Bounty in Common: The Early Christians Fathers vs. The One Percent

by Nomad

Here's what the Early Fathers of the Christian Church had to say about the rich. Despite what many on the Far Right might say, these ideas about wealth redistribution, sharing God's blessings and holding all things for the common good came a long long time before Marx.

It always amazes me how few Christians are aware of Church teaching. They claim to believe every word but- as I saw recently from a religious politician- quote Ghandi mistaking for the Bible.

It's a pity that Christians do not actually study their faith seriously. If they reviewed for themselves what the early Church fathers said about the greedy rich- instead of taking it second-hand from wealthy evangelists, they would have cleansed the world of the 1% quite some time ago.

Of course, the sad fact is that the capitalist system untempered by at least some kind of socialism, and pure Christianity, as taught in by the Early Fathers, are two ideologies that are incompatible. Judge for yourself.

Tulsa Church Throws in Towel over Negligence Lawsuit in Boxing Match Death

by Nomad

The death of young football coach after a charity boxing match has cost a Tulsa "rock and roll" church a small fortune. For the victim's family, it was a clear case of negligence.
Shouldn't somebody have asked whether a 12-round brawl was really the best way to raise money for a Christian organization?

Slug-Fest for Jesus

Oklahoma is the kind of place where, when it comes to either big business exploitation or church activities, just about anything goes. Absolutely nothing should surprise you. Even so, I was a little taken aback when I saw this news story in a Tulsa newspaper.

A Tulsa church's owners have settled a civil lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died in the wake of a boxing event at the church, a lawyer confirmed Tuesday.

The family of George Clinkscale III, a former TU linebacker, alleged negligence in a lawsuit against the church following the boxing event that featured untrained and unlicensed fighters.

A tragedy to be sure but the question that stuck in my head was: Who on earth thought a "slug-fest" was appropriate for a church?  (Isn't it carrying the Biblical passage "if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" a bit too literally?)

Clinkscale died as a result of injuries he suffered in a boxing match at Guts Church's Fight Night VI, held in the church's parking lot in September 2011.

So apparently these events had been going on for years.

Mitt Romney, Lies and The Mormon Church 1/3

by Nomad

Recently I began to wonder: Disregarding the possibility that it is some kind of pathological problem, where did Romney learn to lie so much? It's really quite remarkable when you start looking at all of the strange things he has said in the campaign.

How did Romney get to be such a despoiler of truth? Was he born that way? Or was it a case of a failure of moral instruction. Or perhaps was a successful education but of amorality. 

To answer that question we must begin at the usual sources of such instruction. Most of us collect our moral or ethical education from our parents, our peers and our faith, which in this case, is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church), the Mormons.

To outsiders who know very little about the faith, Mormons are just another a quirky conservative religion. Jokes are usually made about the “magic underwear”- a kind of soft chastity belt- and that’s about all. Others have called the religion little more than a cult.