Wealthy Americans giving less to charity, non-wealthy giving more

[bedstuy]

Other bits you won't see paraded around much

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To be fair, I think that brings up an important point about charity.  The reason Utahans give so much to charity is that Mormons give 10% of their income to the Mormon church.  I think religious charities may account for a good percentage of Republican charitable giving. 

Does giving money to your church necessarily equate to charity?  Let's say you're just giving money to your local church.  It's somewhere you go once a week and your donations are necessary to keep that institution going.  Isn't that more like paying your gym membership?  Sure, if you're giving money to your local religious soup kitchen, that's definitely charity.  But, giving money to your church is basically a membership fee so a fair accounting would exclude that from the totals.

[bedstuy]

Other bits you won't see paraded around much

You must be logged in to read this quote.

To be fair, I think that brings up an important point about charity.  The reason Utahans give so much to charity is that Mormons give 10% of their income to the Mormon church.  I think religious charities may account for a good percentage of Republican charitable giving. 

Does giving money to your church necessarily equate to charity?  Let's say you're just giving money to your local church.  It's somewhere you go once a week and your donations are necessary to keep that institution going.  Isn't that more like paying your gym membership?  Sure, if you're giving money to your local religious soup kitchen, that's definitely charity.  But, giving money to your church is basically a membership fee so a fair accounting would exclude that from the totals.

You can't make a neat separation since most soup kitchens are either run by or hosted by churches.   The charitable giving statistics also include all sorts of arts, education and other institutions that are attended in part by the people who give the money to keep them up.  So it is not like this issue is unique to churches.

That's definitely true.  There are other charitable contributions in that gray area too.  A good amount of all philanthropy is about contributing to something that directly benefits yourself.  It's like how the rich people in Manhattan give lots of money to the Central Park Conservancy.  It's not a bad thing for sure, but it's not necessarily the same as giving money for the purpose of helping the needy.