8 years ago
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Should We Pity the Victims of the Prosperity Gospel?
Like other preachers of the prosperity gospel, these shiny-suited hypocrites proclaim that God wants to make you rich, and that by “planting a seed”, or in other words giving money to the televangelist, you’ll reap a manyfold return. Obviously, the only people who get rich from this theology are the ones who preach it, and Oliver doesn’t stint when it comes to describing the multimillion-dollar mansions, private jets, and other ludicrous wealth they accumulate from the gullible.
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Shouldn’t we have sympathy for scam victims in general?
Here are a few things to consider on the other side. Poverty correlates strongly with low education, and religion has a long history of preying on the desperate. People who are under-educated and lack critical thinking skills, often wind up in that state in for reasons...
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Absolutely, we should pity the victims. More than that, though, we should be working to educate people.
These scams work by the nature of religious faith. Some of these people are indoctrinated from birth that religious authority is infallible. They truly believe that these people have a direct line with a divine being. It's easy to see how the poor and uneducated could be victimized by someone willing to abuse this faith. Further, these people actively target the sick and the poor. If you watched John Oliver's segment, you saw the wife of one of these preachers telling crowds that coming to church and giving God all your money was far better treatment for cancer than receiving chemo - a message that received amens and joyous applause. The people in her audience truly believe what she's saying, and it's unlikely that they can be reasoned out of this belief.
I don't know what the solution is, but turning a cold shoulder and blaming the victim for their own circumstances seems, to me, a bit heartless, and completely at odds with the philosophy of humanism.
In my view prosperity theology is much more despicable than Ponzi schemes or blessing scams. A Ponzi scheme is purely a financial scam. A blessing scam is just boils down to simple theft. Prosperity theology is so much more than this. The victims look to these preachers as spiritual leaders, and these preachers abuse this absolute trust to suck out as much wealth as possible. At least with Ponzi schemes and blessing scams there comes a point where most victims realize that they were deceived by an asshole. But prosperity theology? If the wealth they were promised never comes the victim will see this as a personal failure, or as being unworthy of being blessed. What choice would they have but to double down their investment? Anything less would be seen as having a lack of faith, and a lack of faith will send you straight to hell. Financial scammers and thieves are shitheads, but at least they don't rape and shit all over your sense of value and self worth in the process.
The problem is more in institutional control. Most mainline churches have an organization that vets people. If you get wildly out of line, you're gonna be dealt with, defrocked, and not be allowed to preach in that church anymore. Evangelical churches tend to the mcdojo theory. You can call yourself a preacher and say literally anything you want and no one can stop you. Because of that, people can't really know that or be sure that they're really hearing the real gospel. The idea that you can deny hell is actually heresy, but you won't hear that. Actually buying heaven (which is what the seed money things sounds like was anathema in Luthers day, let alone 2015. But no hierarchy, no quality control.
I pity the fools.
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Nope, don't pity them. They like giving their money away.
Low education is one thing. Being poor sucks. But why should I worry about people who are poor and make bad decisions.
A bird in the had is worth two in the bush. If you are poor, probably stop giving other people your money.
Because you have empathy? Unless you don't.
People who are desperate aren't responsible for others taking advantage of their desperation. "Necessitous men are not free men."
It's easy to pass judgement when you have the benefit of distance and hindsight. It's difficult to see with clarity when you're in a desperate and fearful situation. I hope if there comes a time you find yourself in such a state you find more empathetic voices than your own.
I pity them, but even more I'm angry at the preachers themselves who try to be apologetics for being rich and still "living" the word. I suppose that whole camel parable was smudged or something in their bibles. Some of these people have noting in their lives going for them, but their faith, and these assholes pervert it to benefit themselves. Honestly I'm having a hard time coming up with with a more malicious sin, and am finding myself hoping there is a hell just so these people can burn. Granted though there is a difference (slight but sill there) between Jole Olsteen and Peter Popoff
Pity is such a negative and demeaning word! So no, no pity. But definitely sympathy and education. And bringing light to the subject is key, which is why I love that comedians such as John Oliver are able to make such an impact.
On the flip side, and as poetic justice, I hope the scammers burn in hell.