This is the column, or at least the start of the column I intended to publish. Very little editing has been done to it. The transition between academic writing to AP writing is going to be very difficult.
The published column can be found here:
Evangelicals Justify Inequality
My goal in this column (in general) is to transfer the way I, and many sociologists, view the social world to the people.
By this point in their college careers most University students are familiar with our local evangelical group, the Consuming Fire Fellowship. When I started at the University, I was frequently get irked by their constant attacks on secular life. Over time, I started to loosen up and saw they were entertainment, full of sound and fury while signifying nothing.
After that they were entertainment, but recent political events made me take a step back and understand how harmless they are compared to some of the other evangelical groups.
While channel surfing this Sunday, I stopped on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, TBN to its faithful. TBN currently themes its programming around the concept of Prosperity Theology, and Sunday morning I was given a crash course in its philosophy.
The sermon I watched featured the Reverend Benny Hinn, a mainstay of TBN and one of the most revered proponents of Prosperity Theology. Hinn refers to his brand of Prosperity Theology as a supernatural wealth transfer. Hinn explained that we must accept the wealth of God and work diligently to achieve it.
Hinn's not alone in this line of thinking. His contemporaries, TD Jakes, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar and Pat Robertson are also proponents of Prosperity Theology.
In practice Hinn's words sounded an awful like those of social theorist Max Weber and his book, "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism".
If you haven't read it, I'll save you some trouble and summarize the book. According to Weber, the Calvinists played a strong role in the development of capitalism, believing God rewarded man's hard work and piety with wealth.
Weber points out, however, that the Calvinists did not intend to foster capitalism- it was merely a side effect of their doctrine and practices.
While it may seem like outdated theory, Weber's protestant ethic is alive and well in modern evangelism, but with a slightly different message and modern medium.
At the University, we're familiar with the Consuming Fire Fellowship. They crowd free speech alley asking students to quit fornicating and to give up their worldly possessions.
It's a nuisance when Consuming Fire interrupts your day, but Hinn's and other mega churches are a way of life, with a membership that numbers in the tens of thousands.
The neo-Protestants are helping to make capitalism better right? Not exactly.
Weber's theory is a bit outdated. After all he didn't account for TV and probably didn't expect capitalism to come so far. These days things feel a little more Marxist than Weberian, and Prosperity Theology itself feels like a thin veil justifying the rampant financial inequality in the US. The wealthy are rich because they allow god to reward them with his gifts of wealth.
I'm not concerned with the beliefs of the congregation members. They can believe whatever they want.
I'm concerned with the social power demonstrated by these groups. Assuming Weber was correct, and the Calvinists did play a role in the formation of capitalism, what does that hold for the United States?
If the impoverished people of our nation latch hold to the idea that they are poor because they aren't allowing God's wealth to come to them, then the poverty trap will only deepen.
Perhaps what I fear most about these new evangelicals is their voting power. Evangelical support is speculated to be a key in Mike Huckabee's caucus victory in Iowa.
It currently seems like a bit of a stretch, but if motivated properly evangelicals could lead the US into a theocracy.
With the gap between the rich and poor growing steadily each year, a theocracy founded in Prosperity Theology could lead to a new underclass that feels justified in their status and that will blindly vote for their leaders.
Many poor already feel outcast and rejected by the government and modern society and many look to the church for hope and a means of escape. If the only thing that gives a person hope also justifies their poverty, then the world seems like a pretty dark place.
I guess in the big picture, our little sandwich board guy doesn't seem so threatening.
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