c. 1996 Religion News Service

New study says religious Americans continue as most generous

(RNS) Americans with religious affiliations continue to give higher percentages of their incomes to charities and to volunteer larger amounts of time to non-profit causes than do those without such affiliations, according to a new survey released Wednesday (Oct. 9).

“Religious membership continues to be extraordinarily important to the level of giving,” Virginia Hodgkinson, Independent Sector’s director of research told a Washington news conference.

The study found that 76 percent of members of religious institutions reported charitable contributions in 1996, compared to only 50 percent of non-members. Fifty-five percent of religious members reported doing volunteer work, compared to 34 percent of Americans who had no religious membership.

Those with religious affiliations contributed about 2.3 percent of their average household income to charity, while those with no religious affiliation contributed 1.1 percent. Respondents who attended religious services “weekly or nearly weekly” gave the largest percentages of money and volunteer time, the survey said.

Religious organizations are by far also the top recipient of charitable giving _ nearly 58 percent _ followed by human services groups (9.4 percent), education organizations (8.9 percent) and health agencies (8.1 percent).

The survey, which was conducted this spring by The Gallup Organization, was commissioned by Independent Sector, a Washington-based umbrella group of nearly 800 voluntary organizations, foundations and corporate giving programs.

According to the study, the “strong” relationship between giving and religion has remained constant over five similar Independent Sector studies commissioned since 1987.

“This … leads us to conclude that if membership in religious organizations and regular attendance at religious services increases, the proportion of the population that gives and volunteers will increase and the level of giving to religion and to other charities will increase,” the study said.

Overall, the study found that giving and volunteering in America is slowly rising, although the total number of households making contributions decreased last year.

The survey also revealed a “growing income gap” between affluent households that continue to donate at higher rates and lower-income households that are no longer able to contribute to charities. However, lower-income givers contribute a higher percentage of their income than more affluent households.

Public confidence in charities remained strong, with survey participants reporting a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in private education, religious organizations and youth development organizations. However, public trust in charities’ use of donated funds decreased.

Methodist board opposes California civil rights initiative

(RNS) The United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society, the 8.6 million-member denomination’s social action agency, has voted to oppose a California ballot initiative that would dismantle the state’s affirmative action programs.

The ballot initiative, known as Proposition 209, has attracted national attention as a bellwether in the national debate over the remedies fashioned in the 1960s and 70s to overcome the effects of past racial discrimination and other forms of bias.

Directors of the agency’s board, holding their fall meeting in Alexandria, Va., said in a Tuesday (Oct. 8) statement that they were reaffirming church positions in voicing their opposition to the initiative. The initiative will be on the November ballot in California.

“The use of numerical goals and timetables are a legitimate and necessary tool of effective affirmative actions,” the agency said.

Affirmative action opponents call such goals and timetables quotas.

The board called on United Methodists in California and across the country to work for legislative measures that “interpret the genuine meaning of affirmative action.”

The Methodist board also urged church members to respond to “specious appeals that would undercut and vilify affirmative action policies and programs.”

The board, citing denominational policy, said affirmative action “retains its pertinence as a means of attaining a more inclusive society in our education systems, in our businesses and industries, and in religious and other institutions.”

Lawyers: French Scientology trial is about being “religiously incorrect”

(RNS) Defense lawyers say that the trial of 23 Scientologists in Lyon, France, over charges related to the suicide of a follower of the group, is more about being “religiously incorrect” than about their involvement in the death.

This is a “veritable trial of heresy,” the Associated Press reported lawyer Benoit Ducous-Adair as saying Tuesday (Oct. 8) in opening arguments for the defense. Ducous-Adair called for acquittals for the 23 Scientologists in order “to put the media and politicians in their place.”

The trial centers on the 1988 suicide of Patrice Vic, a Church of Scientology member who committed suicide by jumping out of a window. Prosecutors contend Vic killed himself while under pressure from church officials to enroll in $6,000 worth of Scientology treatment.

The trial comes amid closer scrutiny by French authorities of unorthodox religious groups and sects sparked by incidences of mass suicide by members of the Order of the Solar Temple in Quebec, Switzerland and France.

Earlier this year, the French parliament called Scientology a “cult” and placed it on a list of 173 groups it said should be tracked to prevent what it called cult activities.

“This is not a trial of Scientologists,” said Olivier Metzner, one of the defense lawyers. “It is a trial of sects.”

Prosecutor Thierry Ricard, in his closing arguments on Monday, said he would not enter the debate over whether Scientology is “a religion, a sect or a new religious movement,” but he did argue it is a “money pump … always sucking in but never spitting out.”

But another defense lawyer, Yves Leborgne, said prosecutors were asking the jury “to commit the biggest injustice _ to set an example” to those who don’t follow conventional wisdom.

“You are not charged with protecting from themselves those who do not choose the path judged good or religiously correct,” he said.

Adventists speak out on environment

(RNS) The leadership of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church, meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica, has issued a statement on the environment, urging a “simple, wholesome lifestyle, where people do not step on the treadmill of unbridled over-consumption.”

The statement was issued by Robert S. Folkenberg, president of the denomination, after it was approved by the denomination’s administrative committee.

“Unfortunately, men and women have been increasingly involved in an irresponsible destruction of the Earth’s resources, resulting in widespread suffering, environmental degradation, and the threat of climate change,” Folkenberg said.

“These problems are largely due to human selfishness and greed which result in ever-increasing production, unlimited consumption and depletion of non-renewable resources.

“… A reformation of lifestyle is called for, based on respect for nature, restraint in the use of the world’s resources, re-evaluation of one’s needs, and reaffirmation of the dignity of created life,” Folkenberg said.

Quote of the day: Tom Illiff, president of the Southern Baptist Convention

(RNS) Tom Illiff, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of First Southern Baptist Church, Del City, Okla., spoke at a recent convocation at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., on sacrifice, servanthood and selflessness:

“The world has had it up to here with selfish, greedy, dispassionate Christianity. It’s one thing for Jesus to suffer and die for our sins, but it’s another thing for us to become more concerned with how to make a living telling that story than telling the story.”

MJP END RNS