What Would Christ Charge?

“We’ve got Gary and Joseph instead of Mary and Joseph in order to symbolize ACLU support for homosexual marriage, and of course there isn’t a Jesus in the manger,” said Chairman Tony McDonald. “The three Wise Men are Lenin, Marx, and Stalin because the founders of the ACLU were strident supporters of Soviet style Communism. The whole scene is a tongue-in-cheek way of showing the many ways that the ACLU and the far left are out of touch with the values of mainstream America.”

The scene will also display a terrorist shepherd and an angel in the form of Nancy Pelosi.

Young Conservatives of Texas at UT Austin

This was brought to my attention by the Democratic Underground.com site. The holiday season is here and of course the wacky Christian right will be complaining again about the “attack on Christmas.” In other words, they will try to impose their idea of Christianity on the rest of us and then whine about liberal bias when they are stopped. You would think they would have better things to do with their time.

Historically, Christianity fought usury, for example, which would seem to be an useful struggle in an age of too easy credit and pay day loans. This is something that truly afflicts the poor this time of year. Instead, you have Christian Faith Financial which will lend you money using your paycheck as collateral for an absurdly high interest charge. According to the site, “fees charged on payday loans online range from $15 to $30 on each $100 advanced. Stated another way, annual percentage rates for payday loans generally range between 400 and 1000 APR. ”

It’s not really interest, though, they assure us, it’s more like a fee. That’s what I call Christian charity! A nice anecdote might be the Post-Purchase Deity Evaluation Form. Or the Frontline piece, “The Secret History of the Credit Card.” As it turns out, these usury laws were only recently overturned. That means, of course, that we could put them back if we chose.

Wikipedia Entry on Usury: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury#Usury_in_scholastic_theology

Post-Purchase Deity Evaluation Form: http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~ebeach/deity.html

Christian Faith Financial: http://www.christianfaithfinancial.com/leads/leadform.jsp

Frontline, “The Secret History of the Credit Card”: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/


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About Ray Watkins

I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. I grew up in Houston, as a part of what we only half-jokingly call the Cajun Diaspora. At a certain point during the Regan administration, I had to leave, so I served in the Peace Corps, Philippines, from 1987-89. I didn't want to return to the United States just yet, so I moved to Paris, France, where I lived for three years or so. I then moved back to Austin, Texas, where I had received my Masters Degree, and (eventually) began a Ph.D., which I completed in 1999. I spent a year at Temple University and then accepted a position at Eastern Illinois University where I worked until May of 2006. I now work exclusively on line (although that may change) for Johns Hopkins, the Art Institute Online, and Smarthinking.com. I can be reached most easily via email: raywatkins [that 'at' symbol] writinginthewild.com

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