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Perhaps one should be done on time spent helping others and not just money. Maybe someone from a blue state makes a lot of money, but does pro bono legal work, or is a doctor or dentist that spends their vacation traveling through rural areas giving away free medical care. I know on my campus there are fraternities and sororities that rake leaves, chop wood, and shovel snow for the elderly for free, show up to help with Habitat for Humanity builds, march in "Take Back the Night", and collect canned food. There are plenty of people who give, and it isn't just dollars and cents.
And as far as the top giving states are concerned, they are not all in the Bible Belt. Just in the top ten you have Idaho, South Dakota, and Utah (though Utah & Southern Idaho are heavily Latter Day Saints aka Mormon). What I think is, the influence has nothing to do with religion and much more to do with rural/agricultural areas. If you grow up in smaller towns and communities, you know your neighbors and people nearby, and perhaps if Farmer Jones is about to lose his farm, the mill closes, the Johnson's house burned down or little Timmy has leukemia, etc, you're going to join together for the people you and your families have been intertwined with for a long time and see on a daily basis. Not to say people in larger cities don't care, as that isn't true, but moving from a large city to a small town, I've experienced it.
Oh, San Francisco is far from the Bible Belt, but we learned to tithe in Sunday School there as well. No area of the country has cornered the market on that. I don't think giving for others is completely tied to religion either. Most of my friends are religious in some way or another, but I know plenty of agnostics & atheists that are involved.
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Hybrid Mode
