As reported by the Religion News Service, a Syracuse University behavioral economist has just completed a study of politics and charitable giving in America. His Conclusion?

...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.

And the best part is that the author, Professor Arthur C. Brooks, is not himself a conservative and was initially surprised by his findings. "I have to admit I probably would have hated what I have to say in this book," Brooks writes in the introduction of Who Really Cares, available through Amazon: