Love Thy Neighbor and Zakat: Religiosity and Positive Social Engagement in the Western and Islamic Worlds

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1 Love Thy Neighbor and Zakat: Religiosity and Positive Social Engagement in the Western and Islamic Worlds Nick Ruther Amanda Libman Allan L. McCutcheon University of Nebraska-Lincoln Program 1

2 Religion and Positive Social Engagement Religiosity often tied to increased levels of charitable giving and volunteering Two general causal theories: (Bekkers and Schuyt 2008) Community membership and organization give greater opportunities to participate in engagement Pro-social values promoted by religion encourage positive social engagement Much research on Western, predominantly Christian countries Comparatively much less on Muslim-majority countries 2

3 Islam and Social Engagement Zakat: Third of Five Pillars of Islam (Bonner 2005, Hart 2007) Mandatory giving of portion of wealth once above subsistence level Purifies wealth gained, a way to make acceptable to have more than one needs Usually 2.5% of specific type of monetary resources Specific guidelines for who is eligible to receive Sadaqah Voluntary giving on top of Zakat Perhaps closer to Western/Christian concept of charity 3

4 Countries Examined Western United States Higher religiosity than other developed Western nations Germany Lower religiosity in line with most Western countries Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia Middle Eastern Wealthy due to oil industry, relatively stable Pakistan Non-Middle Eastern Less prosperous, less stable 4

5 Specific Conditions in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan Saudi Arabia (Montagu 2010) Department of Zakat and Income Tax Collects and distributes zakat to eight groups specifically noted in the Qur an NGOs limited Can receive zakat funds for qualifying purposes Must rely on sadaqah for other funding Pakistan Zakat and Ushr Ordinance (Nazir 1996) Instituted in 1980, collected from certain monetary assets Distributed to poor, persons with disabilities (mustahiqeen) Questions about coverage, efficacy (Arif and Bilquees 2007, Ashraf Toor and Nasar 2004) 5

6 Hypotheses Higher religiosity will tend to lead to higher engagement in positive social activities Limited opportunities in Saudi Arabia may tend to limit ability to engage in comparison with other countries If greater opportunities have greater casual effects than pro-social values, then attendance should have a higher effect on than importance 6

7 Dataset Gallup World Poll Conducted since 2005 in over 150 countries Probability-based sampling: 95% world population Face-to-face and telephone interviewing Common core questions asked in all countries Data examined from polling in

8 Religious Demographics: Western United States 2% Christian: Roman Catholic Germany 2% 6% 12% 27% Christian Secular 11% 15% 34% Other 53% Minority religion 38% 8

9 Saudi Arabia 3% <1% 1% Religious Demographics: Muslim-Majority Sunni 3% Pakistan 1% 1% Shiite Other Minority religions 96% 95% 9

10 Religiosity Measures Importance of Religion Is religion an important part of your daily life? (Y/N) Attendance at Religious Service Have you attended a place of worship or religious service within the last seven days? (Y/N) 10

11 Religious Measures 100% Importance and Attendance 80% Importance Attendance 60% 40% 20% 0% United States Germany Saudi Arabia Pakistan 11

12 Social Engagement Measures Have you done any of the following in the past month? How about: Donated to Charity Donated money to a charity? (Y/N) Volunteered Volunteered your time to an organization? (Y/N) Helped a Stranger Helped a stranger or someone you didn t know who needed help? (Y/N) 12

13 Social Engagement Variables 100% Charity, Volunteerism, and Helping a Stranger 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% Charity Volunteerism Help a Stranger 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% United States Germany Saudi Arabia Pakistan 13

14 Economic Measures Standard of Living Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your standard of living, all the things you can buy and do? (Y/N) Standard of Living Getting Better or Worse Right now, do you feel your standard of living is getting better or getting worse? (Y/N) Annual Income Household Has (International Dollars) Annual Income Household Needs (ID) Education (trichotomous) Elementary, Secondary, Tertiary 14

15 International Dollars (standardized) Economic Measures Have vs. Need Have Need United States Germany Saudi Arabia Pakistan 15

16 Methods Analysis: Logistic regression 0 = do not engage, 1 = engage Variables for Model 1: Importance of religion, Attendance at religious service in past week Volunteered, donated to charity, helped a stranger Satisfaction with standard of living, Standard of living getting better or worse Education Added variables for Model 2: Amount of money household has, amount of money household needs 16

17 Model 1: Charity (Odds Ratio) Country United States n=980 Importance of religion Attendance of Religious Services Standard of Living Getting Worse or Better Education 1.906*** 2.089*** 2.656*** 0.814* 2.572*** Germany n= *** 1.828*** 2.918*** NS 1.931*** Saudi Arabia n=945 NS NS 1.943** NS Pakistan n=802 NS 2.068*** NS NS 1.536** P-levels - *** = <.0001, ** = <.01, * = <.05, = <.1, NS = not significant 17

18 Model 2: Charity (Odds Ratio) Country United States n=784 Importance of religion Attendance of Religious Services Income (by 1000) Need (by 1000) Standard of Living Getting Worse or Better Education 1.964*** 2.422*** NS 1.010** 2.331***.807* 2.127*** Germany n= ** 1.829** NS 3.561*** NS 1.782** Saudi Arabia n=868 NS NS NS NS 1.921** NS Pakistan n=564 NS 1.82* NS NS NS NS 1.46* P-levels - *** = <.0001, ** = <.01, * = <.05, = <.1, NS = not significant 18

19 Model 1 and 2: Charity Attendance, education significant in all but Saudi Arabia Standard of living significant in all but Pakistan Inclusion of household money had and needed had few, small significant effects; did not alter other effects much 19

20 Model 1: Volunteering (Odds Ratio) Country United States n=982 Importance of religion Attendance of Religious Services Standard of Living Getting Worse or Better Education NS 3.312*** 1.783** *** Germany n= ** 2.192*** NS NS Saudi Arabia n=953 NS NS NS NS NS Pakistan n=803 NS 6.433*** NS NS 1.500* P-levels - *** = <.0001, ** = <.01, * = <.05, = <.1, NS = not significant 20

21 Model 2: Volunteering (Odds Ratio) Country United States n=786 Importance of religion Attendance of Religious Services Income (by 1000) Need Standard (by 1000) of Living Getting Worse or Better Education NS 3.533*** NS NS 1.882** 0.786** 2.148*** Germany n= *** NS NS NS NS NS Saudi Arabia n=873 NS NS NS NS NS NS NS Pakistan n=566 NS 5.718*** NS NS NS NS NS P-levels - *** = <.0001, ** = <.01, * = <.05, = <.1, NS = not significant 21

22 Model 1 and 2: Volunteering Attendance significant in all countries but Saudi Arabia Economic measures have lesser or no effect compared to charitable giving, while attendance has a larger effect As with charity, not much change in effects from Model 1 to Model 2 22

23 Model 1: Helped a Stranger (Odds Ratio) Country United States n=978 Importance of religion Attendance of Religious Services Standard of Living Getting Worse or Better Education 1.739*** NS.691* NS NS Germany n=931 NS NS NS NS NS Saudi Arabia n=950 NS NS 1.506* NS NS Pakistan n=782 omitted 3.338*** NS 1.326* 1.387* P-levels - *** = <.0001, ** = <.01, * = <.05, = <.1, NS = not significant 23

24 Model 2: Helped a Stranger (Odds Ratio) Country United States n=783 Importance of religion Attendance of Religious Services Income (by 1000) Need Standard (by 1000) of Living Getting Worse or Better Education 1.868** NS NS NS NS NS NS Germany n=639 NS NS NS NS NS NS NS Saudi Arabia n=870 NS NS 1.007* NS 1.576* NS NS Pakistan n=552 omitted 2.605*** NS NS NS NS P-levels - *** = <.0001, ** = <.01, * = <.05, = <.1, NS = not significant 24

25 Model 1 and 2: Helped a Stranger Few significant effects in either Model 1 or 2 But, importance of religion in the United States and attendance in Pakistan highly significant Income household has and standard of living significant in Saudi Arabia 25

26 Discussion Religiosity measures have significant effect on charity and volunteering in US, Germany, and Pakistan, but not Saudi Arabia May be due to more limited opportunities in Saudi Arabia Attendance has more significant and larger effects on volunteering than charity, indicating that opportunity more than values may have greater causal effect Lack of variation in importance of religion lessens usefulness as measure, much as belief in God in the US 26

27 Future Research Study of greater range of Western and Muslim-majority countries Esp. Shia-majority states More precise and different measures of religiosity Non-binary response options; Prayer outside of services Directly ask about paying Zakat vs. giving sadaqah 27

28 THANK YOU Nick Ruther Amanda Libman 28