Sorry to quibble but usury is the Christian term and basically the Christian concept derived from the Jewish concept of ribbit. The Jewish concept (via Deuteronomy) is (in overly simple terms) that interest cannot be charged by Israelites to Israelites. The Jewish tradition does not forbid interest for non-Israelites. The Judiac tradition also allows for the gaining of profit from a loan by sharing the risk - the concept of lending that Islam embraces. So Judaic tradition does not "strictly forbid" usury. Nor does the Christian tradition. Only the Islamic tradition strictly forbids all interest on loans of money.
The moral stricture on usury (and a darn good one!) is because usury creates excessive profit and gain without "labor" on the part of the lender. "Money for Nothing". Profits from usury are gained not by honest work but instead are the gains of sloth and greed (two of the deadly sins...). Thus the early Christian logic was that usury was a horrible sin punishable by excommunication. (Interesting that the Christian definition of usury was the charging of interest greater than 1% so some interest was allowed...) An interesting side-effect of the early Christian bans on usury and the Jewish allowance for the lending to non-Israelites was the rise of Jewish money-lenders. The various Christian heads-of-state encouraged and protected Jewish populations as an easy access to capital when loans were needed to finance state activities. Thus arose the stereotype of Shylock... As Christian society and Christian economies changed the ban on usury was eroded by various legal fictions - such as lending money at no interest but charging an annual "insurance fee" on the repayment of the loan... Eventually with the rise of nation-states and the separation of church and state - the moral ban on usury became so weakened as to have no force. Most Christian churches still 'forbid" usury - but now usury is defined as "unjust interest" or "excessive interest". And that apparently is a moving target is that usury is in the eye of the beholder... Anyway I digress from the original topic...usury is one of the those words that will actually get me to type a message :) ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Ray Harrell [[email protected]] Sent: December 3, 2010 08:50 To: [email protected]; 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [chineseinternetresearch] GT worries about Wikileaks Interesting that the writer doesn't mention the grandfather religion except as being behind the leaks. Usury is a term from the much older Jewish writings and the grandfather of both Islam and Christianity. The other two don't believe in taking care of their relatives. At least that's my take on it. As for Christianity, they gave up on usury with Crusades. Ever since then they've banked with a vengeance. REH -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Spencer Sent: Friday, December 03, 2010 2:40 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] Re: FW: [chineseinternetresearch] GT worries about Wikileaks Mike Gurstein wrote: > A most peculiar (semi-official?) Chinese take on wikileaks. > > * http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/editorial/2010-12/597878.html >From the article: Is there some tacit understanding between the website and the US government? It may be worth asking. And what does it mean to other countries that are on the radar screen of WikiLeaks? Over one the conspirscy newsgroup, the CIA is behind Wikileaks; Mossad is; The Israeli government is; or it's a diversion so that (some unnamed) They can do something nefarious un-noticed. At another conspiracy-minded (and perhaps less than meticulously factual) source: WIKILEAKS delivers massive blow on American usury Publication time: 2 December 2010, 13:19 According to the democratic media outlets, Assange warned that the next disclosure will deal with "a large U.S. bank". The warning caused panic in the U.S. Depositors rushed to withdraw money from the Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. Shares of these major usurious parasitic dens plummeted. Christianity and Islam strictly prohibit usury (bank interest). Earlier in 2009, Assange said in an interview that he has huge discrediting evidence on the Bank of America. http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/12/02/13042.shtml FWIW, -- Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~. /V\ [email protected] /( )\ http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
