Racism, Religious Humanitarianism, and Transnational Charitable Organizations

• In Event: Transnational Interest Group Effects on Democracy and Sustainability

Abstract

Is religious philanthropy tainted by racism? Religion-motivated charitable organizations are giving accounts for more than one third of charitable giving in the United States. This includes a component of regular giving to the religious organization such as a Church or a Mosque (via zakat or tithing) as well as giving in in response to appeals from religious nonprofits for support specific causes. These causes include the chronic under-provision of vital human needs such as food, shelter, healthcare, and education, as well as support for victims of, for example, natural disasters. For example, as per the UNHCR website, there are over 70 million forcibly displaced people in the world with 1 person getting forcibly displaced every 2 seconds. All religions carry the message of love and care for the underprivileged. Thus, religious giving could be directed to secular causes, irrespective of the religion of the recipient. However, much of the faith-inspired giving, especially in developing countries, tends to be directed to religious purposes and to alleviate the suffering of the co-religionists. By some accounts, in overseas Muslim countries, religion-motivated philanthropy accounts for a very high proportion of charitable giving. This is probably because social identity plays a crucial role in religious giving because religion can activate donors' in‐group identity and motivates them to direct their generosity toward coreligionists. But are all co-religionists equal? We use a survey framing experiment in Pakistan to understand how racism might influence the willingness to support a charity that serves Muslim co-religionists in Africa who are facing displacement from civil wars and humanitarian crises. In sum, our paper will contribute to multiple literatures by experimentally assessing how racism might affect an individual’s support for overseas charitable causes that serve co-religionists.

Authors

• Rafeel Wasif, University of Washington

• Rafeel Wasif, University of Washington