09AR14-44

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Apologia Report 14:44 (1,002)

November 25, 2009

Subject: Did Word-Faith theology help spur the economic collapse?

In this issue:

AMERICAN RELIGION - Parade magazine poll indicates that occultism is less prevalent than commonly thought

ISLAM - National Geographic finds Indonesia's militant Muslims falling out of favor

WORD-FAITH MOVEMENT - Atlantic Monthly asks if prosperity teachers share blame for the nation's mortgage crisis

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AMERICAN RELIGION

In "How Spiritual Are We?" Christine Wicker proclaims the "surprising results" that Parade magazine (Oct 4 '09, pp4-5) discovered in a recent "exclusive poll." (It will come as no surprise to those who are skeptical of surveys conducted by the popular press that Wicker neglects to include references to supporting statistical details such as population sample, method and error margin.)

Americans continue to move away from traditional faith and toward a smorgasbord approach to belief. While that's hardly a surprise, one of the most interesting aspects of the report highlights "the kind of esoteric spiritual ideas that fill many TV shows and movies.

Two-thirds of respondents said they've never met with mediums or psychics, had a psychic experience, or even watched a psychic or medium on TV. Surprisingly, astrology fared even worse - a mere 12% believe in it and check their horoscopes regularly. The rest don't believe in astrology at all or read horoscopes purely for fun.

"Regarding contact with the deceased, respondents were similarly skeptical. Eighty-three percent have had no experiences with the spirit of anyone who has passed away, while 17% believe they have. Extrasensory perception rated even lower - 9% claimed they have psychic abilities." <www.tinyurl.com/yb4nvax>

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ISLAM

"Facing Down the Fanatics: A more tolerant Islam is confronting

extremism in the world's most populous Muslim country" by Michael Finkel -- profiles Indonesia, "home to 207 million Muslims - 36 million more than the next largest Muslim nation, Pakistan, and two-thirds as many as all the countries of the Middle East combined." At the same time, Indonesia is also "a thriving democracy, the third largest in the world, after India and the United States."

In this photo-essay, Finkel reports that "As recently as 2005,

Indonesia seemed to be tipping toward Islamic radicalism, feeding

Western fears that it was becoming a haven for terrorists. For several decades, Indonesian society had been growing more overtly Islamic....

"But in the past few years, although Indonesians continue to

embrace Islam in their private lives with greater fervor, it's become

clear that most don't want religion to be enforced in the political

sphere. ... In the Indonesian parliamentary elections this past April, candidates backed by Muslim organizations received less than 23 percent of the vote, down from 38 percent in 2004." Nevertheless, Finkel makes it very clear that Indonesia still has plenty of militants to keep us concerned. National Geographic, Oct '09, pp76-101. <www.tinyurl.com/y8uzhrb>

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WORD-FAITH MOVEMENT

"Did Christianity Cause the Crash?" by Hanna Rosin, who presents a case study describing how one Latino pastor lives the

prosperity-gospel lifestyle. In the process she serves up a weak

argument about the ongoing impact of the prosperity gospel on America that is probably just strong enough to sell her brand of sensational journalism to angry atheists looking for new targets to despise. In doing so, a few new problems are identified in the wake of the Word-Faith movement.

"The message that Jesus blesses believers with riches first showed up in the postwar years, at a time when Americans began to believe that greater comfort could be accessible to everyone, not just the landed class. But it really took off during the boom years of the 1990s, and has continued to spread ever since. This stitched-together, homegrown theology, known as the prosperity gospel, is not a clearly defined denomination, but a strain of belief that runs through the Pentecostal Church and a surprising number of mainstream evangelical churches, with varying degrees of intensity. ...

"Many explanations have been offered for the housing bubble and subsequent crash.... But there is one explanation that speaks to a lasting and fundamental shift in American culture - a shift in the American conception of divine Providence and its relationship to wealth.

"In his book Something for Nothing [1], Jackson Lears describes two starkly different manifestations of the American dream, each

intertwined with religious faith. The traditional Protestant hero is a

self-made man. ... The hero of the second American narrative is a kind of gambling man - a 'speculative confidence man,' Lears calls him, who prefers 'risky ventures in real estate,' and a more 'fluid, mobile democracy.' ...

"Among Latinos the prosperity gospel has been spreading rapidly. In a recent Pew survey, 73 percent of all religious Latinos in the United States agreed with the statement: 'God will grant financial success to all believers who have enough faith.' ...

"Of the nation's 12 largest churches, [Kate Bowler, 'a doctrinal

candidate at Duke University and an expert in the gospel'] says, three are prosperity - [Joel] Osteen's, which dwarfs all the other

megachurches; Tommy Barnett's, in Phoenix; and T. D. Jakes's, in Dallas. In second-tier churches - those with about 5,000 members - the prosperity gospel dominates. Overall, Bowler classifies 50 of the largest 260 churches in the U.S. as prosperity. The doctrine has become popular with Americans of every background and ethnicity; overall, Pew found that 66 percent of all Pentecostals and 43 percent of 'other Christians' - a category comprising roughly half of all respondents - believe that wealth will be granted to the faithful. It's an upbeat theology, argues Barbara Ehrenreich in her new book, Bright-Sided [2], that has much in common with the kind of 'positive thinking' that has come to dominate America's boardrooms and, indeed, its entire culture."

Rosin spends a fair amount of time on Osteen. Of note: "In a

popular YouTube clip, he declines to confirm Larry King's suggestion that only those who believe in Jesus will go to heaven. ...

"Osteen is often derided as Christianity Lite, but he is more like

Positivity Extreme." And, regarding the substance of Osteen's dominant theme: "The advice is exactly like the message of The Secret [3], or any number of American self-help blockbusters that edge toward magical thinking, except that the religious context adds another dimension.

...

"Theologically, the prosperity gospel has always infuriated many

mainstream evangelical pastors. ...

"More recently, critics have begun to argue that the prosperity

gospel, echoed in churches across the country, might have played a part in the economic collapse. ...

"Demographically, the growth of the prosperity gospel tracks fairly closely to the pattern of foreclosure hot spots. ...

"Kate Bowler found that most new prosperity-gospel churches were built along the Sun Belt, particularly in California, Florida, and

Arizona - all areas that were hard-hit by the mortgage crisis. ...

"Nationally, the prosperity gospel has spread exponentially among African American and Latino congregations. This is also the other distinct pattern of foreclosures." On top of this, Rosen explains "how banks teamed up with pastors to win over new customers for subprime loans." Nasty stuff. The Atlantic Monthly, Dec '09, pp38-48. <www.tinyurl.com/yja2ptu>

(Rosin is also the author of God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America [4] which focuses on the uniquely

homeschool-friendly Patrick Henry College based near the nation's

capital.)

A tragicomic irony lingers. Though the author speculates about

national economic consequences, it's the global spiritual impact of

the prosperity gospel that appears much greater, with its long-term, viral influence spreading fast throughout the Third World. There, many gain a misinformed prejudice, disenchanted with the promises of health and wealth that prove empty. They forsake "Christianity," thinking that what they've rejected was the real thing when it was actually just a cheap imitation.

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Sources, Monographs:

1 - Something for Nothing: Luck in America, by Jackson Lears (Penguin, 2004, paperback, 408 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/yzvlxjz>

2 - Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, by Barbara Ehrenreich (Metropolitan, 2009, hardcover, 256 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/yjotdnv>

3 - The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words, 2006, hardcover, 216 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/ydjso8v>

4 - God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America, by Hanna Rosin (Mariner, 2008, paperback, 312 pages)

<www.tinyurl.com/ycd6omu> (Google Books has reproduced much of this title here <www.tinyurl.com/yly8dam>.)

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