March 14, 2022
Throughout America’s history, religion has played an important part in forming who we are as a country are. From the freedom of religion to the separation of church and state, it has played on the mind of our policymakers since the beginning. However, religion today, specifically Christianity, has warped into a marketable commodity that allows for some to profit off. In this way, religion has become a way for some to create a new “American Dream”.
The meaning of the “American Dream” has changed; today it has been warped into the complete opposite of its original intention. Originally, it was a dream of equality, justice, and democracy for the whole of its people. It had nothing to do with wealth, as large amounts of wealth were seen as a dangerous and threatening to the working American at the time.[i] The concept of a millionaire was a concept that was un-American because it was seen as inherently unequal. But the dream soon began to change with each passing generation. The modern dream of the individual who becomes wealthy by their own willpower and grit came about during the Cold War.[ii] The shift came as the need for American democracy to go global began to rise, and the dream began to commercialize. It was seen as something not inherently achievable for the average American, but as something to be sold to the masses.
The calls for equality and justice are seen throughout the Christian Bible as well, from calls of “love thy neighbor” to “When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.” But as the American Dream began to turn, so did religious values and those who preached them. The emergence of televangelism as a way to sell the message of Jesus soon became a market empire. Today the emergence of mega churches and pastors adorned in flashy riches can be viewed as another adaptation of this new, commercialized American Dream. This dream of individual wealth paired with new religious values promises secular riches in reward for faith.
The followers of these pastors aren’t drawn in by just their charisma and fashion. It’s something more American: the promise that you yourself can rise out of poverty, sickness, and unhappiness just through faith and perseverance is a part of this new American dream. But with the American dream engrained into this form of faith, it also falls victim to one of America’s favorite pastimes – marketing schemes.
One scheme goes by the name The Prosperity Gospel. Reverend Billy Graham in 2016 denounced the prosperity gospel movement, saying “Jesus wasn’t rich, nor were His first disciples – not at all. In fact, the only disciple who really cared about money was Judas.”[iii] However, this hasn’t stopped millions from following its born-again marketing. The core of the prosperity gospel is that it attracts those in need with the promise that they can be rich someday. Seed faith was developed by Oral Roberts, a self-proclaimed healing evangelist and the founder of Oral Roberts University, which serves to further his scheme. It is founded on three principles: recognize that God is your source, give first so that it may be given back to you, and expect a miracle.[iv] How is this done in practice? First, one would sow a seed by sending money (a recommended seed today on Inspiration.com is $58) to the ministry they are involved in, then they would receive a seed back. This is typically a blessed one-dollar bill which is encouraged to be sent back along with another seed offering. This process repeats with the one who sowed the seed praying for the day they may be able to reap what they have sown.
Preachers of seed faith, such as Kenneth Copeland, defend this practice with lines such as “Poverty is not a money problem. It’s a spiritual problem”.[v] With more than 37.2 million Americans living in poverty[vi], seed faith is a welcome alternative to many who are struggling. One example of this was Larry Fardette, who in 2011, after his daughter became seriously ill, began sending seeds to televangelist Todd Coontz. Starting with a $237 seed followed by another for $333, he sent his money away and waited.[vii] The waiting continued and by 2013, his daughter’s health became critical. Since 2011, Fardette estimated he had given close to $20,000 to different ministries such as those of Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar. By 2014, Fardette had sold his belongings and moved to Florida as his daughter was being treated there. By this time the family had sold mostly everything they had and were homeless, living in a motel. Only by 2015 did things finally became clear, after Fardette saw John Oliver’s news show Last Week Tonight, which did a segment on televangelists and recognized the names of those mentioned as those whom they had given money to. Soon after they reached out to the Trinity Foundation, which had aided the show with research and provided reports on religious fraud. In the end, Fardette’s daughter is still alive, but they no longer speak as a result of the donations. As for Todd Coontz, he was sentenced to five years in prison in 2019 for failing to pay taxes. Coontz was a rare case, however. He was only investigated by the IRS after a call complaining that he was taking up too many parking spaces outside his luxury apartment also mentioned his church and seed giving.[viii]
Regardless of what schemes these churches run, the faithful remain. Stories like Fardette’s are a minority whereas stories of those who have been reborn into this form of consumer Christianity are the majority. The messages spouted by the likes of Kenneth Copeland, that bring the faithful in, range from vague nonsense to hateful rhetoric, but the underlining message is this: believe and you will succeed. It is no longer about loving thy neighbor but instead that your neighbor is now your competition. This allows for hate to breed in a place meant for compassion.
The worldview of some of these believers is shaped by this hate for those deemed less than them. When expressed by a believer as homophobia or racism it is on a moral high ground because they are in a community where these thoughts and beliefs are accepted. This hate is fueled further by presenting the idea that Christians are being victimized and targeted for their beliefs and lifestyles. This persecution complex that many modern Christians have is what in their mind sets them apart from other believers and gives them the right to do and say whatever they want. However, instead of rare cases of modern martyrdom and exile found in places such as Sri Lanka and in the Middle East[ix], the American version are such things as the “war on Christmas” or cancel culture. COVID-19 has only added to the persecution of Christians with Pastor Gred Fairrington expressing joy when multiple church goers tested positive for COVID-19, saying that “the favor of God is on this house”. Farrington’s wife has also said that face masks are meant to “shut the mouth of Christians”.[x]
The consumer culture that we live in today forces change upon everything it touches, and religion is not exempt. Those who take advantage of and exploit those who are in need or are looking for spiritual relief will not go away. Even faced with a pandemic, these people will put others at risk so long as it keeps them wealthy and in control of their church. They must be exposed for the conmen that they are, but this is not easy. As American culture continues to entwine itself with Christianity, these pastors will hide behind the veils of patriotism and duty to God to keep their livelihoods. If there is to be anything done about this pattern, we must look back to the origins of our American Dream and prevent it from being manipulated further.
[i] Anna Diamond, “The Original Meanings of the ‘American Dream’ and ‘America First’ Were Starkly Different From How We Use Them Today”, Smithsonian Magazine. October 2018, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/behold-america-american-dream-slogan-book-sarah-churchwell-180970311/
[ii] Ibid
[iii] Rev. Billy Graham, “On Christianity”, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, September 21, 2016, https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/sep/21/on-christianity-20160921/
[iv] Oral Roberts, “3 Keys to the Seed-Faith Principle”, Inspiration, https://inspiration.org/christian-articles/seed-faith-principle/
[v] Kenneth Copeland, “Is Poverty God’s Will?”, Kenneth Copeland Ministries, December 5, 2017, https://blog.kcm.org/tag/poverty/
[vi] Heather Long, “Nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since the summer”, The Washington Post, December 16, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/16/poverty-rising/
[vii] Vicky Baker, “The Preachers getting rich from poor Americans”, BBC News, May 29, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47675301
[viii] Ibid
[ix] BBC News, “Christian persecution ‘at near genocide levels’, May 3, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48146305
[x] Sky Palma, “Megachurch pastor’s wife: Face masks are being used by Satan to ‘shut the mouths of Christians’”, DeadState, March 16, 2021, https://deadstate.org/megachurch-pastors-wife-face-masks-are-being-used-by-satan-to-shut-the-mouths-of-christians/
Photo Credits: Creative Commons
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