KINDER'S COMMENTARY: RELIGION HAS STRONG BEARING ON CHARITABLE GIVING IN THE U.S.

Jeff Jacoby is the token, in-house conservative columnist at the left/liberal Boston Globe newspaper. Jacoby has done some original work in taking Internal Revenue Service numbers on charitable giving, gleaned from itemized federal income tax returns, and produced some remarkable revelations. (Jacoby points out that although "only 30 percent of taxpayers itemize deductions, their returns account for 67 percent of all household charity.") At Christmastime, when most of our charitable juices get flowing, it is truly fascinating stuff, the data he has turned up about regional differences in our giving patterns.

Simply put, if you are among those in need of charity, it helps to live either in the conservative states of Utah or Wyoming, or in one of the conservative southern states. If you are in this luckless category, God forbid you might live in any of the liberal northeastern states.

Jacoby's numbers: "In Rhode Island, stingiest state ... -- dead last at No. 50 -- taxpayers reported giving, on average, a pathetic $1,546. In New Hampshire, No. 49, ... the average donation was just $1,634. In Maine (No. 48), it was $1,640. In Vermont (No. 47), $1,734. In Massachusetts (No. 44), $1,919.

"As a region, New England stands out for its lack of generosity -- a pattern all the more dismaying given the relatively high incomes New Englanders earn. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported in 1994 that Greater Boston ranked fourth in nationwide per-capita income. In charitable giving, it ranked 28th."

Where, then, do more generous donors live? Jacoby, again:

"The most generous state in America, according to the IRS data, is Utah, where the average taxpayer donated $4,593 -- almost double the national average. After Utah are Wyoming, Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana. With the exception of Virginia, every state in the Old South is among the top 15. ... Mississippi is often thought of as the poorest state in the nation. Yet Mississippi tax filers gave an average of $3,430 to charity in 1995 -- fourth highest in the nation, hundreds of dollars more per person than New Hampshire and Rhode Island combined."

Jacoby suggests two answers as to why: "The role of the church. And the role of government.

"What the IRS figures tell us -- or at least strongly suggest -- is that the more influential religion is in the culture of a state, the more likely that state's people are to give of themselves and of their earnings to others. The data also suggest that when citizens grow accustomed to thinking that it is the government's job to take care of society's unfilled needs, charity tends to disappear."

Jacoby stresses the Mormon presence in Utah and the Southern Bible Belt, where Baptist populations are the largest. "Mormons strongly emphasize tithing," he says, while "Baptists give more to their churches than most other Christian denominations."

He refers to "big-C Compassion," where folks "show their compassion by building up government budgets and giving the state the main responsibility to help the needy." (Item: "Big-C Compassion is liberal Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts millionaire who speaks frequently of caring for the needy ... From 1990-'95, Kerry donated less than 7-10ths of one percent of his income to charity.") "In small-c compassion states," by contrast, he says, "people don't associate compassion with government. Helping out neighbors is something they expect to do themselves."

Well, yes. That's compassionate charity, properly understood. Big government budgets help cause it to wither. Among which people would you rather live?

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the president of Rust Communications and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.