Grand Rapids, Michigan, where you're not much unless you're a rich Calvinist, once put beggars in jail 211 times between 2008 and 2011

 The ACLU said Grand Rapids enforced the state law 399 times between Jan. 1, 2008, and May 24, 2011. James Speet and Ernest Sims were among those arrested. They filed the original lawsuit. Speet held a sign, while Sims asked for spare change. ... 

The appeals court said that striking down the law was “appropriate because the risk exists, that, if left on the books, the statute would chill a substantial amount of activity protected by the First Amendment.” It noted that Grand Rapids police produced 409 incident reports related to begging. Thirty-eight percent of those stopped by police were holding signs, requesting help, with messages such as “Homeless and Hungry: Need Work.” The others involved verbal solicitations. In 43 percent of those cases, police immediately arrested beggars. In 211 cases, those convicted were sentenced directly to jail time. 

More.

Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. 

-- Luke 6:30

Kalamazoo, Michigan, will be ground zero for superstition, bunkum, and rot come August 21, 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kalamazoo County overwhelmingly voted for Catholic Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, who garnered 58.2% of the popular vote. As of 2010, Michigan overall is 58% Catholic.

Why Family Christian Stores is bankrupt for good: Pledged in 2012 to give 100% of profits to charity

That's no way to run a business, but it is a way to bankrupt it.

It took less than five years. And now over 3,000 employees who had jobs don't.

Good job, idiots!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Family Christian's own story here on November 29, 2012:

Family Christian, the nation's largest Christian retail chain with 280 stores in 36 states, announced today that its management team has partnered with a group of Atlanta-based Christian businessmen to acquire the company from its private equity owners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Under the new ownership, Family Christian's pledge is to contribute 100% of its profits to Christian causes and, specifically, ministries serving widows and orphans both in the U.S. and abroad. Family Christian has always been committed to providing resources for the Christian community, but the new ownership structure will allow the organization to not only equip Christians in their daily walk, but to increase the organization's impact by providing substantial financial support to faith-based causes.

Fast forward to now. Dateline Grand Rapids, Michigan, February 23, 2017 here:

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Family Christian Stores, the nation's largest chain of Christian book and merchandise stores, announced it will close its doors after 85 years in business.

The announcement on Thursday, Feb. 23, did not specify a timetable for the liquidation, which will affect more than 3,000 employees at more than 240 stores in 36 states.

In 2015, Family Christian shed about $127 million worth of debt to its suppliers, creditors and consignment vendors when it went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy and was sold for about $55 million.

"We had two very difficult years post-bankruptcy," said company president Chuck Bengochea in a news release, that blamed changing consumer habits and declining sales for the decision.

Giving profits away to charity is simply destruction of capital, which was needed to plow back into the company to keep it profitable under the very difficult retail circumstances of the online age after a terrible recession.

Too bad the ownership didn't think of its obligation to its employees and customers first. That they didn't indicates the ownership deserved this, but the lives now wrecked because of their blindness most certainly did not deserve it.

Do not your alms before men, to be seen of them

The headline at mlive.com/news/grand-rapids reads:

For third day, strangers anonymously spend thousands at Kmart to pay off lay-away items.

Barely 3.2% of ELCA Congregations Vote to Separate Over Gay Clergy

Roughly 335 out of over 10,000 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregations are prepared to leave the denomination over the church's decision to allow practicing homosexuals to serve as pastors, according to this story.

Which tells you that the largest Lutheran body in America today doesn't really believe in one of its signature issues: sola scriptura.

Cold comfort to those who have rightly maintained that this Lutheran church left them long ago.