Here’s a final and brief follow-up to the discussion about the loss of faith in institutions over recent decades. We might observe that the increase in charitable giving to religious organizations amidst declines in charitable giving overall might show that at least there is not a corresponding loss of faith by religious people in charitable institutions. This is the implication, in fact, at least for institutions other than local churches.
Overall, though, it does seem clear that “big charity” is suffering from loss of faith as much as big government, big business, and big religion (here’s some 2008 data from Brookings).
So during the recession both overall faith in and giving to charitable institutions has declined. But this isn’t the case either for religious charities or for religious givers.
People of faith continue to be faithful in giving to those institutions that they judge to be faithful in their own callings. And within that context, if you have found the Acton Institute to have been a good steward of its mandate over the last year (and the last 20 years as come to the conclusion of our anniversary year), please consider making a contribution in support of the mission of the Acton Institute to promote a society characterized by both freedom and virtue.