In Boston, semi-retired carpenter Stephen Cremins said the traditional New England ideal of self-suf

enlarge FRE In this Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009 photo, John Alves, of Dartmouth, Mass., best 10 orlando hotels uses a basket while taking collection during Mass at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in New Bedford, Mass. A study on the generosity of Americans, released Monday, Aug. 20, 2012, by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, found that states with populations that are less religious are also the stingiest about giving money to charity. (AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl)
The study released Monday by the Chronicle of Philanthropy found that residents in states where religious participation is higher than the rest of the nation, particularly in the South, best 10 orlando hotels gave the greatest percentage of their discretionary income to charity.
But Peter Panepento, the Chronicle's assistant managing editor, said that political best 10 orlando hotels breakdown likely speaks to a state's religious best 10 orlando hotels makeup, not its prevailing political views. He noted the lowest-ranked Democrat states were also among the least religious, while the top-ranked Republican states were among the more religious.
By focusing on the percentage given to charity from discretionary income the money left over after necessities are paid for the study aimed to remove variables such as the differing best 10 orlando hotels costs of living around the country, Panepento said. The data allowed researchers to detail charitable giving down to the ZIP code, he said.
The most generous state was Utah, where residents gave 10.6 percent of their discretionary income to charity. Next were Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina. The least generous was New Hampshire, at 2.5 percent, followed by Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
best 10 orlando hotels In Boston, semi-retired carpenter Stephen Cremins said the traditional New England ideal of self-sufficiency might explain the lower giving, particularly during tight times when people have less to spare.
The study found that in the Northeast region, including New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, people gave 4.1 percent of their discretionary income to charity. The percentage was 5.2 percent best 10 orlando hotels in the Southern states, a region from Texas east to Delaware and Florida, and including most of the so-called Bible Belt.
The Bible mandates a 10 percent annual best 10 orlando hotels donation, or tithe, to the church, and the donation is commonly preached best 10 orlando hotels as a way to thank God, care for others and show faith in God's provision. But it has a greater emphasis in some faiths.
In Mormon teachings, for instance, Latter Day Saints are required to pay a 10 percent tithe to remain church members in good standing, which helps explain the high giving rate in heavily-Mormon Utah.
"Any LDS member who is faithful does that," said Valerie Mason, 70, of Mesa, Ariz., during an interview in Salt Lake City. "Some struggle with it. Some leave the church because of it. But we believe in the blessing. ... Tithing does bring the blessing of God's promise."
Alan Wolfe, a political science best 10 orlando hotels professor at Boston College, said it's wrong to link a state's religious makeup with its generosity. People in less religious best 10 orlando hotels states are giving in a different way by being more willing to pay higher taxes so the government can equitably distribute superior benefits, Wolfe said. And the distribution is based purely on need, rather than religious affiliation or other variables, said Wolfe, also head of the college's Boisi Center for Religion and Public Life.
Wolfe said people in less religious states "view the tax money they're paying not as something that's forced upon them, but as a recognition that they belong with everyone else, that they're citizens in the common good. ... I think people here believe that when they pay their taxes, they're best 10 orlando hotels being altruistic."
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