Two Anti-Abortion Activists Say They’re Launching Their Own “Pro-Life Bank”

Here’s something worth keeping an eye on…

We’ve seen numerous examples of how evangelical Christians make crappier versions of the real thing whenever they try to replicate secular culture, whether we’re talking movies or music.

So should we be worried about Christian banks?

Nick Vujicic is an evangelical anti-abortion speaker whose ministry Life Without Limbs was inspired by his own experience being born without arms or legs. It’s an inspiring personal story regardless of his positions.

Vujicic, however, is also a conspiracy theorist who’ll believe just about anything. He once claimed he knew God existed because he felt the presence of “10-foot-tall demons, 5-foot wide [who walked] in through my San Francisco hotel room.” And more recently, when his (unnamed) bank shut down his account, he assumed — with no evidence — that it was because of his conservative ideology:

“Once I got kicked out of a bank with no warning,” he continued. “They froze my credit cards, froze my debit cards. They gave me a letter to say that they did a review of me as a client and they don’t want anything to do with me.”

We don’t know why they kicked him out, and we don’t know anything about his finances that may have led to the account closure, but banks don’t do that sort of thing without reason, no matter how many conservatives claim it’s persecution. Banks regularly do business with Republicans. You would know if they suddenly stopped.

In any case, Vujicic said he began doing some research and found out that…

… his bank, along with most others, regularly donate to organizations that support the murder of babies through abortion.

What?! Since when? Which banks? Where is he getting this information from? Who knows.

Some conservative groups have perpetuated that rumor because larger banks often match employee contributions to non-profit groups. So if an employee donates to Planned Parenthood, for example, the company would match it… but the same rule would presumably apply to the NRA and conservative groups as well. As far as I can tell, that’s the only kind of donation any major bank has ever made to an explicitly pro-choice group.

If you think that amounts to the bank taking a position on abortion, it’s because you’re just looking for reasons to be a victim.

Which is to say Vujicic is looking for reasons to be a victim.

It’s also the reason he says he’s now starting his own bank with the little-too-on-the-nose name “ProLifeBank,” along with his friend Betsy Gray, who runs one of those anti-abortion Christian crisis pregnancy centers.

Here’s Gray on their website:

After three weeks of research, our Board Treasurer was quite shocked to report; there was NOT such a bank in our city. After much lamenting and prayer, I felt called by God to start a pro-life bank that not only supports the lives of unborn children but also is aligned with all of God’s principles — and ProLifeBank (Proposed) was born.

Weird. When I look for a bank, I’m looking for a place that’s safe, secure, insured, and easy to use. Maybe a place that will give me a home mortgage loan and has accessible ATMs.

Neither Vujicic nor Gray have any actual experience running a bank, much less starting one from scratch, and it’s not clear they have any idea what they’re doing, or that they’re hiring people who have relevant experience, or that they know what obstacles stand in their way.

So far they have a name, a logo, a website that’s mostly taken up by their bios, and… that’s it. It says it “will be a full-service bank, FDIC approved.” But the steps to get there are unmentioned… which should be concerning to everyone.

I honestly don’t know who would be dumb enough to invest their life savings in a bank started by two people whose only interest in creating it is that they want to force women to give birth against their will… but if they’re looking for people gullible enough to be guinea pigs for this wildly irresponsible experiment, I’m sure they’ll find them by playing up the Christian persecution angle.

(Thanks to Kerri for the link)