Hightower: Sweatshop crucifixes
http://youtube.com/v/AjTB6A8eHx8
An appropriate topic considering the time of year.
Bottom line: Christianity is big business and the profits are high. Especially when you use sweatshop labor, baby!
Good Video. The question is asked:”What would Jesus do?” The answer is found in the Bible where Jesus was faced with the same issue. John 2:14-16
14And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
Hmmm. What???? Jesus was not all lovey dovey in Church?
Nice story. With the exception of its earliest days, the Christian church has always been about money. Selling indulgences. The massive wealth of the so-called One True Church, those Holy Roman Catholics, television evangelists and property rich fundamentalists.
Take a look at the churches in my community. The big names, Bellevue Baptist comes to mind, left its original location and moved eastward (where all the white people with money live) once the neighborhood became mostly black.
They claimed to move where their members moved, and we all know why their members moved. So, instead of witnessing to and serving the community, Bellevue abandoned the community for, you guessed it, money.
No need for South American missions. They could have set up a mission right there in their own community.
Today, Bellevue is one of the largest churches in America, sitting on a massive campus worth probably more than $100 million. And look at the parking lot. It’s filled with new Range Rovers, Jags, BMW’s, Hummers and Caddies. Thousands of members, mostly white, that live high on the hog, all the while espousing Christian virtues.
It’s the Church of Cognitive Dissonance.
I’d have a lot more respect for Christians if they lived in accordance with the teachings. Peace, simplicity, love for one’s neighbor, generosity, etc. The problem is if you drove out all of the money changers, there’d be no one left.
“Piss on Earth and God’s swill toward men!”
Wasn’t this Abbey’s holiday greeting in one book or another (and maybe the first volley in the alleged war on Christmas)? Peace, love and understanding were good enough for J. C. and they are good enough for me but, as you said, you sure don’t get that feeling from our scribes and pharisees do you.