Philanthropy Expert: Conservatives Are More GenerousBy Frank Brieaddy
Religion News Service
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks is about to become the darling of the religious right in America -- and it's making him nervous.
The child of academics, raised in a liberal household and educated in the liberal arts, Brooks has written a book that concludes religious conservatives donate far more money than secular liberals to all sorts of charitable activities, irrespective of income.
In the book, he cites extensive data analysis to demonstrate that values advocated by conservatives -- from church attendance and two-parent families to the Protestant work ethic and a distaste for government-funded social services -- make conservatives more generous than liberals.
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The book's basic findings are that conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure.
Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone's tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don't provide them with enough money.
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http://www.beliefnet.com/story/204/story_20419_1.html SOCIAL JUSTICE vs. CHARITY
THROUGH OUR FINGERS Ronald Stanley, O.P.
"Two men were fishing in a river. Late in the afternoon they started cooking some of the fish they had caught. Suddenly they heard the cries of a man being swept down the river. Immediately the men jumped into the river, swam out to the man, and were gradually able to pull him ashore. As they were on shore catching their breath, they heard the cries of a woman being swept down the river. They jumped back into the water, made their way out to the woman, and slowly brought her to shore. They were exhausted but happy to have saved both people. Then they heard to cries of a child being swept downstream. One of the men started back into the water to get the child; the other held back. "Aren't you going to save the child?" asked the first. "You go get the child," responded the second, "I'm going to go upstream to find out why so many people are falling into the river."
Charity is happy to spend all day pulling victims out of the river. Social justice asks: why are so many people falling into the river? Is there a pathway or a bridge in need of repair? Is there someone throwing people into the river? When there is a pattern of people repeatedly falling victim, social justice seeks to discover and remedy the root causes of the problem.
Charity does the important work of meeting the immediate needs of suffering people, for food, clothing, housing, medicine, etc. Most everyone today approves and praises charity.
Social justice, on the other hand, dares to ask troubling questions: if the earth's resources are meant to meet the needs of all the earth's children, why are 20% of the world's population consuming over 80% of the earth's resources, leaving 80% of the world living in misery? Isn't it only just that the privilege few live more simply, so that the masses might simply live?
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Our politicians smooth the pathways and bridges of the privileged, to the neglect of the poor. Little wonder then that so many of the poor keep falling into the river. Their falling is not simply an accident. They are not "falling through the cracks." They are falling through our fingers.
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http://www.ramapo.edu/studentlife/ministry/catholic_Ministry/Articles/social_justice.htm Gospel requires justice not charity, says Jesuit writer-10/05/06
An expert on Christian social action, Fr Peter Henriot, is currently on a tour of Australia for a series of talks and workshops on the relevance of social justice in today's age of globalisation and terror, reports the Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Unit.
Co-author of a Catholic best-seller on the ‘pastoral cycle’ (see-analyse-act), Henriot will be teaming up with Jesuit lawyer Fr Frank Brennan in Sydney later this week. The book, originally published in the 1980s, is called Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice.
Fr Henriot, has lived for nearly 20 years in Zambia - one of the poorest countries in the world. He argues that to respond effectively to social issues, Christians and people of good will need to move from a model of charity to a model of justice at the core of their living and acting.
“We will never deal with the impact of globalisation on poor countries in Africa if we don't do good social analysis that reveals both the systemic problems and the structural hopes,” he declares.
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http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_060510social.shtml 
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