"Religious liberals give nearly as much as religious conservatives, Mr. Brooks found. And secular conservatives are even less generous than secular liberals."
"Funny that anyone should find this stuff surprising. Liberalism really does erode character. "
What you meant to say, I'm sure, is that being non- RELIGIOUS erodes character (at least if you are interested in hewing at all to the character of the data set you are talking about, and given your posts, you may have no interest in such logic)- and that's only if we assume that charity has something to do with character. Obviously both statements about said erosion are kind of bigoted, but at least one has a tenuous connection to the facts. If you look at religiously driven donations as "bribery" to God, to allow you into the Pearly Gates, it begins to look less like good character. When I give, and when I work for social institutions, I do it because I want to, not because I need to get in good with God. I suppose if people really NEED God driving them to do nice things and to be nice people, I'm going to say that's a good thing, but it would be better, and they would have better characters (IMO), if they could just do it because it's a nice thing to do, rather than because they expect a pay off in the sweet hereafter. Obviously though, most people don't have the good character to be good without a God looking over their shoulder. Too bad about that. |
