This is a much more interesting debate than creationism :)
On the charity front I thought Muslims were more generous, in the UK least, and the Christian church goers charitableness is exaggerated by the fact the church itself is a charity so donations to it count as charitable donations, which is a bit self fulfilling and doesn’t necessarily help the wider society. But I could be wrong.
I am of the view that most people, whether they are religious or not, live to similar values and behaviours - helping others, supporting their community (however that is defined) and doing what’s ‘right’ . They are, for the most part, innate behaviours in human dna. But there are always some that don’t follow the rules. So the church has taken that and codified it, with some defined rules, and ‘penalties / threats’ for those that don’t live by the rules. As ever, the rules have to be targeted at the lowest common denominator.
But the problem is that then the men (and it always men) who founded these organisations thought it was a good way to elevate and cement their place in society. So when that still doesn’t get 100% compliance the rules get tighter and the threats more draconian. Soon non believers are threatened with eternal damnation to rot in hell for not conforming. And as time goes by what starts as a well meaning organisation has to go further and harder to maintain power, and starts to rot from the core because its purpose then becomes sustaining itself. In the middle ground life goes on as normal, but at the edges there are factions that get very more extreme. But I think that’s about control and power, not true religion.
Much as most people used to make sure their bit of their street was always clean, swept, weeded and tidy. Then the council came along and took responsibility for that, and taxed us. Soon most people didn’t bother, because ‘that’s someone else’s job’, followed by people deliberately choosing to litter. So then the council introduce fines for littering, and a cycle of ever more draconian controls to maintain what did, by and large, work without intervention at all.
Food for thought anyway :)