"francis who?" asked martin luther

[rone]

Time's cover story this week is titled Does God Want You To Be Rich? and talks about megachurches who rake in the dough and, essentially, try to justify it with doctrine.  Pop quiz, Protestants: what is apostolic poverty?  It's somewhat comical to see certain mistakes being repeated centuries later.

This New Prosperity is scary, a way to wrap up bourgeois goals in spiritual garments.  Speaking as an agnostic who has a raving asshole atheist somewhere inside that keeps slipping out for joyrides, reading about this crap is like waving bacon in a dog's face.  It's taking charismatic preachers and sprinkling elements of a cult and a pyramid scheme.  Hmm, it's like Mormonism.  I imagine suggesting to these people that they're just like Mormons would be guaranteed fireworks.

Comments

[cheesetruck.livejournal.com]

Well, as a guy who's dad didn't make more than minimum wage while he was a minister, because the law says you don't have to pay more than that since they get a parsonage...

Which, in our cases, tended to be slightly above firetraps...

I just go with Suicidal Tendencies "Send me Your Money."

Oh, and, flip them off.

Cuz we know who's actually going into the neighborhoods, talking to the folks there, and helping them with their issues, and getting fired for bringing the wrong colored people into the church.

And who's taking the name of the lord in vain.

(Yeah that one hit me the other day, just how many folks are doing that these days. It's got more than one definition, really. And. Wow. I mean, I don't wanna be them... I don't wanna be ME, either, when I'm up there under judgement, cuz I got some shit I'm gonna be in deeeeeeep over. But. Still. I'm going "wow. yeah. um. NOT even close to broiling like... ow, I felt that over HERE, and it ain't even HAPPENED yet."