I spent two years in Arkansas and met many great people and made many good friends.  One group is the Little Rock Freethinkers.  They were aware of a display at the state capital.  Every year a group of Christians put up a very large nativity display.

The figures inside are life size.  This thing is huge and even had a sign to tell you where you could send donations.  The little Rock Freethinkers tried to get a display up last year and were roadblocked by the government.  This year the Freethinker display went up – here is the video!
 

Pomplamoose – Always in the Season

A very nice secular xmas song.  Check it out.  2nd half of clip is all about the give a goat program.

A new story in the December issue of the Atlantic discusses the connection of the popular Christian “Prosperity Gospel” with the failure of the US economy and the housing slump.

As Pastor Fernando Garay says,

“It doesn’t matter what country you’re from, what degree you have, or what money you have in the bank,”

And

“You don’t have to say, ‘God, bless my business. Bless my bank account.’ The blessings will come! The blessings are looking for you! God will take care of you. God will not let you be without a house!”

I love that “God will not let you be without a house!”  Really?  What about the millions of people around the world that don’t have a house?  Are they just doing it wrong?  Well according to some that preach the Prosperity Gospel – they are.

Pastor Garay’s wife explains…

“Instead of saying ‘I’m poor,’ say ‘I’m rich,’”

“The word of God will manifest itself in reality.”

This is simply a version of The Secret.  Or, The Secret is a version of this without the mention of god.  This encourages people to buy beyond their ability.  No car is too fancy – no house is too big.  Just buy it and pray that the bills get paid.  No REALLY try it – IT WORKS.

As one member of the church explains…

“Monday I have to pay this, and Tuesday I have to pay that.” Then, just that morning, “Jesus gave me $1,000.”

SO….  it does work.  Just ask for money and Jesus will bring it to you.  Hey, if Jesus has all of this money – why does he need 10% from you?  Well it may go all the way back to our good friend, Oral Roberts. 

Roberts claimed his Bible flipped open to the Third Epistle of John, verse 2: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health. Even as thy soul prospereth.” Soon Roberts developed his famous concept of seed faith, still popular today. If people would donate money to his ministry, a “seed” offered to God, he’d say, then God would multiply it a hundredfold. Eventually, Roberts retreated into a life that revolved around private jets and country clubs.

So… It’s not just The Secret, now it is a pyramid scheme.

The world’s biggest promoter of this Prosperity Gospel today is Joel Osteen.  He and his wife tell a story about how they got their dream home.  They just really, really wanted a big house that they could not afford.  Well guess what, now they live in a really big house!  A gift from god.  Maybe it had something to do with the thousands of people that come to his megachurch and give him money.

This brings two terrible realities.  The first is that people get into financial trouble by not investing wisely.  They get expensive houses and expensive cars and they don’t save because God will take care of you.  Then something bad happens, you lose your job or they just cut your pay a little or your hours.  Now you can’t make the payments and the housing market falls 10 -20% (or more) and everything is lost.  Years of work with no money saved, no investments and no house!  The second bad thing is that just like in The Secret,  it is all your fault.  Call it bad thoughts, negative energy or sin – it’s the same.  Why should we help you – if it’s your fault?  All of this while the sellers of the books and the preachers keep getting rich by wisely investing your money.

Bureau of Labor Statistics has release the November employment news.  November Unemployment rate is 10.0%.  This is down from 10.2% from last month.  The total number of people unemployed also fell slightly to 15.4 million.  This is still a very big number but unemployment is a lagging indicator.  That means it is one of the last things to get better when the economy improves.

The most encouraging thing in the data is that 36 states posted lower rates.  Six were the same and eight went up.  Michigan enjoyed a drop of 0.4% for 15.1% to 14.7%. 

NOTE:  This information is for educational purposes only.  This information does not constitute investment advice.  No rational person would make investment decisions based on a blog post.  Please consult with your financial advisor before taking any action.

A church has made a really big mistake.  They were trying to make people think by putting up this billboard!

As you could guess – the most upset group is the Catholic Church.

Spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer told the New Zealand Herald it was particularly inappropriate given the inference was wrong.  ” Our Christian tradition of 200 years is that Mary remains a virgin and that Jesus is the son of God, not Joseph,” she said.

If I recall by bible correctly… Jesus had siblings.  A brother named James.  Where did they come from?  Maybe it’s like when your parents talk to you about having sex.  One of those things you don’t want to think about.

Oral Roberts has been called home.  All they need to do now is close his University.  I always thought it was weird that a guy named Oral would name his son Dick.  Two years ago Dick was under investigation for illegal activities.

If you are godless – you need to give.  Here is a great list of Secular charities!  Each of us should give at least 1% of our total income to help others.  I bet that if we all give 1% we can do more good then the 10% given to all of the churches!