Thursday, 24 May 2007 00:00
The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, exclaimed in a 2005 speech: "He [Jesus] confronted the Roman Empire… Because who might think that Jesus was a capitalist? No. Judas was the capitalist, for taking the coins! Christ was a revolutionary. He confronted the religious hierarchies. He confronted the economic power of the time. He preferred death in the defense of his humanistic ideals, who fostered change… He is our Jesus Christ."1 In a later speech Chavez added, "I swear by Christ, the greatest socialist in history."2
Many Christians will rightly dismiss any kind of rhetoric that makes an easy equivalence between the message of Jesus and a leftist economic ideology. However an increasingly popular theology makes a similar kind of equivalence when it comes to right-wing economics. This controversial theology, often referred to as the "prosperity gospel," claims Christ for capitalism. It argues that Jesus was rich — and that He would like his followers to be rich, too.
Also known also as the "health and wealth" and "name it and claim it" gospel, the prosperity gospel is "a teaching that has emerged in recent decades in some Christian circles that holds that religious belief will bring good health and material prosperity to the believer."3 This theology, however, does not take a holistic perspective of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and its growing popularity, compounded by the method of propagation around the world, not only cultivates a mercenary style faith, but promulgates a Western culture of consumerism that is destructive.
While proponents of the prosperity gospel are not the usual suspects named in critical discussions of globalization, they are exporting this Western style of faith in more countries than McDonalds sells burgers. For example, the sermons of Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, the fastest growing church in the United States, are televised in over 150 countries.4
The nature of the prosperity message encourages growth and advancement of the ministry, by way of the funds from the faithful. While most Christian churches encourage tithing (giving 10 percent of ones' income to the church and church-related ministries), prosperity pastors tend to emphasize tithing very strongly and to make clear and simplistic promises that tithing will result in tangible divine rewards bestowed on the giver. This potent message has yielded revenue streams sufficient to construct communication empires, which in turn allow prosperity pastors to reach more people — each a potential new donor. For example, prosperity preachers are aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the largest Christian television network in the world, broadcasting religious programming in 75 countries and in 11 different languages.5
The health-and-wealth message is often accompanied by an ostentatious display of wealth by the prosperity preacher, which endorses an indulgent consumer lifestyle. Televangelist Kenneth Copeland, for example recently purchased two 20 million dollar jets, for himself and his wife.6 According to Copeland "it's about souls."7 Copeland's publications that further communicate his vision include Prosperity: The Choice is Yours and Prosperity Promises. Similarly, Creflo Dollar of World Changers Church in Atlanta, Georgia has been criticized for his several Rolls-Royce vehicles, his large homes, and also a private jet.8 Dollar has been noted as saying "You aint' gonna have no love and joy and peace until you get some money."9
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life discusses the prosperity gospel in an in-depth study of the Pentecostal movement in 10 countries including Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, India, Philippines, South Korea, as well as the United States. The Pew Forum found that "belief in the prosperity gospel is quite common among Christians in each of the 10 countries."10
As demonstrated by the Pew Forum, Copeland and Dollar's brand of the gospel is attractive and increasingly popular in several developing countries, countries with high unemployment rates, low GDP, and serious health problems. Herein lies the paradox of this movement, and the perplexity of the situation. Those who desperately are in need of some version of prosperity, even if not in the form of personal jets, are frequently exposed to those who are "prosperous" and proclaiming that their great wealth is the direct result of their faith in God and in Jesus Christ. Individuals already struggling are encouraged to continue tithing, so that they too may experience excessive prosperity.
Of the Trinity Broadcasting Network's 190 million per year revenue, two-thirds comes via viewer contributions.11 It is, to say the least, unlikely that these virtual congregants will have the opportunity to build a mass media empire that spans the globe asking for money. It is equally unlikely that congregants will ever realize their leader's definition of "prosperity." Regardless, the movement continues, manipulating individuals, instilling consumerist ideals, and exporting a God of capitalism that is every bit as much a fiction as Chavez's Jesus of socialism.
Like Christian Socialism, prosperity theology contains kernels of biblical truth but does not present a complete portrait of the nature of God's concerns and blessings. God does abhor poverty and God does make it possible for some of his followers to be blessed with wealth. Christians of all traditions who do receive blessings in material wealth have the opportunity to demonstrate a holistic perspective of the gospel and God's concern for the poor by putting Godly benevolence and generosity into action.
