7/21/2025
People have responded to the Central Texas floods with a massive outpouring of financial support and personal engagement. Why are Americans so generous?
Jim Denison says: Americans are by far the most generous people in the world. Our annual private philanthropy as a percentage of GDP is twice that of Canada, four times that of the UK, and fifty times that of China.
What explains this? According to theologian Peter J. Leithart (PhD, University of Cambridge), revival movements “fundamentally shaped the shape of the church” in America. This emphasis on the individual’s relationship with God stood apart from institutional Christendom.
In Leithart’s view, revivalism is the main source of the uniquely vibrant social activism of American Christianity. Temperance, urban renewal, prison ministry, abolitionism, and education reform were all energized by awakenings. . . . Thanks to revivalism, Americans donate a larger portion of their money to charities than any other people on the planet.
Without revivalist Christianity, America would have rolled over and succumbed to secularism long ago. Religion is still at the heart of American generosity today:
- Those who attend religious services twice a month or more give over four times more to charitable causes than those who never attend religious services.
- Among Americans who have volunteered within the last year, three-quarters belong to a religious organization.
- The US states that are the most religiously active are the most generous; some of our wealthiest but less religiously active states are the least generous.