She argues that it’s Evangelicals’ attitudes about money and wealth stemming from their interpretation of the Bible that cause a lower net worth. Things like “money is the root of all evil”, “you cannot serve both God and Mammon”, “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven”, etc. Also their greater level of tithing and charitable giving, again stemming from their reading of Scripture.

The argument she made that really didn’t make sense to me has to do with people who were raised in one faith and are now something else as adults. Those who were raised Evangelical but left as adults have a lower net worth than those who were raised something else but became Evangelical as an adult. She claims that proves the direction of causation goes religion -> wealth but I would see it as simply confirming that childhood SES influences adult wealth.

Or was it a correlative report and causation conclusions were just sort of for readers to infer?

I grew up in an affluent suburb and didn’t know a single Evangelical. All the Protestants of my acquaintance were either Episcopalian or Congregationalist. Then when my DH served in the Army and I was suddenly among working class folks, almost all the Protestants were Evangelicals. I only met a handful of mainline ones and they were all officers.

“I propose that limited educational attainment, early fertility, large family size, and low rates of female labor force participation are important demographic contributors to low CP wealth.”(CP=Conservative Protestant) She does take into account that bearing children early and often is due to CPs marrying younger than the general population, which also accounts for the higher rate of SAHMs.

I read the report, and while I can’t speak for all practicing Christians, Biblically speaking, wealth is not considered evil, but the ruthless pursuit of wealth.

Also- “Some people have just decided that saving money in my own bank account isn’t what they want,” she said, noting that conservative Protestants are among the most generous contributors to churches and related organizations. “Some people are consciously deciding to do other things with their wealth.” The percentage of charities are founded and funded by religious organizations would be interesting to find out. It is considered more virtuous to give to the poor, and to give sacrificially, than to accumulate for oneself.

The Bible also teaches that one should provide for one’s own house, including elderly parents, and especially widows and the fatherless. If that means I don’t live in a 4,000 sq. ft. house and go to the Bahamas every summer, then that’s my choice, isn’t it? If I am not using the police power of the state to take from others to fund my needs and wants, what business is it of anyone else’s whether I am wealthy or live modestly?

I saw this comment at Joanne Jacobs’ blog entry “Learning Starts at Home”- by superdestroyer

If homeschooling is going to sold as a great alternative instead of just another alternative, then all of the costs should be included. That home teachers could be lowering their standard of living in their old age, making themselves more vulnerable to divorce or illness, and saving less in order to educated their children. Where is the risk management is that?

So now one income home educators are financially irresponsible because they aren’t saving enough for retirement and college? And we are also more prone to sickness and divorce? Where’s the research study for that conclusion?

Curious about the economic thing, but on the surface, it does not surprise me. After all, I do not work, a choice many Protestant women make. So long as it is there choice, and they are not burdening anyone with this decision, the chasing of this kind of thinking is a little unsettling. After all, there was a time I seriously considered a career in teaching. Should I have been dissuaded because my earning potential would have been greater in another field?

I don’t like the simplifying of the human experience to solely materialistic measures. And if some, d[ue] to religion, choose not to build earthly wealth, but seek other things, I can hardly cast any disfavor upon that.

(I have not looked at it at all yet, only this entry, so my thoughts may be wholly irrelevant.)