Why did usury become acceptable to Christians?

Question

when the Church used to see it as a Sin.

I read of one catholic priest, father o'calloghan who tried to return the ban on usury in the early 19th century & lost his job because the church would not support him.

I know in Islam usury is banned, so why have Christians allowed it in their faith?

\\Can you cite your specific source where it says that usury is acceptable to Christians? Or are you just a retard? \\


have a read of this.
http://www.bogvaerker.dk/Bookwright/Tales/oc.html

Answer 1

Because everyone has got ot make a buck!

Answer 2

This is a good example of the difference between a religious approach to a problem and a secular approach to a problem. Usury refers to paying interest on a loan. Certainly the practice is subject to abuse. If I was very wealthy and you were poor I have a big advantage in negotiating the terms of a loan. If there are little or no rules (e.g. maximum rates, bankruptcy laws that eliminate the debt, etc.) I might get you into a position where you can never repay the loan at which point I might take everything you own, or be in a position where you in effect become my slave (i.e. all the fruits of your labor go to me).

Some religions have taken the extreme approach and banned the practice altogether but rather than simply passing a law and enforcing it they made it a "sin". So now if I loan you $100 and you give me back $105 a year from now I have offended god. Of course a society that does that has a huge disadvantage. Suppose you have a great business idea and need money to get it started. You are prepared to pay 12% interest on the money because you believe you can make a profit much gretaer than that. But what incentive is there for me to loan you that money?

A more rational approach seems to be to differentiate between constructive interest (efficiently allocating resources) and destructive interest (e.g. the de facto slavery example above). Some of the steps taken to permit interest to be charged with reduced negative impact include:

Usury laws that set a maximum interest rate.

Bankruptcy laws that let someone get out from under unbearable debt.

Disclosure laws that make it easier to comparison shop for loans.

Secondary markets where debts (which are assets to the party to whom the debt is owed) can be traded.

Credit reporting agencies that allow lenders to estimate the probability that a given loan will not be repaid.

But these laws are of course like all laws man-made laws. The premise that someone outside of humanity plays a role in making humanity's rules is not just inaccurate, it is unnecessary and in many cases destructive.

Answer 3

In England, usury was banned by ecclesiastical law but not by the law of the state. Jews were allowed to lend money to Christians on usury.

After Charles II had raided the gold reserves in the Tower of London, London merchants took to keeping their gold in the newly built vaults under the Goldsmith's company. The Goldsmith's gave you a paper receipt. If you wanted to do business with another Goldsmith's customer, instead of moving the gold around, you simply traded the receipts.

The newly formed joint stock banks saw an opportunity here. They started issuing receipts for gold they didn't have and lent them out on interest. Since it wasn't real money, it didn't count as usury and it was outside of the scope of the ecclesiastical courts. So we now have a financial system based on charging interest for non-existent money.

Christianity has gradually come to terms with the idea of earning and paying interest. Theologically there's no objection to it. It's mentioned in the parable of the talents. It just happens to be forbidden in Leviticus - but then so are a lot of things we take for granted these days.

Answer 4

vgQ, I have no idea although since JC and the temple of usurers
I cannot ever imagine a time when it was banned totally in
Christendom it just they either kept their activities quiet or used others Jews Venetians etc to do it for em....
but as for when it became common for Christians to openly
do so, again that is a very good question but lets face it Christians except for a few moments of crusade or immediate war have never been that pious in the face of money
Kings needed money to wage war mostly, sod the peasants, so usury was common at all times but when exactly,,,,, hmmmm

Answer 5

usury or charging interest is not forbidden in christianity. It was forbidden in the old testament between the jews, but not between jews and gentiles. So why should be ban it if it isn't forbidden??? The Muslims can do whatever they want, they have a different god and a different book all together.. We are not in any way bound by what they do or don't do..

Answer 6

Greed,so many people make money from the problems of others that the outcry would be over-whelming so the idea is to turn a blind eye to usury today.

Answer 7

While I am not a christian (I'm an Asatruar) I'm relatively certain it comes down to simple greed. This is also why you get televangelists going to court for tax evasion. They are breaking the rule to 'render unto Caesar that which is his' (or something like that).

Isn't it also in the bible that if you give/loan someone money you're not supposed to ask for it back? Hmmmm. Now if only I could find a truly christian bank...

~Morg~

Answer 8

The Biblical standard which every faithful Christian follows is "do good and lend, expecting nothing in return." (Luke 6:35) which apostate Christendom has long since deviated.

Answer 9

Can you cite your specific source where it says that usury is acceptable to Christians? Or are you just a retard?

Answer 10

Christianity dispensed with moral rectitude in the middle ages. To the church anything that makes them money is morally right.