Gaze Down At God's Fabulous Parquet Floor

I was raised Lutheran. It's a really pretty laid-back branch of Christianity. As you already hopefully know, it's named for Martin Luther, who in essence founded it when he posted his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door at Wittenburg in 1517. The chief aim of the Ninety-Five Theses was an attack on indulgences, things the church would sell you on the promise that buying whatever they sold you would directly help you or a deceased loved one get to heaven, or get there faster out of purgatory. You see a toned-down, subtler version of it these days- I doubt God is any more impressed by the size of all those megachurches than he is with the person who just silently prays before bed- but you shouldn't really be able anymore to get away with just straight-up saying 'Buy stuff and you'll get into heaven.'

Shouldn't.

Oddity Central has noticed- or been alerted to- a Russian coupon site called Kupon Klub, which has been hosting an offer for indulgences sold by an Italian Catholic church in advance of the coming Mayan apocalypse next month. At a 50% discount, of course. That's right, you or a loved one will be prayed for for the low, low price of $16. And all you have to do is not only believe that buying things will directly get you to heaven, but also believe in the whole Mayan apocalypse thing.

And they've gotten 110 buyers so far.

I don't know whether to be angry that this is still going on after all these centuries, depressed that people are still falling for it, or pleased that it's rare enough to qualify as weird news.