Christmas...
My numbers come from a research project from the Barna Group.
I also found a study done in Canada showing that Christians give more to "not specifically Christian" charities than non-Christians do. I believe this would be generalizable to the US. I am in the process of trying to find that study again, before you ask.
So you have any statistics showing that what I say is not true? Or are you just gainsaying?
No, my numbers are based on real statistics. I'll have to hunt down the sources.According to a Barna Group Web page:In reply to:Churches Get the Lion's ShareAccording to survey respondents, about three-quarters of every donated dollar wound up going to churches or religious centers. For many people, all or most of their giving went to their church. For instance, among both evangelicals and African-American adults an average of 95% of their aggregate donations was given to churches. On average, 91 cents out of every dollar given by residents of the South went to their church, while 87 cents out of every dollar given by all born again Christians went to their church. Individuals who described themselves as politically conservative assigned 89% of their aggregate giving to churches.No wonder churches are the best-looking buildings in some areas. Likewise for synagogues and mosques.The Barna Group appears to be an evangelical Christian organization. You might also want to check less partisan sources.Googling on the subject, though, turned up some ugly, ugly, hateful right-wing blogs.
Yeah, you're right Steve. There's no way a Christian research group could possibly be objective. THAT'S JUST ABSURD. Why do you think that when a Christian does research there has to be a pro-Christian bias, but when a non-Christian does research there doesn't have to be an anti-Christian bias. I think you are betraying your bias here. Besides, I've seen a lot of Barna reports and I can tell you that their results aren't always so favorable toward Christians. Furthermore, if you know anything about how good research is done, you can look at their methodology and determine if it is good research or not and not have to resort to "They're Christians so of course it's biased" rhetoric. This is my last post on this thread.
You focused in on one sentence, and just skipped over everything else, including a quote from them, that says that the "lion's share" of giving by evangelicals is to churches.
I am skeptical of polls by partisan sources. There are subtle and ways that results can be biases, even if there's no conscious intent to do so. Even so, the Barna data doesn't support your point.
In 2003 the U.S. contributed 0.16% of GDP to foreign aid, which is at the bottom of the barrel versus other industrialized countries, and that even that aid comes with a lot of strings attached. I'm not saying that most other countries are super generous, though.
Here's a chart of OECD data of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2001 to 2004. A few secular European countries are doing reasonably well. The U.S. is not--not at all. It's good to see that foreign aid has been on an upward trend, but a lot of it is going to the "war on terror", Israel, and Egypt.
I think we're missing the point here. It is not that Christians are self-centered and selfish. It's that most humans are, and religion doesn't fix the problem. For the most part, it changes the selfish into selfish hypocrites. Cults are an exception, but they generally serve a charismatic leader, rather than people at large.There are many religious groups (not just Christian) that actually do perform acts of charity, and many of them don't even have conversion of the native population as a primary goal. There are Christians in Darfur, risking their lives every minute they're there, aiding a population that the in-power Sudanese are trying to wipe out. If it wasn't for Catholic, Jewish, Baptist and other religious charities, there would be a lot of sick elderly folks living on the street. But there are also a lot of secular groups doing good things, and I'm not sure that many of the religious groups has done as much as, for instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, at least in certain humanitarian areas.I would like to think that people who do good things for others are not motivated by fear of supernatural consequences if they don't. I would hope that people do the right thing because it's the right thing. That's a philosophical issue, though. The important thing is that people do the right thing. But it sure looks like how much people are willing to do for others is far more a cultural thing than a religious one.
So, Damien, are you conceding the lion's share of most evangelical Christians charitable contributions go to their church?
No. I'm just not having this debate with you anymore. It's pointless.It's a DEAD THREAD. Stop trolling.
So you were unable to find any data that supports your supposition? Are you the forum coroner, declaring threads dead?
STEVE GET OFF YOUR SOAP BOX ALREADY!! Damn, you're a great guy but I've never seen anyone rile people up so much!
You never miss an opportunity to pile on. Thank you, may I have another?
In reply to: Are you the forum coroner, declaring threads dead? Do you really want me to go back and count up the times you've posted "dead thread"? 'Don't think I won't.
I thought I was the FCer.
Mmmm...sorry...what's FCer?
Oh...duh...forum coroner...nervermind......time for bed...
