Nearly a third of Americans, nearly 50 million individuals, made poverty level wages in 2013

The poverty guideline for an individual in 2015 is just under $12,000.

Are Americans really generous in their charitable giving when they give just 2.68%?

Are Americans really generous in their charitable giving when they give just 2.68%? And 2.68% is really stretching it, since that includes all the money given by the heavy hitters among the rich, the corporations and the foundations.

Charitable giving came to about $335 billion in 2013, according to the story here citing Giving USA statistics. That's still more than 4% lower than the amount given in 2007, adjusted for inflation, but rising since the end of the intervening depression.

Consider that total disposable personal income in 2013 was $12.505 trillion, according to the latest GDP report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the US Department of Congress here. That means everyone, from individuals to corporations and foundations etc., gave just 2.68%.

So what's with all the Christians, many of whom preach tithing, which is giving 10%?

75% of the country claims to be Christian of some sort after all. If 75% of just the $6.7 trillion in net compensation in 2013 were tithed on by the Christians they would be contributing over $500 billion to charity. And tithing on 75% of the total disposable income would come to a whopping $938 billion.

Of course we can't really say that 75% of either sum is what the Christians actually make.

A closer approximation of that would start with the sometimes heard claim that 9 out of 10 people sitting in the pews make less than the senior pastor. The high end of the scale for senior pastors is currently almost $88,000 per year, which puts them in the 90th percentile of income in 2013. In other words, many of them are rich. Net compensation for everyone making below $90,000 a year in 2013 totaled $4.06 trillion. Taking 10% of 75% of that yields $305 billion in theoretical tithes expected from the Christians in 2013. Typically, however, only about a third of total charitable contributions go to specifically religious institutions and organizations, so we're talking about roughly $110 billion in specifically religious contributions in 2013, a giving rate of about 3.6%, not 10%. Of course the rate could be much higher than that if the Christians are also supporting non-religious charities at higher rates than they support their own, but how likely is that?

Overall it must be said the Christians are more generous than the overall rate, but fall rather short of their oft-stated goal.

Well, don't we all.

Americans Gave Just 2.3% Of Personal Income To Charity In 2012

Net compensation to Americans in 2012 came to $6.529 trillion according to Social Security, here.

The Giving USA Foundation estimates total charitable giving to all recipients in 2012 at $316 billion, here.

That works out to a rate of giving at 4.8% of what is basically W-2 income, in other words, 4.8% of wages. Not included in that income however would be all sorts of other income, including capital gains income, so the percentage given is considerably lower than 4.8%.

The federal government's Bureau of Economic Analysis in its latest report here puts personal income of the country at $13.743 trillion in 2012. So $316 billion represents just 2.3% of that.

Lest you think that all $316 billion went to church, think again. Just $102 billion went to religious organizations in 2012, or a measly 0.7% of the country's personal income.

75% of the country claims Protestant and Catholic faith. You know, faith in the guy who said "So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own" (Luke 14:33).

Uh huh.

How Come You Are Poor But Your Pastor Is Rich?

Wage Statistics for 2011 from SocialSecurity.gov

Maybe because a fool and his money are soon parted one from the other.

Your average pastor makes enough money before benefits to put him/her/it firmly in the top 10% of net compensation paid in 2011, if the numbers in this story are close to reality:

"How much should we pay our senior pastor? ... Many refer to surveys by the National Association of Church Business Administration and Christianity Today’s Compensation Handbook for Church Staff, both updated regularly. But a Google search on the subject yields endless links — some the results of scientific polls, others a collection of anecdotes. National averages in those surveys range widely — from about $83,000 (not including benefits such as health care insurance and retirement contributions) to about $112,000. But national averages often are less decisive for personnel committees than factors closer to home."

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"For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen." -- Acts 19:24