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I was offered a lucrative contract with RJ Reynolds tobacco....
... So I turned it down (shrug). But I can't say this was anything other than a moral grey area at best; if I knew the guy who ultimately got that work, I wouldn't judge him for taking it. This was about me and what makes me feel like my work is purposeful.
Oh c'mon, you only turned it down when you learned that they planned to pay you with product.
Yeah, I didn't know why it would be a problem. My brother owns a christian clothing company that is mildly successful. He's slowly realized over the past few years that he's an atheist. He was thinking about selling or closing his business. I told him he didn't need to. He just wanted to have some other opinions on the topic.
Could be that he thought his business was also serving a higher purpose. Now that the higher purpose is gone, he's questioning what to do with life? Maybe the drive to just sell random T-shirts isn't his thing without warm fuzzies he got from helping spread the Gospel?
Nothing wrong with any of that thinking - it's got to be a grind to run a business and if your heart isn't in it, it would be even worse.
Or maybe he had mostly Christian employees and now feels strange leading them in a Chrsitian business when he's not Christian?
In any case, time for some soul searching to figure out what he wants to be when he grows up.
But I agree with everyone else that there's no moral or ethical issue here with a non-X selling X stuff to believers in X, whatever X might be.
As in anything else, if the job you are doing conflicts with your beliefs or convictions, you either swallow it and do the work (if you own the business, it's still the same) or you leave.
I personally would not run a business that propagated the Big Lie in any shape or form. For other Unbelieving Satanspawn, its is a matter for them.
Today I think it is safe to say that the frequency of how often they are born has increased exponentially.
In the mid 19th century when Barnum made his famous comment, the common understanding and use of the word sucker was "fan" or "patron." It did not yet have the "got fooled" connotation that it enjoys in modern times. Patrons of politicians described themselves as "suckers for Lincoln" or "suckers for Douglas" and were not advertising themselves as rubes.
For example, here are the lyrics to one of Lincoln's campaign songs.."Lincoln and Liberty"
Quote:
Hurrah for the choice of the nation
Our chieftain so brave and so true
We'll go for the great reformation
For Lincoln and liberty, too
We'll go for the son of Kentucky
The hero of Hoosierdom through The pride of the suckers, so lucky
For Lincoln and liberty, too
So when Barnum said "there is a sucker born every minute" he was actually saying "There is a potential customer born every minute." It was not meant to be insulting.
Bit of a moral question for you. Do you feel it's wrong for an atheist to own a clothing company that sells christian graphic t-shirts and other accessories?
Not really, although I think the atheist is doing the world a disservice by providing a venue for them to shove their beliefs down everyone else's throats, even if they do pay for the privilege. Then again, if the atheist then turned around and donated the profits to, say, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, or to fund activism with the goal of ensuring that "intelligent design" is not taught in public schools, there could be some poetic justice in it.
I could probably write some really awesome prayers. Not sure how much money is in the Christian greeting card business as a writer though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Northern Matt
If I found a way to profit from morons, I would too.
Become a televangelist. There is no finer proof of the adage that a fool and his money are soon parted.
Co-owner Bart Centre of New Hampshire launched the business in June 2009 in response to upcoming Judgment Day, declared by Family Radio founder Harold Camping to take place on May 21, 2011
So Camping predicted the end of the world for May 21, 2011, and it failed to take place. Now two and a half years later, if Camping were to announce that the end of the world will really take place November 5th, 2015, no one is going to believe him.
Jesus predicted the end of the world within the lifetimes of his audience, and two thousand years later we are still waiting. Yet the credibility of Jesus remains undamaged in the eyes of millions.
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