Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to Two questions:

re: Two questions:
TB — (archived)

How many charitable donations are included in the first link that are really people giving to their own churches? I didn't quite make that out. I mean, I see nothing wrong with that, but to me, if you give to an organization that takes care of you and your cohort, that's not charity. That's insurance.

I don't quite understand the question. I assume most religious giving is by nature through the person's own church. Donations in my church are strictly divided by function. Some of it is directed to the operational costs. I don't define that as "charity" by the definition we're working with, and maybe that is what you mean. There are other donations that are true charity. Most are ongoing programs run just by our individual church: volunteers building homes in Mexico and elsewhere, support of local retirement homes and other facilities, a program to house homeless workers in our church (on a rotating basis between local churches), or targeted overseas donations like the "Heifer Project." These involve both money and time. There is also a general donation fund for the Lutheran church as a whole that goes to larger charity programs at a more centralized level.

In 2006, religious organizations gave $8.8 billion to overseas needs, or the equivalent of about 37 percent of U.S. foreign aid. I don't have a ready source for domestic charities.

Fact is, a huge percentage of charity through our history has been church-related. This is the other side of the coin on religion, and one that shouldn't be forgotten.

Do entrepreneurs really truly think that they're creating a better world by not giving to relief agencies whose work providing basic necessities is the foundation of all advancement?

I read that article twice. I have no idea where this sentence comes from. Did you find something that suggested these people did not support relief agencies? Or their local communities?

I'm severely handicapped here by not being able to pull up numbers in your own community due to understandable privacy issues. I would, however, suggest that at least some of the community support even where you live comes from wealthy people. I do know you don't live in some rural community deep in the mountains.

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