Gratitude - Science has shown that it is the most reliable thing you can do for your own personal happiness.
Secular liberals are poor givers. They give away less than a third as much money as religious conservatives, and about half as much as the population in general. .. 12 points less likely to volunteer than religious conservatives.. significantly less likely than the population average to return excess change mistakenly given to them by a cashier. Religious people are far more charitable than secularists, no matter what their politics. - Who Really Cares, by Arthur C. Brooks, page 49, 50
Are there any primary sources for these figures? How are they defining “secular liberals” and “religious conservatives”? Presumably they’re (mis)using “secular” or mean “non-religious”. What about “non-religious conservatives” and “religious liberals”? Is this US focused or international? Is it based on self-declarations or is it being measured in some structured way? Is it overall value amount, per-head or by percentage of income? Are direct donations to churches (rather than functional charities which happen to be religious) being included? Is it being presumed that only religious people donate to religious charities? Remember that “I don’t know” is always a valid answer. “I’ll find out” is even better. Also, isn’t all of this something of a tangent (arguably even contradictory) to your OP on the thread (which was fine but raised fewer questions)?
From the Humor & Satire link, I see "ignoredmember" posted on this thread but I can't see his post, because he is..... (wait for it) "ignoredmember," and for good reason. Terrific name, incidentally! Most apropos. Ho, ho, ho.
Not totally. The study does exist but he is cherry picking. When using tax returns you get one picture because itemizing is mostly done by wealthier people so they look better there for example. Religious donations are again more likely by those with disposable income. I've read elsewhere that people committed to give their time tend to be liberals. When I was in the Peace Corps, for example, we had a mock vote in 1980 and John B Anderson won, Carter was second and Captain Kirk and Pat Paulson both beat Ronald Reagan who had zero out of 45. For the idle rich their charity work often involves holding black tie galas, it's fashionable, but to find them working at the soup kitchen for more than a photo op is rare. I don't buy the liberals vs conservative meme, most people have compassion for those in need but often it's simply a matter of disposable income.
A wonderful tradition to start for those of you with kids. Make them aware of their plenty and then suggest that they return one of their presents and give it to charity. You'll be amazed at how happy most kids are when they do something like this but forcing them only creates resentment. The kids should also be involved in selecting the charity and making the donation. I bet many will try to start a program at their school. If you want an international agency you can't go wrong with OXFAM or MSF (Médecins Sans Frontieres AKA Doctors Without Borders) are two that I can recommend unequivocally.
The liberals vs conservative meme has been parroted by liberals for decades. It is of course a LIE but they've repeated it so many millions of times that all liberals and many conservatives believe the LIE. The LIE of liberal generosity, and conservative stinginess has been exposed by Professor Arthur C. Brooks in his book, Who Really Cares: America's Charity Divide - Who Gives, Who Doesn't and Why It Really Matters. Conservatives give more than liberals, on average, not only in church, but to friends and family, to blood banks, and to secular causes, including volunteering much more of their time. Recall that when Al Gore ran for president he showed his tax return and his charitable donations were 0.2% of taxable income. How kind of this filthy rich Democrat.
Actually you are inferring that from his book, it's not what it says. Did you catch the part about Muslims being more consistent donors than Christians?
Who Really Cares, by Arthur C. Brooks But I am talking here about averages, not special cases. It is simply undeniable that today, conservatives are most congenial to the four forces of charity. (Ten years ago, in graduate school) I lived in a world largely characterized by the kind of impressionistic stereotyping offered by President Carter at the beginning of this chapter. Do rich people want tax cuts? I would have told you it's because they are uncharitable. Europeans care more than Americans about the world's poor. Socialism is more compassionate than capitalism. And so on. My personal views about "charity" amounted to little more than unquestioned liberal political beliefs. When I started doing research on charity, I expected to find that political liberals - who I believed, genuinely cared more about others than conservatives did - would turn out to be the most privately charitable people. So when my early findings led to the opposite conclusion, I assumed I had made some sort of technical error. I re-ran the analyses. I got new data. Nothing worked. In the end, I had no option but to change my views. - page 12 Page 49 Secular liberals are poor givers. They give away less than a third as much money as religious conservatives, and about half as much as the population in general. .. 12 points less likely to volunteer than religious conservatives.. significantly less likely than the population average to return excess change mistakenly given to them by a cashier. Page 50 Religious people are far more charitable than secularists, no matter what their politics.