http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hhLD72VsDDxkQMxJiecdrOgvT1ewD9595GJO0France is becoming the latest country to woo Islamic banks, which avoided much of the damage from the subprime mortgage crisis by following strict principles laid out in the Quran — as the global financial crisis broadens the appeal of Islamic finance.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has promised to make adjustments to the regulatory and legal arsenal to enable Paris to become a major marketplace in Islamic finance.
At a recent forum in Paris, she said Western financiers could learn a thing or two from the Islamic world as global leaders try to establish "new principles for the international financial system, based on transparency, responsibility and, I would like to add, moderation."
And, of course, the Christian Bible also outlaws usury, but for some reason we love it:
So why do we need usurers in this great nation? To let them steal our money? To give all of us the chance to steal from everyone else? That sounds insane.
Western bankers have made themselves demigods with a combination of usury and legalized state-sanctioned counterfeiting. They attack anyone who represents any threat ot their enslavement of others, whether it is the Islamic system of lending or the re-introduction of fixed worth monetary systems.
And, contrary to the popular myth promulgated by the "Clash of Civilization" aficionados, the prohibition against usury (compound interest) is not confined to the Quran, but is found in the Bible itself. The following are taken from the King James version of the Bible (and I'll bet your pastors never read these to you from the pulpit!)
25 " If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.
26 "If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down.
27 "For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious. (Exodus 22:25-27)
36 'Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.
37 'You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. (Leviticus 25:36-37)
19 " You shall not charge interest to your brother -- interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest.
(Deuteronomy 23:20)
10 Woe is me, my mother, That you have borne me, A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, Nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me. (Jeremiah 15:10)
7 If he has not oppressed anyone, But has restored to the debtor his pledge; Has robbed no one by violence, But has given his bread to the hungry And covered the naked with clothing;
8 If he has not exacted usury Nor taken any increase, But has withdrawn his hand from iniquity And executed true judgment between man and man;
9 If he has walked in My statutes And kept My judgments faithfully -- He is just; He shall surely live!" Says the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 18:7-9)
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13 If he has exacted usury Or taken increase -- Shall he then live? He shall not live! If he has done any of these abominations, He shall surely die; His blood shall be upon him. (Ezekiel 18:13)
17 Who has withdrawn his hand from the poor And not received usury or increase, But has executed My judgments And walked in My statutes -- He shall not die for the iniquity of his father; He shall surely live! (Ezekiel 18:17)
12 "In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me," says the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 22:12)
