Posted on 11/17/2006 3:07:01 PM PST by bluetone006
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks is about to become the darling of the religious right in America -- and it's making him nervous.
The child of academics, raised in a liberal household and educated in the liberal arts, Brooks has written a book that concludes religious conservatives donate far more money than secular liberals to all sorts of charitable activities, irrespective of income.
In the book, he cites extensive data analysis to demonstrate that values advocated by conservatives -- from church attendance and two-parent families to the Protestant work ethic and a distaste for government-funded social services -- make conservatives more generous than liberals.
The book, titled "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism" (Basic Books, $26), is due for release Nov. 24.
When it comes to helping the needy, Brooks writes: "For too long, liberals have been claiming they are the most virtuous members of American society. Although they usually give less to charity, they have nevertheless lambasted conservatives for their callousness in the face of social injustice."
For the record, Brooks, 42, has been registered in the past as a Democrat, then a Republican, but now lists himself as independent, explaining, "I have no comfortable political home."
Since 2003 he has been director of nonprofit studies for Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
(Excerpt) Read more at beliefnet.com ...
Of course. We are not spending all of our time and money trying to make ourselves happy (we are already happy). And we believe "love your neighbor as yourself." One of the many Christian Bible verses that make liberals recoil and spew hate.
USA TODAY: Bible Belt Residents Most Charitable:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-20-national-giving_x.htm
Absolutely no surprise. Anyone in the endowment development game will tell you the message that most resonates with prospective donors is traditional values. Liberal arts colleges often have a two tiered strategy: one for donors, one for students. They sell the donors on their tradition and upholding morality in young people, while they sell prospective students on the college's secular, decadent college life, gay studies program, etc.
Not a surprise at all; as the article states, liberals believe that charity should begin and end with the government via high taxes, preferably on those who they deem to be "wealthy". Conservatives believe charity comes from the individual. Both groups act on their beliefs. I'm glad to see someone in academia who is willing to call it like it is, though!
Yep. Study after study has shown that charitability is directly correlated most strongly with religiosity. And also with limited government social services.
One of the first responses you hear out of the mouths of liberals when you bring up the disparity in charitability is that conservatives are rich and can more easily give (really, I'm not sure how they manage to classify us as both rich elitists and nuckle-dragging hicks....). Then you mention Mississippi, which is both our nation's poorest and most generous state.
Next in line? States like Tennessee, North Dakota, Alabama, and Utah. Not exactly liberal territory....
Mark
Pet peeve of the day.....
We sometimes give to St. Jude's. Not every year because we rotate our giving, but several times in the past few years. I ALWAYS write the checks but Marlo ALWAYS sends the begging letters to my husband. Not my husband and me, just my husband. I guess she doesn't see the checks that I ALWAYS sign.
Choke on your "virtue" Brooks!
ping to myself
Yup -- absolutely a two-tiered approach. Parents of potential students and alumni got a nice song-and-dance from the president about how both conservative and liberal kids would be comfortable at the college one of mine attends.
What a joke. Probably half the guys at this "Protestant" college are gay, and the rest are hopeless fems. The curriculum is full of politically correct courses. And it is supposedly a more traditional school by the standard of surrounding colleges. That's life on the left coast, I guess.
Even if my kid graduates from there, they'll never get a dime of my money other than the tuition that I'm forced to pay...
Bookmark
"An academic more wedded to truth than to his own politics and ideology is always interesting."
And it's very rare.
Shall we say, distorting truth to make them look good is the usual modus operandi?
Bookmark
Come on now, liberals are extremely generous they just prefer to use other people's money.
Libs want their "charity" to come from the gubmint, because it's "free stuff" in their eyes. Nobody pays for it, don't you know. They're the smart ones.
They'll never get it.
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