Comment 29809

By highwater (registered) | Posted March 28, 2009 at 14:24:48

The advent of the credit crisis and the evidence of what rampant consumerism has done to the environment have given us worldly reasons not to fall into the trap that religion has always warned against.

Not all religions. In fact, I would argue that the housing/credit bubble was aided and abetted by the rise of evangelical mega churches who preached a gospel of prosperity as an earthly sign of God's blessing. Wealth and possessions are seen as rewards for virtue, the flip side being that poverty must be the result of moral failing. It's a short drive from this kind of self-congratulation to out-sized executive compensation. Policies that might create more social equity are seen as atheistic at best, immoral at worst. It then becomes 'virtuous' to school your less fortunate brethren in 'self-reliance' by leaving them to rot. (A Smith in 3..2..1...)

There have been a number of recent articles in American media about the decline of evangelical churches. Young evangelicals are concerning themselves more and more with environmental and social justice issues. Let's hope the new frugality isn't just a passing fad, and leads to a waning of the enormous influence of the prosperity gospel mega churches.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds