In 2015 Harvard professor Robert Putnam leveled the following criticism against "organized religion": "The obvious fact is that over the last 30 years, most organized religion has focused on issues regarding sexual morality, such as abortion, gay marriage, all of those." But an article in The Washington Post countered, "Broadly speaking, American churches are incredibly generous to the needs of a hurting world." Here are some stats to back up that claim:

• In 2009, overseas relief and development supported by all American churches exceeded $13 billion.
• That compares to $5 billion sent abroad by foundations in the same year, $6 billion from private and voluntary relief organizations apart from church support, and $9 billion donated internationally by corporations.
• In 2012 alone, the evangelical relief group World Vision spent "roughly $2.8 billion annually to care for the poor," which ranks World Vision about 12th within the G-20 nations in terms of overseas development assistance.
• In addition, groups such as Samaritan's Purse, Food for the Hungry, World Relief, and many others provide hundreds of millions of dollars in anti-poverty programs at home and abroad.

That doesn't include the countless hours that churches and ministries devote to helping the poor, nor the private actions of individual Christians. From clothing closets and food distribution to driving the elderly to medical appointments and caring for abused women in their private homes, believers nationwide, animated by their faith, are bearing both public and deeply personal witness to the love of the Savior they profess.