That's what the Republicans keep telling me, but I think it's just a smoke screen.

That means, I think it's complete nonsense.

You have the right to your opinion.... in spite of whatever the actual facts may show.

I had no group "R"

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

I'd like to see how much non-religious institutions got vs. churches and the like. Churches and religious institutions are by far the most viable of all charitable organizations. I served on the board of directors for an arts organization for a few years and despite our close to 50/50 mix (from what we could see) of conservatives and liberals, there did not seem to be a trend one way or the other. Trying to get money from our membership was like pulling teeth.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

If you have not figured it out yet, here is the answer.

Some people give and dont tell anyone.

Some people spend more money advertising to the world that they gave,
than the amount they have given.

Coke a Cola is doing it right now in Inda, and a WWF water conservation program.
Spending millions on advertising it, while donating much less.

Cindy McCain knows how to advertise !
I forget the numbers, but she spent way more advertising she gave some free water
to people after Katrina, than the amount she spent on the water in the first place.

It is not compassion that motivates these people.

Churches are the number one at forcing people to give.
And then keeping record.

There is just no way a conservative gives more than a liberal person.
Its part of the definition of the terms involved.

Give it a rest.

Want proof of what I am saying ?
Even this post is advertising that conservatives give.

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

It is simply impressive the way you can turn a factual study into saying the opposite of what it really said.

It seems like a matter of faith with you that liberals are simply more, well, liberal, and therefore give more than stingy conservatives.
There have been several studies over the last few years that confirm what this published study reported.
But, never mind the facts; believe as your preconceived beliefs tell you.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

I choose to believe my eyes and ears more than a possibly flawed or purposly biased piece of research.

The glaring inharent flaw of the research quoted is that it is all about money.
There are many many other ways to give.
But a conservative minded person would think maninly of money.
A liberal person is much less inclined to believe that money is the answer.

Did Gandhi give money ????

Giving money to a church is not compassion.
Its because the preacher says you will go to hell if you dont.

Giving money by a lot of businesses is not compassion.
Its trying to look better than what they are.

Giving money by anyone that gets recorded by someone else is really not compassion.
Its ego stroking.

.......

The reason this idea became a topic of discussion is because it does not conform to
most peoples common sense ideas of liberalism and conservatism.

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Supporting data? A beautiful thing.

Bias and predudice do not need supporting data; it all commes from within.

Reminds of an OLD story about a man who was convinced that he was dead. His friends and family all tried talking him out of his nonesense, but he persisted, against all their arguments, maintaining that he was dead. Finally a doctor asked him a question, " Do dead men bleed?". After thinking about it for a minute, the man replied, " Of course not; Dean men do not bleed."
Upon hearing this, the doctor produced a needle, and stuck in it the man's hand, producing a couple of drops of blood. The man was incredulous. He just kept staring at the drops of blood from his own, supposedly, dead hand. After a few minutes, a look of anguish on his face, he looked at the doctor, and said, "Doc, I was wrong......dead men DO bleed."

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Like many of your arguments, there is an element of truth in this one.
SOME people give money because they are trying buy favor with God.
Some businesses ( and people) give money for the tax benefits.
Some people give time and money to be seen by others.

But to write with the broad strokes as you did to imply that these selfish motives account for the majority of giving attributed to Conservatives is to defame a great many people who do good things from better motives than you wish them to have, based simply on your view of their politics.
Its like a Rohrschadt (sp) test....You see what you want to see, and ignore all else.
The sad thing is that for you to have this low opinion of church-goers and business people tells me that you must have met a LOT of these people whom you thus describe. Your experience is probably not narmative; at least I hope not.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

It is not so much that people are in business or attend curch.

It goes back to motivation.

The supposed motivation in this argument is compassion.

It is not compassion that makes a person give money at church.
Nor is it compassion to find a tax dodge.

I feel sorry for a lot of church goers, they live in constant fear.
The church creates this fear and uses it to extort money.
It has been done for thousands of years.

Business and compassion do not mix.
Unless there is a profit in compassion.

......................................

Think of the seven deadly sins.
Lust, anger, pride, envy, greed, gluttony, sloth.
If giving is motivated by any of these feelings then it is not compassion.

.........................................

Look at some of the great givers of this world.
Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Buddah.
Did any of these people give money ???
Would you consider them liberal or conservative ???

There is a world that I live in that does not revolve around money.....

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

This issue was raised in one of the recent threads on conservatives and Haiti so I thought I'd resuscitate it and make a comment.
I'd like to know more about the study itself. I think it's possible that conservatives might give more to charity than liberals but I suspect the data is skewed. Conservatives tend to be more religious than liberals and I'm betting that a considerable portion of the charitable giving in the study was to churches since they are non-profit institutions. Most of that money goes top pay for minister/priests/bishops/secretaries salaries and building maintenance and upkeep. I would not consider that 'charitable giving' in the same way as a donation to the Red Cross is charitable giving. Many churches in my experience do give a portion of their income to relief, disaster and the needy poor but that is a small percentage of their overall budget compared to something like the Red Cross or Red Crescent.
In addition, many if not all religions have a religious duty to give money to the institution which produces a strong social expectation and sanction that does not exist for non-church members.
In other words, a substantial portion of giving to churches amounts to tax deductible union dues and shouldn't really be factored into the 'charitable giving'. Perhaps it wasn't, but I suspect it was. Anyone have the details on the study?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

i'd appreciate more details too.

however, i think this whole charity/compassionate conservatism thing is part of a broader campaign. i'll let you (and others) opine as to what that might be.

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

Kerry,
When you talk about churches and church budgets, I suspect there is more scatter than data.
My church gives about 25% of its total budget to mission work; most of it outside the continental US.
Others give a percent or two and spend the majority of their budget on themselves.

However the disparity in giving was so great that its obvious that there is a difference other than simply church giving.
I think its really pretty simple--More Conservatives believe in personal charity while more liberal/progressives believe in government action. Both groups are being true to their beliefs.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Interesting, but I do think you need to make a distinction between "mission work" and charity.

I think you've misplaced the money. Republicans give much more towards proselytism than Democrats.
Let's not confuse Conservative with Republican or proselytism with charity. Most Conservatives are Republicans but most Republicans are not Conservatives.