Camels and Needles...

I hate the prosperity gospel.

I know, I know, hate is a really strong word. But I hate it.

Now I know a lot of you are saying that I don't like organized religion as a whole, and you're right I don't. I think it's possible, and even preferable to be good for good alone instead of for the shot of a reward after you die. But the prosperity gospel is the worst of the worst. 

And it's woven itself through most of America and on to a good chunk of the rest of the world. It's deep in the Republican party view of life. It's in there with a lot of Democrats as well. It's odious. 

Basically the prosperity gospel tells you that if you are a good Christian, god will show you his love by giving you things. That if you just are pious enough and pray hard enough you too can be rich. 

What?

What god is this? It's not the one I grew up learning about. The one who said there was a better chance for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven. Whose son said that if you did not take care of the least of these then you've not taken care of him? Who told his followers to sell everything they had, give it to the poor and THEN they would have riches in heaven? 

He didn't say hey, pray harder and I'll spot you a few million. 

And remember before when I talked about to believe a thing you have to believe everything that goes with it?

If you believe in the prosperity gospel teachings, that if you are good enough you will be rewarded here on earth with material things, then what does that say about the rich and the poor? What halo effect do we give the rich? Well obviously they are good people because god has blessed them. We think the rich are smarter than everyone else. We think they are better people overall. They must be, they are rich. God gave them these blessings. Who are we to deny that they are favored?

And if the rich are blessed by god what does that say about the poor? Not a tough through line there. And we see policy decisions based on those beliefs. If the poor were just smarter, worked harder, were better people they would have money of their own. Why should I give away anything that I've earned to those lazy bums? And the prosperity gospel tells you that they are just ungodly so you can feel pretty good about not supporting their wicked ways. Maybe you should just pray with them? 

And then there is the grift. The prosperity gospel ministers who ask you to cast your bread upon the water so it will come back to you greater. With them being the water, of course. See, when I was growing up casting your bread upon the water so it would come back to you was good deeds. Doing good things for other people. If you do good for others, good things will happen for you. Not monetary rewards, just blessings or that heavenly reward. You were supposed to take what you had and give it to people who needed it. Be that money or time or support. Cast your bread upon the water wasn't supposed to mean send it to the preacher on TV who needs a new jet.

And that grift is in our politics as well. Prosperity gospel writ large. We give tax breaks to the wealthy. We charge a different tax rate on income from investments than we do income from slinging burgers. We say if you die rich your wealth is protected from taxes to those that inherit it. We protect the money of the well off. And we use bullshit terms like "job creators" to make it seem righteous. Not those greedy job workers. Fuck those guys. But the job creators? Well they are special.

And the churches support it. 

And I hate it.

We shouldn't be protecting the billions in dollars that are stashed away in investments and bank accounts and real estate and whatever. We should be using that money to move people out of poverty. Off of the street and into homes. Making sure healthcare is covered. Assuring that nobody is going hungry. Freeing up that lower level of Maslow for EVERYONE. 

Oh and I know...I have friends who are cringing at this. "Why shouldn't I do what I want with my own money? Why should I be punished for being successful?" I'm not saying you should be punished and I'm not saying you can't have nice things. But there should be a level where we all say, that's enough. And fuck the "Who gets to choose that?" we all know there is level where it's more than enough. And anything after that gets taxed at an extraordinarily high rate, because apparently all of these blessed by god people can't be trusted to give away the money to the least of these. 

I hate the prosperity gospel.

I hate justifying the belief that somehow rich people are just better than poor.

I hate that there are people out there that believe this. On both sides. The rich who think that they somehow deserve their wealth. That somehow it does make them better, smarter, more loved by god. And poor people who think they've done something wrong. That if they just try harder to be good Christians, if they send just a little more money to that preacher, that then they will be blessed with wealth. Or the ones who have given up. Who think that god doesn't love them, or that they have done something so awful it cannot be forgiven. 

The prosperity gospel has wormed its way into so many aspects of our lives and we need to root it back out. 

Do you really want to be rich? Try being rich in kindness. Try having an abundance of compassion. Try to understand that your daddy leaving you money makes you lucky, not blessed by god. 

I hate the prosperity gospel.