God & Mammon

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June 2009
- SD Rancher: I Won't Squander $232M Lotto Win
  
  Sioux Falls Argus Leader | Jun 6, 09 10:01 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - South Dakotan Neal Wanless has just hit it big—$232 million in lotto winnings—but he promises to be wise and generous with his newfound wealth, reports the Argus Leader . “I want to thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity and blessing me with this great fortune,” the 23-year-old rancher said. “I will not squander it.” Wanless, who lives with his parents on a 320-acre spread, plans to buy a bigger place for himself, the AP notes. More »
May 2009
- Pizzeria in Town Built by Domino's Chief Not Domino's
  
  News-Press (Florida) | May 26, 09 3:46 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The first pizza shop in Domino’s founder Thomas Monaghan’s Catholic university town of Ave Maria, Fla., will not be a Domino’s, the Fort Myers News-Press reports. Domino’s says the town is covered by another franchise’s delivery radius, and Ave Maria will get a Milano’s instead. And that sit-down restaurant serves alcohol. “Domino’s doesn't allow that,” said Monaghan, who sold Domino’s in 1998. More »
- Prejean: 'Satan Set Gay Trap for Me'
  
  US News & World Report | May 12, 09 4:07 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Miss California has told a Christian radio program that "Satan tried to tempt me" with the gay marriage pageant question that rocketed her into controversy. "I wanted to sound politically correct" and win the Miss USA pageant, Carrie Prejean told evangelical leader James Dobson yesterday. "Then God was in my heart saying, 'Do not compromise. You need to stand up for me.'" Prejean also slammed the pressure she's been under since presenting her "personal opinion" against gay marriage. More »
April 2009
- Playmobil Demands Pastor Stop Crucifying Toys
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Apr 2, 09 5:17 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Playmobil has demanded that a German pastor stop using its toys to depict Bible scenes, reports the Telegrap h. One plastic human figure has been given breasts to be a naked Eve, and another has been nailed to a cross. Photos of the altered figures have been posted on the internet. "We are quite tolerant if this is done in the privacy of the home but if someone crucifies a Playmobil figure, then this is a completely different dimension," said a company spokesman. More »
- UK Bans Ad With Lusty 'Pope'
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Apr 2, 09 4:02 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A British advertising commission has blocked the use of a dancing, beer-guzzling photo-manipulated "Pope John Paul II" in an advertisement promoting a nightclub, reports the Telegraph . "It was hugely offensive," said a spokeswoman for a Polish organization, one of several Catholics who complained about the brochure. "They cannot be allowed to get away with this." More »
March 2009
- Real Buddhists Protest Buddha Bar
  
  Reuters | Mar 5, 09 6:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Indonesian Buddhists yesterday protested the opening in Jakarta of the latest in a popular chain of Buddha Bars established by a Parisian restaurant-lounge enterprise. The bar, which features a giant Buddha, is the first to be built in Southeast Asia. "It's impossible to put the exalted name" of Buddha "with the word 'bar.' That is defamation of religion," said one protester. A staff member said the bar would remain "open as usual." More »
February 2009
- Madoff Bust Stokes Anti-Semitism in Palm Beach
  
  ABC News | Feb 20, 09 3:37 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Bernard Madoff’s alleged mega-fraud and the large number of Jewish investors he apparently snookered is stoking anti-Semitic feeling in tony Palm Beach, ABC News reports. “It is a terrible thing to say, but some of the WASPs are delighted, they take great pleasure in this,” said an author who has written critically about the socially stratified Florida enclave. More »
November 2008
- Bookie Drops Odds on God's Existence to 4-1
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Nov 3, 08 6:39 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The odds are getting better that Nietzsche was not only crazy, but wrong, the Telegraph reports. An Irish bookmaker has lowered the odds on finding proof of God's existence to 4-1, after atheist ads on London buses sparked a flurry of pro-God betting. The bookie, Paddy Power, began taking the bets last year in hope that the Large Hadron Collider would identify the hard-to-find "God particle." More »
October 2008
- UK Group Raises $80K for Atheist Bus Ads
  
  Guardian (UK) | Oct 22, 08 2:47 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A campaign to plaster London buses with agnostic advertising has far exceeded its fundraising goal, the Guardian reports. The ads, aimed to counter what one writer sees as overbearing Christian messages, will say, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Organizers have raised 10 times more money than their target, and are contemplating an expanded blitz. More »
- Prosperity Gospel Blamed for Subprime Hell
  
  Time | Oct 4, 08 8:14 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A fast-growing strain of Pentecostalism may have made its followers victims of the credit crisis by preaching that God's hand was behind dubious mortgages, Time reports. "Prosperity Gospel" preaches that God will "make way" for the poor to gain wealth, making believers easy prey for greedy mortgage brokers, says a scholar writing a book on black televangelism. More »
September 2008
- Ala. Group Offers Jews $50K Move-In Bonus
  
  CNN | Sep 25, 08 4:17 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A dwindling Alabama Jewish community is spending $1 million to stop itself from disappearing, as have many others in the South, CNN reports. A local group in the town of Dothan is offering a $50,000 shalom to Jewish families who choose to relocate to the community and hopes to attract at least 20. Ads in Jewish newspapers have met a huge response from all over the world. More »
August 2008
- 'Jewish Clause' in Will Launches Lawsuits
  
  Chicago Tribune | Aug 25, 08 1:31 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A Chicago courtroom is the site of a nasty tangle over a Jewish patriarch’s wishes for his family, the Chicago Tribune reports. A wealthy dentist, upset to discover that a grandson was taking a gentile to the junior prom, left a provision in his will disowning any of his offspring who marries outside the faith. Of five grandchildren, four did exactly that. Now they're suing their parents for honoring the request. More »
July 2008
- Weak Dollar Sends Vatican to $14.5M Loss
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jul 11, 08 8:19 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The weak dollar has wreaked havoc on business across Europe, but one organization has posted a surprising loss: the Vatican. The Catholic Church blamed the declining greenback for its first loss in 4 years as it ended the year $14.5 million in the red. The Guardian reports on how the decline of the almighty dollar is hurting the house of the Almighty. More »
April 2008
- Robocop Director Pens Shocking Jesus Bio
  
  Associated Press | Apr 24, 08 5:42 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, best known for directing films like Robocop , Basic Instinct , and Total Recall , is releasing a biography of Jesus which is bound to spark an angry response, reports AP. The book, which Verhoeven has been working on for 20 years, suggests that Jesus' father was a Roman soldier who raped Mary. The director hopes the book will lead to a film. More »
- Florida lawmakers debate offering a Christian license plate
  
  Associated Press | Apr 24, 08
  
  Florida drivers can order more than 100 specialty license plates celebrating everything from manatees to the Miami Heat basketball team, but one now under consideration would be the first in the nation to explicitly promote a specific religion.The Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate with a design that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words "I Believe."Rep. Edward Bullard, the plate's sponsor, said people who "believe in their college or university" or "believe in their football team" already have license plates they can buy. The new design is a chance...
- Greenies Find God Might Be the Answer
  
  Politico | Apr 15, 08 11:56 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - How much carbon would Jesus use? Not much, say the religious communities now teaming with environmentalists to lobby Capitol Hill. As a carbon-capping bill approaches the Senate, eco-advocates hope that church partnerships will re-frame the debate, and religious leaders rail against the desecration of divine creation and the suffering of the poor coping with energy costs and food shortages. More »
March 2008
- Holy Week With the Homeless
  
  Austin American-Statesman | Mar 23, 08 12:52 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In an effort to follow in the steps of Jesus, seven prosperous Austin men spent part of Holy Week this year living in a park in downtown Austin, Texas, with the homeless. The "street retreat' is led by Alan Graham, co-founder of a national organization that ministers to the homeless called Mobile Loaves & Fishes. More »
- Easter Defies Madison Avenue
  
  Slate | Mar 23, 08 8:00 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Christmas’ religious meaning is lost in a sea of advertising, parties, and major retail dollars, but Easter has resisted becoming a “consumerist nightmare”—and that’s because its Christian origins demand serious thought, writes James Martin in Slate . While “the Christmas story is easily reduced to pablum,” Easter’s story of crucifixion and resurrection is “relentlessly disconcerting,” Martin observes. More »
February 2008
- More Americans Cut Church Ties
  
  Christian Science Monitor | Feb 26, 08 6:00 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Americans are swapping religious affiliations at an accelerating rate, with 50% choosing a different denomination than the one they were raised in, and 16%—double the number 20 years ago—saying the have no ties to a particular church, a new survey of religious life finds. That doesn't mean they're atheists, the Pew Forum report released yesterday concludes; only 1.6% say they are non-believers. More »
- Jesus-Themed Cosmetics Fail to Amuse
  
  Independent (UK) | Feb 14, 08 11:29 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - What would Jesus use? A line of cosmetics that worked just that angle has been whisked from shelves in Singapore after a Catholic backlash, reports the Independent . The US-made line, called "Lookin’ Good for Jesus," drew criticism over slogans for lotions and bubble bath like “Get Tight With Jesus” and “Guaranteed to help you be worthy and get noticed by the King of Kings.” More »