Compassionate Conservatives
Way back in Briefing #51, in a kind of proto ‘Couldn't help noticing’ column, we noted the interesting findings of Gary Bouma's book The Religious Factor in Australian Life. Bouma was discussing the results of an extensive ‘values survey’ that measured (among things) how tolerant people were, as indicated by their willingness to live next door to certain ‘undesirable’ groups (such as people with criminal records, people of different race, homosexuals, heavy drinkers, and so on).
When the results were correlated with religious affiliation, the outcome confounded popular stereotypes. Of the five religious groupings used in the survey—Roman Catholic, Anglican, PMU (Presbyterian, Methodist, Uniting), Right-wing Protestant and No Religion—by far the most tolerant were the Right-wing Protestants, and the least tolerant were those who had ‘No Religion’.
A new book has come to a similar conclusion—this time in relation to generosity and compassion. Who Really Cares: America's Charity Divide—Who Gives, Who Doesn't and Why It Matters by Arthur C. Brooks shows that when it comes to shelling out to charitable causes, red-necked, free-market-loving, Bible-thumping conservatives give considerably more than blue-state, bleeding-heart, make-poverty-history liberals. The average ‘conservative’-headed household gives 30% more to charity than the average ‘liberal’ household, despite earning 6% less annually. Of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average, 24 were won by George Bush in the 2004 presidential election.
And the biggest single predictor of charitable generosity? Religiousness. (Read a review of Brook's book.)