It's a huge stretch linking Christianity with banking. Somebody in the past might have tried to link the two - for their own purposes, in days when Christianity was respected - but now, when Christianity is as popular as bleeding haemorrhoids with the chattering class, the two really shouldn't be mentioned together unless, of course you want to 'do Christianity down’; and it appears that that is exactly what some church bureaucrats are trying to do in an attempt to stay relevant. Trying to adapt Christianity to the modern world is doomed. It's up to individuals to adapt to Christianity - or not. The organised church as it is today is a dud.

Longest bow since Agincourt I think Reverend.

In colonial days the overwhelming majority of Australians were Christians, so it comes as no surprise that their bankers shared the same religion. Attributing some causality between this historic fact and the (asserted, but unsubstantiated) good conduct of these financial pioneers is nothing more than the logical fallacy of post ergo procter hoc. https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/false-cause

What we need to get some trust back into Australia's financial sector is for a few bankers who engage in criminal conduct to be dragged out of their houses in handcuffs by the police. If I go around the neighbourhood breaking into houses and stealing televisions that's exactly what will happen to me. White collar thieves deserve nothing less.

The Royal Commission really uncovered little. A few cases where the banks acted despicably while many trying to make a quick buck are now screaming that they lost their money. No bank has ever came and twisted my arm forcing me to take out loans I can pay let alone ones I can't. Yep the Banking Royal Commission shows how corruptible man is and even much more so since we adopted totally immoral secular dogmas. Victimhood is entrenched in almost all parts of our society. No wonder Labour is ahead in the polls.

There are still Christian financial institutions in Australia, such as lll.org.au

Progressive conservatives, i.e., Christians did a lot of good things for their fellow man and the common good.

And by following the do unto others golden rule that has it seems dominated all civilised behaviour and belief systems!

Before being progressively dismantled and dismembered by the ultra-conservative element. Who invented individualism and the greed is good philosophy that divides and rules once truly cohesive Christian societies.

Who it seems were more like the Amish at a barn-raising in their cooperative effort. And as a collective ushered in the abolition of slavery and child labour. Just to name a couple.

Christian decency created organizations like the AMP, and the servants of Mannon/Satan have progressively weaponised it against the common good.

Simply put, conservatism and Christianity are mutually incompatible ideologies. With the former inherently evil? Or if you will, by their fruits you shall know them!

One of which surely must be their addiction to coal and the worldwide planet harm and destruction it is causing!

Not for nothing does the Christian bible state, there are none so blind as those WHO WILL NOT SEE!
Alan B.

Trust depends on choice - if you have the option to use a service or not, then you wouldn't use it unless you trust the providers.

But using banks is no longer an option: government creates inflation which means that if you just keep the money in your safe then you lose it. It also makes it harder to use cash, now it even wants to prohibit transactions over $10,000. In other words, it pushes the banks down our throats.

In this situation, banks understand that customers are their hostages - and treat them accordingly: Christians are not immune to temptations.

Rather than hiding behind commercial banks to achieve its goals, government might just as well compete with them directly, allowing customers to receive standard banking services directly through its central bank.

But government probably don't want this because it would expose all that hidden unemployment, where so many workers in the financial sector, banks included, would become redundant but for the government ever complicating the financial scene to require more and more unproductive paper-shufflers.

" Christians who had a vision of their work as serving the greater good."

For "Greater good" read read "Me and my friends".

My father, who was never short of a quick quip was at a meeting one day when one of the gentlemen present declared that he was a Christian businessman. Dad observed to his neighbour "and a rogue to boot". He wasn't wrong either. That same "Christian businessman went broke owing millions of dollars to other men in his same line of business.

David

Hi Yuyustu, when we operated under a gold standard. We had something of real intrinsic value that roughly kept pace with inflation etc. etc.

And meant that the dog chasing its tail wages price spiral/inflation and housing costs etc. Were more or less contained and affordable. And the reason we and other nations abandoned it?

Hard times ahead beckon, and on a global scale.

We here try to make industry and business more competitive with half-baked tax cuts to offset the rising cost of power and everything else.

We need real tax reform that shares all the advantages, rather than quarantining them for a group that around a third of, don't pay any tax to anyone?

And given the top tax actually paid in real honest to goodness money by any corporation was just 13 cents in the dollar for the year ended 2017!

An unavoidable tax of 15% flat tax, that comes without deductions or tax reconciliation costs ( around 7% av.) Would raise more actual real revenue, while reducing real corporate costs by around 5%. And a win/win outcome all round, except for those paying less on average than 5%. Courtesy of tax havens and or very creative accounting.

Are politicians served by the status quo? And the reason for getting real reform in this area, made more difficult than pulling wisdom teeth or herding cats?

Ditto resisted or dismantled cooperative capitalism that effectively deals out unions or shylock merchant bankers and their, birds of a feather, cohort!
Alan B.

"all human beings as made in the image of God, and also an understanding that we are deeply flawed."

There is an oxymoron, if ever I have read one.

David

David,
Are you really unfamiliar with the concept of poor quality copies?

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Alan B.,
The gold standard was truly evil. It caused hyperinflation whenever countries ran out of gold. Because of this, poor countries had to prioritise maintaining their gold reserves and so neglect human development requirements. This killed millions and ruined the lives of billions.

In rich countries it wasn't quite so bad: the countries were recognised as creditworthy. Even so, they often had to resort to managed devaluations which were far more inflationary than the market led system of today, and gave speculators the opportunity to get rich at the expense of the country.

The concept of usury (lending money at interest) is specifically forbidden in the Bible.

That's why early Christians were happy for the already-damned Jews to provide that service for them but eventually realised that they were missing out on making money too so they conveniently redefined usury as something else - like changing the meaning of the word "sodomy".

Now money is the new God and the Church has grown quite fond of it.

The "Butter Tower" in France was built from the proceeds of indulgences sold to the French so they could continue to eat butter during Lent guilt-free. Nice little earner that one.

' Now money is the new God and the Church has grown quite fond of it.'

true Rache especially the gw high priests. Just ask Al Gore.

Come on runner, what's Al Gore got to do with Global Warming?
He was just chosen to narrate a documentary about something that's been discussed and known about for decades.
It's like saying that David Attenborough discovered all those animals he talks about.