Religion (Christianity or Islam anyway) makes kids meaner

[Ice_Tyrant]

And the US is a Christian Country (70%).

I ain't worried.

Does that count how much the US gives overall or is it in percentages? I just mean, the US obviously gives more to charity than, say, the Maldives. But that doesn't meant the people of the Maldives aren't as charitable as the people of the US.

 

[Farm Boy]

This is honestly the first time someone has so ... well ... objected to the idea of club goods being separated from charity giving. I wonder if it's because civ would rather think of them in terms of 'operating costs'?

I dunno. If I go to a dinner with $100 plates and then find out that setting up the even cost $90 per head, I'd say it's fundamentally different to insist I gave $100 to charity. We're merely seeing that as a 90% operating cost, and ignoring that it's money being spent on myself?

It's a bit odd. I think it's because you're lumping pastors in with sitting in nice pews. We have a pretty tiny congregation. Some of the donations go to supporting the building, heat, and pews, but the lion's share goes towards employing a full time good Samaritan. He seems to spend most of his time drumming up support for trips to help rebuild tornado struck villages, sitting at the gas station asking people how their day is going, visiting the housebound and terminally ill, organizing childrens' nights, acquiring things for the local daycare, running gatoraid out to area farmers, etc etc etc. Sure, community improvement is self-serving in that it's nicer to live in a nice community, but you could say that of world-giving too.

 

[El_Machinae]

Yeah, there're different types. The church I grew up in was certainly more of a 'club good'. And the pastor (who was definitely a loving person) spent most of the time taking care of members of the congregation. And we ear-marked specific donations to specific goals, which is why I more easily noticed how it worked.