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Christianity Today, April (Web-only), 2008 |

Study: Conservative Theology Means Smaller Bank Accounts

Duke sociologist says conservative Protestants save less and accumulate fewer assets.

Britanni Hamm, Religion News Service | posted 4/02/2008 02:10PM

Lisa Keister has scanned the Bible and found nearly 2,000 verses in the New Testament that touch on the topic of money. It's those very verses that may be keeping many conservative Protestants from building ...

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J. Lawley

Posted: April 04, 2008 2:13 PM

I thought as I was reading the article that people would seize on the "less education" aspect and beat it to death. Those poor ignorant conservatives (probably are missing teeth along with brain cells) just need a good dose of liberal education. And sure enough, there it was. Is everybody missing this part? “ Keister was surprised that when demographic factors — such as education, age and race — were held as constant, religion still proved to be an influential factor in wealth accumulation.” Wow, maybe some of us conservative Protestants actually bother to read the whole article and understand it before jumping to conclusions. My parents (both college educated, by the way), did not accumulate much material wealth because they never received it. As missionaries, they were always in a low income bracket. Ask them however, if they would do it all over again. You will probably get a wide smile and a resounding yes.

TrutoJC

Posted: April 04, 2008 11:26 AM

Several facts are overlooked in this. First tithing is faithfully practiced by good Christians. That 10%is a testimony that all ones income belongs to God. Our savings, therefore is the future rewards inHeaven. It is called living by faith. The blessings of God promised in Malachi 3:10 are noy necesarillyfinancial. We have risen above the fear of not having enough in later life, therefore we are not sotaken up with financial uncertainty in old age. God has promised to take care of us. People with dollar signs for pupils in their eyes know mothing about faith in the Lord.

TJP	Posted: April 04, 2008 10:40 AM


NO WONDER NON-CHRISTIAN VALUES ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD! Christians seem to want to escape the responsibility of helping their neighbor and going into all the world....but the can't do it if they are BROKE!!! An article written be a professor from a liberal institution like Duke about conservatives, is like asking a Pepsi executive to study Coke drinkers. Repeat after me "skewed".

George T.

Posted: April 04, 2008 8:47 AM

We have been obsessed with GDP,income and other indicators of growth to meassure happiness. The author rightfully points out that this is not the only indicator. We must accumulate more wealth in Heaven; which is to say MORE SPIRITUALITY. I recommend that you read the weekly "Economist" magazine that periodically publishes the "Happiness Factor"of all the countries. The US is way down on the list of all nations studied.

Robert

Posted: April 03, 2008 5:44 PM

While correlation does not equal causation, I'm somewhat relieved at these findings. Whatever people say, I believe these conservative Protestants (and why only study this Christian tradition?) are truly better off, in the deepest sense. I'd agree with Pierre we should study this group's behavior regarding debt --and gambling, I'd add. One factor not mentioned in the study was how many conservative Protestants agree (can we say conspire?) to be double-taxed. A few examples: 1. Hopefully they're more honest when they file; 2. If they send their children to Christian schools they are effectively double-taxed; and 3. Some have a strict interpretation of giving Caesar his due, and do not itemize their charitable giving. If you sense God calling you to decisions that mean you have less bounty, do your best to obey cheerfully.

Ted Voth Jr

Posted: April 03, 2008 3:58 PM

And I thought I was the Lone Ranger! Heartening! We're not all led astray by Prosperitarianism or the greed of such notable 'evangelicals' as Ken Lay, late of Enron. There's a saying to the effect that the poor are more generous than the wealthy: actually that should be that the generous are poorer than the stingy! So we're laying up treasures in Heaven! I feel SO much better about the Scriptural knowledge and spiritual understanding of the Church in the US! Thanks be to God!

An Observer

Posted: April 03, 2008 3:20 PM

"Keister was surprised that when demographic factors — such as education, age and race — were held as constant, religion still proved to be an influential factor in wealth accumulation". So, I'm not sure education is the key point. The key point is that these people really practice what they believe, which is refreshing. Education and IQ are not significant factors in morality. There have been numbers of well educated, intelligent people in this world who have done some horrible things! Morality is more a heart issue than a head issue.

Bruce

Posted: April 03, 2008 3:18 PM

I don't believe wise financial planning for your future needs to be at odds with trusting God as your provider and giving to the poor. The key concept is balance. There is a way to order our finances and control our spending so we can both invest for our future and invest in the kingdom of God. I am curious about professor Keister's remark about the lower educational levels of conservative protestants. I read another sociologist that studied evangelicals and he said, unlike what people think outside the movement, that there educational levels are higher than protestants overall. Anyway while some Christians get caught up with worldly attitudes about money, making money can also be used for kingdom advancement and there are Christian businessmen who are doing just that. Ok for some reason I can't seem to click on more than one star when I intended three. Oh well.

Elizabeth

Posted: April 03, 2008 2:50 PM


The Church of the Nazarene emphasizes education for pastoral staff and laity with elementary schools through universities around the world.

Sheldon

Posted: April 03, 2008 2:19 PM

The researcher was posting an article to a scientific journal of sociology, so I doubt that the researcher is openly advocating one position or another on the matter. Rather, I believe that the focus was simply to demonstrate that what the researcher defined as "conservative religious beliefs" resulted in a population that had a higher rate of physical poverty than the norm. However, because this is only a scientific study, it lacks the capability of discerning the poverty level of the population in spiritual terms. Due to an unfortunate and widespread lack of spiritual education and a severe preponderance of ignorance (Gk. agnosis) in spiritual matters, there are still those who place a higher level of importance on wealth, modern education, and "the wisdom of this world," and find that their "wealthy" retirement in old age is truly their final retirement, not having stored up treasures for themselves in higher places.

Bethany

Posted: April 03, 2008 11:54 AM

I guess I'm not sure what the author's point is, based on the comment at the end of the article that says, "Christians sometimes are, rightfully, less focused on this world and sometimes we do that to a fault." The implication seems to be that we are mistaken when we interpret Jesus' words to mean just what He says, that we should not lay up treasures for ourselves on earth. In our own family, we are constantly torn between the concept of hoarding and the concept of good stewardship. Yes, we need to be responsible to adequately prepare for future needs, but according to most Christian financial advice, it never seems to be enough. So, while we're busy squirreling away for comfortable retirements, with CDs, 401K accounts, IRAs, etc. ministries go without funds, and brothers and sisters go without daily needs. Yet, when we give today, and trust the Lord for tomorrow, are we "at fault"? No answers here, just wondering.

Jeff	Posted: April 03, 2008 11:38 AM


The key point in this article is less education, which goes hand in hand with more ignorance and more conservative beliefs.

Pierre Eade

Posted: April 03, 2008 10:49 AM

I would have been more alarmed to find that there was little to no difference in the financial trends of conservative Christians. It was unclear whether this study was focusing on savings or overall net worth. I would find greater interest in comparing the amount of indebtedness Christians have versus non-Christian counterparts of similar educational and social backgrounds. Debt is the financial epidemic of our society, so it would be interesting to see if Christians suffer from the same vice. Pierre Eade http://www.christiangrowthnetwork.com/

Steve P

Posted: April 03, 2008 9:04 AM

Studies like this always seem to raise the question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? In other words, do conservative Protestants have less because of their theology, or do they choose (consciously or unconsciously) conservative Protestantism because it fits with their economic and educational "profile"? There are always exceptions (Anne Thompson), but the fact that the study found that conservative Protestants tend to have lower levels of education, comparitively speaking, could be used to argue against Keister's conclusion. My interpretation of Scripture does influence what I do, but at the same time, I chose (in one way or another) that interpretation.

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