Charity and Religion

Last night, I went with a coworker to a local pub which was running a charity event.  For every $5 glass of Coors Light purchased (yech), you received a pint glass in addition to the $5 being donated directly to support St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

I drank two beers, and walked away having made eight $5 donations.  Not only do I have some pint glasses at home now, but my $40 went directly (or so I’m told) to helping kids, since Coors absorbed the cost of the beer and glasses.

I wonder sometimes if even small donations like this would feel as rewarding if I were religious.  Would I have done this in name of “looking good” in the eyes of a deity, rather than for the sake of helping another person?  Do actions like this mean more when you’re not trying to impress an invisible man?

I’m not trying to make a superiority issue out of this; it’s just a question.  I can’t honestly say that if I were a religious person, I would have donated for entirely selfless reasons.  If I were somehow accumulating points towards gaining entrance into an eternal heaven, I would have probably donated the same, but in the end who would I have done it for? I’m not sure.

I’m not claiming that religious people are selfish when they do otherwise seemingly selfless acts, only that there’s some possible motivation there which doesn’t strike me as pure.

Does it matter? Probably not.  The hospital received the money all the same, and that’s what seems important here, though it still makes me wonder…