# "Christian" publishers are crooks, sky is blue. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 5, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905 "2017-05-05T12:58:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/21 "2017-05-06T16:21:26Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Sadly, you’re usually right, and I’m Christian myself. ☹ I have known a number of businesses owned by devout Christians, even bordering on extremist sects, and the more unobtrusive that believe, the better the business in every respect. Pasting it in the front window is like people who think putting a chrome fish on their car excuses their rude, shitty driving. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/22 "2017-05-07T04:23:42Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I have known a number of businesses owned by devout Christians, even bordering on extremist sects, and the more unobtrusive that believe, the better the business in every respect. > > Pasting it in the front window is like people who think putting a chrome fish on their car excuses their rude, shitty driving. There’s an oil change place near my home that puts Bible verses on their sign, and I refuse to patronize it for that reason alone. My old town also had a hole-in-the-wall natural foods store that did well until it was purchased by a woman who was a practitioner of Eckankar. How did I know she believed in this? She had Eckankar posters all over the shop, and I’m sure this was a turnoff, in addition to her trying to sell colon cleanses to all her customers. :rolleyes: Religion has no business being advertised by a business unless it’s totally relevant to the nature of that business, like a Christian bookstore or a kosher butcher. Another natural-foods store I used to patronize (I moved from that area too) was owned by a Seventh-Day Adventist family; I figured so because they sold no meat and were closed on Saturday, and they also had flyers advertising the church and its activities on a billboard, but a lot of other organizations’ flyers were posted there as well. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/23 "2017-05-07T04:43:10Z")
Zondervan and Thomas Nelson are two large Christian publishers who have been around for a long time, and AFAIK neither has had any big scandals. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/24 "2017-05-07T05:49:58Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > …the founders and owners are charged with embezzlement,… There’s no accounting for Tates. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/25 "2017-05-07T18:19:48Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Any business invoking the label “Christian” is automatically suspect. I have yet to encounter an exception. Religious zealotry is one one of the easiest targets for scammers. Fundamentalist believers have already bought into a product that hasn’t been proven to exist so they are, by their nature, easy marks. Someone with the mentality of a scammer is automatically going to be attracted to that set of potential victims. It’s no surprise that, particularly in USA (where the money is), that crooks will cloak themselves in the veil of “Christianity”. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/26 "2017-05-07T18:51:47Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Any business invoking the label “Christian” is automatically suspect. I have yet to encounter an exception. Especially that big one in Rome. > [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Hey, it’s a good cover story for all sorts of shenanigans. Shenanigans indeed. I’ve got some bona fide indulgences left over from the 1500’s… (Actually, I find Protestants and “Non-Denominational” churches even scarier, but they’re not as big a business…) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/27 "2017-05-07T19:37:43Z")
I think it’s more that any business invoking the words “vanity press” is automatically suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/28 "2017-05-07T19:37:50Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There’s no accounting for Tates. This could even make a CPA grin. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/29 "2017-05-07T19:41:19Z")
I am not clear exactly why one would expect christains to behave ethically. Yes, they are _supposed_ to, butt we also saw what happened with abstinence-only sex ed combined with maidenhead pledges. The religion specifically teaches that we are already fucked, so we need Jesus to unfuck us. Therefore, if one behaves badly – as is our weak human nature – Jesus can make it alright again. Lather, reince, repeat. Just make sure you die on the clean side of the cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/30 "2017-05-07T19:46:47Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > I think it’s more that any business invoking the words “vanity press” is automatically suspect. Not necessarily. For every place that overcharges to deliver 100 copies of someone’s drivel between covers, there are ones that do a respectable job of turning out very niche books like family histories or community almanacs. But yeah, it’s a tainted term. > [@eschereal](#): > > I am not clear exactly why one would expect christains to behave ethically. Businesses that harp on being Christian! are doing to specifically to imply they are more caring, or ethical, or trustworthy or just “better” than competitors who are secular or something. (Exception would be those who actually purvey Christian things, like bible stores.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/31 "2017-05-07T20:30:04Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > “He who has a Tate’s is lost.” Are you trying to turn this into a PUNishment thread? ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/32 "2017-05-07T21:20:56Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Are you trying to turn this into a PUNishment thread? Well, it just occurred to me that Christians talk a lot about finding Jesus and all. But the people under discussion have not done that, they are in fact lost. It might even be said that they are not in a tate of grace. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/33 "2017-05-08T01:12:04Z")
[quote=“digs, post:26, topic:785905”] Especially that big one in Rome. At least they commissioned and preserved some of the finest art and architecture in the world. Stuff that we would all be poorer if not for that. After that, send it to the jury. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/34 "2017-05-08T06:38:58Z")
All these puns are making me sick. I have to regurg a Tate. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/35 "2017-05-08T09:30:55Z")
I’m assuming these people aren’t related to the family of [Sir Henry Tate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Tate) of [Tate & Lyle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_%26_Lyle) fame (or, as Mel Gibson calls them, “Sugar Tates”). ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/36 "2017-05-08T16:54:15Z")
I read the article and it sounds like it was a scummy/scammy vanity press situation. Something about the authors paying $50 etc, etc, set off my BS meter. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/37 "2017-05-08T19:48:49Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > I read the article and it sounds like it was a scummy/scammy vanity press situation. Something about the authors paying $50 etc, etc, set off my BS meter. Following article from The Lost Ogle from one of the staff who used to work there: > **[7 things about working for Tate Publishing - The Lost Ogle](https://thelostogle.com/2017/05/08/7-things-about-working-for-tate-publishing)** > > Today I’m coming out of my TLO retirement to talk about my time at Tate Publishing. In June of 2011, I was hired at Tate Publishing. As the first ghostwriter hired by the company, I had an idea of what to expect because everyone who graduated with an... Publishing packages ran from $4000.00 for editing to $10,000.00 for ghostwriting an idea into something publishable when she worked there. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/38 "2017-05-08T22:49:07Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Tates one to know one. Taters gonna tate. Don’t be tatin’ ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/39 "2017-05-08T22:52:18Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Careful now. Circle jerks are a SDMB tradition, but this particular one carries a real risk of someone’s dick getting yanked clean off in a paroxysm of outrage and superiority. Just for shiggles, is the non-Xian vanity press notably more ethical as an industry? If so, carry on. Here we go. “The other side does it too”, but with NO fucking cites to back it up (and no relevance at all). Not that it matters, this is just a simple case of scumbags getting caught. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905/40 "2017-05-09T00:08:52Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Here we go. “The other side does it too”, but with NO fucking cites to back it up (and no relevance at all). > Not that it matters, this is just a simple case of scumbags getting caught. What “other side?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-publishers-are-crooks-sky-is-blue/785905.md?page=3)