“Not paying fairly, not giving a job because you are only looking at how to make a profit, that goes against God.” Pope Francis
Madison’s Annual Bratfest will have a new flavor this year, a fifth stage sprinkled with a dose of “Christianity”.
The festival’s turn toward faith mirrors that of Tim Metcalfe, a co-owner of the grocery stores that sponsor the event. Last year, he attended Lifest, the large Christian music festival in Oshkosh.
He went thinking he’d pick up some practical tips, like how to configure a sound system and where to park food trucks. Instead — or in addition to — he got religion.
“I think God was always in my heart, but I didn’t have a relationship with my faith,” he said. “I wasn’t attending church. This changed everything for me. It was my moment. Afterward, I drove home and said, ‘What do I do with this?’
As a Christian myself, I have no problem with Bratfest bringing in a religious stage,like all music, some Christian rock I really enjoy and some no so much. What I do not enjoy though is extremists trying to pass themselves off as mainstream under the guise of religion and having public forums to do so. Unfortunately that is what is happening with the newest stage.
Bob Lenz, the founder of Lifest, is among those scheduled to speak at this year’s Brat Fest (5:30 p.m. Saturday). He is a former youth pastor who gives inspirational speeches across the country.
Lenz is closely linked to the “Stork Bus” movement, an effort based in Colorado Springs that parks buses outside abortion clinics and offers free ultrasound images to pregnant women. He just completed a 40-day tour on behalf of Stork Bus in which he spoke at 25 rallies.
Not sure yelling at women as they enter planned parenthood, mimics Jesus’s teachings.
Even though Mr. Lenz just returned from a 40 day journey, through 25 different cities to yell at women entering planned parenthood, his appearance at Bratfest will have nothing to do with that. Afterwards you can grab a couple no fat Johnsonville brats!
One of the attractions of bratfest is that charities can work it for a donation to their charity and local “celebrities” also serve brats. This year, thanks to Mr. Lenz’s appearance some of the locals are choosing to pass on attending.
While I applaud them taking a stand, I would ask why would you serve for a union busting, anti-labor company like Metcale’s to begin with?
While I am no expert, my suggestion would be that if you want to show how you have found religion, maybe the best place to start is treat your workers fairly.
A “a filth stage sprinkled with a dose of “christ insanity”
Knowing there is no god does not alter allegiance to a particular form of government.
Pretending there is a god and deriving political motivation from what is widely acknowledged to be a work of fiction is a social misdirection away from the actual issues. Issues that are critical to society are being derailed by zealots driven to action by abuse of religious influence into our government.
Nations tried religious tolerance for a couple hundred years – and religion abused the relationship crippling politics, education and abusing the tax system.No more “live and let live” time to amend the constitution and close down these dens of fraud and deceit.
Freedom forever, Religion never.
Behind a disguised offshore company structure, the church’s international portfolio has been built up over the years, using cash originally handed over by Mussolini in return for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929.
The surprising aspect for some will be the lengths to which the Vatican has gone to preserve secrecy about the Mussolini millions. The St James’s Square office block was bought by a company called British Grolux Investments Ltd, which also holds the other UK properties. Published registers at Companies House do not disclose the company’s true ownership, nor make any mention of the Vatican.
The church is a business, unlike any other. It is an extortion racket and the profits pile up overseas, a few charitable acts to appease the devout is incomparable to the billions in assets held throughout the world. The catholic “church” is one of the top ten largest non-governmental land holders in the USA.
Bankers’ best guesses about the Vatican’s wealth put it at $10 billion to $15 billion. Of this wealth, Italian stockholdings alone run to $1.6 billion, 15% of the value of listed shares on the Italian market. The Vatican has big investments in banking, insurance, chemicals, steel, construction, real estate.
Since then the international value of Mussolini’s nest-egg has mounted until it now exceeds £500m. In 2006, at the height of the recent property bubble, the Vatican spent £15m of those funds to buy 30 St James’s Square. Other UK properties are at 168 New Bond Street and in the city of Coventry. It also owns blocks of flats in Paris and Switzerland.
Instead, they list two nominee shareholders, both prominent Catholic bankers: John Varley, recently chief executive of Barclays Bank, and Robin Herbert, formerly of the Leopold Joseph merchant bank. Letters were sent from the Guardian to each of them asking whom they act for. They went unanswered. British company law allows the true beneficial ownership of companies to be concealed behind nominees in this way.
The company secretary, John Jenkins, a Reading accountant, was equally uninformative. He told us the firm was owned by a trust but refused to identify it on grounds of confidentiality. He told us after taking instructions: “I confirm that I am not authorized by my client to provide any information.”
How much of the revenue from bratfest lines the pockets? Since 1983: over $1.3 million in 32 years is $40,000 per year – less than $0.20 per brat going to charity… and most of the “charity” is hidden in “pay” for volunteers. Try some math and note the abuse of hidding behiend “charity” for profit.
The average for a church is 27% of revenue going to charitable ends – compared to a well rated charity which puts of 95% of funds into the charitable goal.
The average for a church is 71% in operating expenses… a lean charity runs less than 5% in overhead.
For worst case, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon Church), which regularly trumpets its charitable donations, gave about $1 billion to charitable causes between 1985 and 2008. That may seem like a lot until you divide it by the twenty-three-year time span and realize this church is donating only about 0.7 percent of its annual income.
Walmart donated $1.75billion in ust food aide last year alone.