1) So if the gov't convinced you that you would go to heaven if you gave more to it, then you wouldn't mind being taxed so much, or would freely donate to the gov't? (because isn't that sort of how the church convinces people to give? Let's face it, it is part of the reason people give)
2) Furthermore, you don't give to the gov't (or don't want to) partly because you think the gov't should only ask for $, not take it, but ALSO because you think the gov't is wasteful and don't believe in a lot of what it does. But you give to the the church because you think it is NOT so wasteful and you believe in what it does with your $?? Really. That's interesting because...
a) you might want to look at how the church manages the $ you give it. According to some, it is an absolute mess, certainly no less wasteful than the gov't:
http://www.economist.com/node/21560536b) you want "100%" of your gov't donations to go to EXACTLY what you gave it for. Really? Why don't you hold the church to the same standard?! A lot of the $ you gave them went to initially pay pedophile priests, then to defend those priests, and then to lobby the gov't to not extend the statute of limitations on abuse victims in order to save them some $ on lawsuits (they spend a LOT of $ lobbying the gov't). Is THAT what you were giving for?
c) much of what the church does, helping the poor and disadvantaged, is also what the gov't does. But because gov't does so in the name of "fairness" and what is good for our country, you don't like it, but because the church does it in the name of God, you do??
To emphasize this point, it may pain you to know that many leaders of the the catholic church explicitly complained about Paul Ryan's budget of tax cuts for the rich, and social program cuts for the poor, calling it "immoral" and "not christian."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75109.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sally-steenland/religious-leaders-condemn-ryan-romney-budget_b_1773356.htmlIt appears that many top catholics don't think progressive taxation is such an outrage as you do. In fact they SUPPORT it because they know it helps achieve many of the same goals they have. Good for them. Bad for you.
Most of those "studies" were found to biased. Some excellent work done on this subject showed that blue states were by far more generous than red, especially if one factors in "cost of living" (i.e., a liberal might live in NYC, and one might only look a their earnings to determine what % of their wealth they gave in charity. But this ignores their high cost of living. In reality, many are giving a good % of what they have left, after living expenses, to charities, often more so than right wingers. But I know, you read something that agreed with your preconceived notions, so you ate it up, hook, line, and sinker)