Which religion has done the most for Social Justice?

[KarenNC]

I think some actual data will provide some useful information to the discussion. People like KarenNC claim that people can be charitable without religion, which is true, they can be. However, the question remains, will they be? I looked at some data from the general social survey, a national survey asking about social attitudes. I looked at giving to nonchurch organization as a function of church attendance. The idea being that those who are atheists are not likely to attend church.

Do you have a link to the survey so that we can see the data in context?

 

[stinkcat_14]

Do you have a link to the survey so that we can see the data in context?

Certainly:

sda.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin32/hsda?harcsda+gss06

Then click on Analysis at the top of the page, then click on comparison of means. You will then get a fill in form, put: “giveoth” in the row box and “attend” in the column box and press run.

 

[urban-hermit]

Another excellent resource on this point is a book called “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism” by Arthur C. Brooks - it made a bit of a stir when it came out about a year ago.

There is also an updated version that just came out, with an updated title as well:
“Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism – America’s Charity Divide - Who Gives, Who Doesn’t, and Why It Matters”
by Arthur C. Brooks and James Q. Wilson.
amazon.com/Who-Really-Cares-Compassionate-Conservatism/dp/0465008232/

The author, a native of Seattle and a preeminent public policy expert, spent years researching giving trends in America, and even he was surprised by what he learned about the generosity of Christians when he did the research on “Who Really Cares” and published the book. Also, there is a certain liberal columnist here in Seattle who also has taken another look at his prejudices as a result of reading that book, and has written about it in our local paper. I’m sure there are many others who are being similarly affected by this well-researched presentation of actual data by somebody who actually knows that it means.

 

[Melchior]

I do not know why “atheism” is a religion or a choice in your post.

Atheism is compatible with many different philosophies; for example, Nietzscheism, existentialism, objectivism, and utilitarianism.

I am a utilitarian and I do believe that most (of course not all) of the ideals encompassed by utilitarianism is compatible with the Catholic notion of “social justice.”

I do believe the formulations of “social justice” expatiated by philosophers such as Peter Singer and John Stuart Mill superior to Catholic social justice.

You really think advocating a parents “right” to kill their child, post birth, as Singer does, is superior to Catholic social justice?

 

[KarenNC]

asu.edu/copp/nonprofit/res/abridged/Summer2005.pdf

An interesting article from Arizona State University’ Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management in a publication “Nonprofit Research Abridged”. Talks about the effects of research methods on statistics on giving.

 

[stinkcat_14]

asu.edu/copp/nonprofit/res/abridged/Summer2005.pdf

An interesting article from Arizona State University’ Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management in a publication “Nonprofit Research Abridged”. Talks about the effects of research methods on statistics on giving.

Interesting article, but I don’t think it relates to the data that I presented. First of all, the General Social Survey is a well designed sample, so it doesn’t have some of the problems that we have when we take data from tax returns, or samples of donors. The other issue is whether people tend to overinflate their numbers when responding to a survey. Here, that might affect the accuracy of the numbers, but not the relative position of the numbers because they are both biased in the same direction.

 

[KarenNC]

Interesting article, but I don’t think it relates to the data that I presented. First of all, the General Social Survey is a well designed sample, so it doesn’t have some of the problems that we have when we take data from tax returns, or samples of donors. The other issue is whether people tend to overinflate their numbers when responding to a survey. Here, that might affect the accuracy of the numbers, but not the relative position of the numbers because they are both biased in the same direction.

I didn’t put up the link in reaction to or as a criticism of the data you presented. It was a separate and distinct post (which is why I didn’t quote any of your posts in that reply). I found it interesting in and of itself in terms of looking at various statitistics that are available.