Giften van gereformeerden aan maatschappelijke doelen in Nederland

Samenvatting

The effect of religion on charitable giving in the Netherland. Why do orthodox Christians in the Netherlands give more than five times as much money to charitable causes than the non-religious and the other religious groups? To what extent do religious persons also support secular causes? Previous research in the USA and Canada supported Durkheims theory on social cohesion, suggesting that the frequency of church attendance is a much more important factor than the content of religious beliefs. In contrast, this article shows that in the Netherlands differences in social norms with regard to charitable giving and the salience of religion are just as important as church attendance for the amount of money donated to charitable causes. Donations of religious persons more often benefited religious charities, but orthodox Christians also donated twice as much to secular charities than Catholics, mainline protestants and the non-religious. Again, cultural differences accounted for about the same proportion of variance as church attendance.