I just realized the crux of the issue from you comment. People perceived my comment as pro-religion! Full-disclosure: I am an atheist, raised Eastern Orthodox.
For f* sake, I was, kinda, bashing a (in my eyes) Christian :-) Not a fair sport, but imagine the kind of karma I would accrued on Reddit for such an act of self-righteousness.
So, umm, I think the real point is: where did you get the idea that Christianity is opposed to the charging of interest? I mean, I'm sure there are some weird minor branches out there where charging interest is still considered sinful, but the vast majority of modern-day Christian sects have no problem with it.
The problem is an atheist doesn't need to bash or combat against theists. I think the root of all crimes committed by organized religions is zeal. And atheists should never do the same.
Although I think your original post had little to do with the topic, I do think -57 is excessive. I'd like to think our community isn't quite so harsh. Massive vote-downs like this discourage dissenting opinions.
I don't think the comment in question was voted down due to the opinion expressed so much as it was because of how he expressed it. Saying "pawn shops are evil" is an opinion (a somewhat odd one), while saying "you're a bad Christian because you're helping a pawn shop" is a very bad way of expressing that opinion.
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[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 38.4 ms ] threadFor f* sake, I was, kinda, bashing a (in my eyes) Christian :-) Not a fair sport, but imagine the kind of karma I would accrued on Reddit for such an act of self-righteousness.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=133324
(Full disclosure: atheist, raised Catholic)
As I pointed out again and again, they accept it today for convenience.
This post is ridiculous. Please do us all a favor and remove it forthwith.