"You find that people who believe it's the government's job to make incomes more equal, are far less likely to give their money away," Brooks says. In fact, people who disagree with the statement, "The government has a basic responsibility to take care of the people who can't take care of themselves," are 27 percent more likely to give to charity.

Here's my favorite part of the article -- a little tiny light shining:

Religious people are more likely to give to charity, and when they give, they give more money: four times as much. And Arthur Brooks told me that giving goes beyond their own religious organization:

"Actually, the truth is that they're giving to more than their churches," he says. "The religious Americans are more likely to give to every kind of cause and charity, including explicitly non-religious charities."

This makes me feel as good as an article I read that said those horribly depressing surveys showing that those who call themselves Christian have the same percentage of divorce rate, teenage pregnancy, etc., etc. as the country as a whole are not an accurate representation. If you put in any caveats such as "attends church once a week" or "reads Bible once a week" as a so-called religious test, the numbers start skewing a lot different.