[alexamenos]

I think the argument whether churches are "charities" according to the government is framed in a kind of funny way.

anyhoo...."charity" is part and parcel of christianity, christians being generally commanded by Jesus to take care of the poor and sick and ugly and such. I'm not saying every nickle of tithe goes to helping the sick and poor, of course lot's go to basketball gyms and cadillacs and stuff, but churches themselves provide a really important function and very much provide a social "safety net" for lot's of folks....

...anyway, so conservatives get to count church donations and liberals count as charitable giving musuem donations and money sent to save the friggin' whales and trees -- charities which are in my estimation of less social value than churches.

so let's just say that the exceedingly common liberal objection to church giving rather misses the mark....

....not to mention the fact that conservatives give more blood, a bit of data I believe which overwhelmingly shows that conservatives are more inclined to voluntary giving (a redundant redundancy).

I always thought the more interesting part of such surveys was that poor people give more, at least in relative terms.