly religious in character, but nearly half of all associational membership in the U.S. is church-related. Religious practice links us in webs of mutual knowledge, responsibility, and support like no other influence.

Indeed, faith is as important as basic financial success in increasing giving. And religious conviction is often what separates one sub-group from another when it comes to charitable practice. For instance, African Americans, who are generally more religious than whites, are consequently 18 percent bigger givers when households of the same income, region, education, and so forth are compared."
https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/statistics/who-gives
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[b]Just raise taxes.  You don’t need religion.[/b]

[/quote]

This is really a sad statement.  Religious people feel that giving to charity changes your heart.  It is making a sacrifice to place the needs of others above our own selfish desires.  A choice that makes us better people.

Government coercion with the penalty of law only breeds resentment, as others can vote to steal what they have not earned.  It doesn't make this a better place to live.

It is funny, though. If you wanted to give more to the needy, you already would be.  Instead, you want to have taxes raised on other people.[/quote]

This post is really good. Nothing is stopping anyone from helping the poor and needy people in our country right now. Nothing is stopping anyone from voluntarily paying more taxes to the government. Nothing is stopping atheists from starting their own network/group/organization to help poor and needy Americans. Atheist, agnostic, non-religious ppl could do what churches do without religion. Why don’t they? I’ve noticed on other forums on dcum when a poster is in desperate financial straits, they are often told here to seek various churches and religious orgs out for assistance. But then here churches are religious institutions are attacked terribly. [/quote]

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