Charitable contributions

[DavidDvorkin]

I read somewhere that atheists and agnostics give more to charities than the religious do. I mentioned that to my wife who said it to a religious friend, who scoffed at the very possibility.

Now I can't find a source for my claim. Did I imagine that? Has anyone else heard something similar? Perhaps a URL?

[trotsky]

1. It must exist, since I recall reading something about that too!

Or we're both just delusional.

It logically follows, since atheists have much lower incarceration and divorce rates than the religious, that we would be more charitable with our money.

We also tend to give to secular charities, where more of the money actually goes towards DOING things rather than preaching.

[YankeyMCC]

2. try http://atheistempire.com/main.html

[DavidDvorkin]

3. That's a remarkable site

Thanks for the URL. I'll explore it.

[drhilarius]

4. Here's my case, which may be representative of many...

I'm on a fixed income, but I give about $200+ each year to charity (mostly progressive causes, food banks, money for homeless etc.). That's not including money I contribute by running in charity events. My folks give about the same, but they give all of it to the Catholic church. The way I look at it, my money is actually going out and doing something, really helping people, while their money only goes to sustain the bloated, useless, and pedophilic bureaucracy of the church, you know, the largest private landowner in the world. Theists may give more, but it really is a question of what that money does.

[Hello_Kitty]

5. The reason is simple

We don't believe that God or Jesus is going to step in to help feed the hungry nor that their condition is a result of "sinfulness". Therefore, it should be no surprise that non-believers are more likely to open our wallets to help our fellow humans because we know if not us, then whom?