It'd be funny, if these spiritual snake oil salesthings weren't regular guests in the White House. Or if they didn't count members of Congress and local governments as close friends. Funny. Ha, ha.
Posner will be with us from 1-3pm today to answer as many questions as she can, and she clearly spent a very long time exposed to these people on your behalf, so come join us in the comments for a chat!
God's Profits deals with the relatively little-known (to the outside world) Word of Faith movement, which lies behind some of the most politically active religious right organizing that remains just outside the national spotlight, but that has had an increasing impact in recent years.
Sarah also blogs at the American Prospect website where she does The FundamentaList. I'm going to begin by asking her a kick-off question, and then others can jump in as well.
Sarah, welcome to Open Left. I'd like to start by asking the following--
The contrast between the brief blip over Hagee's endorsement of John McCain and the firestorm over Barack Obama's relationship with Jeremiah Wright is both dramatic and routine. Such double standards have become a standard feature of our political discourse. But your book unveils a great deal more than mere hyporicrisy and double standards.
How SHOULD the American public understand:
(A) The nature of John Hagee and his relationship with John McCain?
(B) The larger power/polticial relationships involved?
(C) The contrast between Hagee and Wright, and their respective relationships with political power?
Done, But Not Done
The formal, hurly-burly part of the salon is over. But Sarah has promised to drop back by in the next day or two to answer any additional questions people may pose. So those who missed it--or just didn't get around to posing the questions you had, there's still time to participate. Come in, and enjoy.
A couple of weeks ago, a brief tremor disturbed John McCain's presidential campaign. His endorsement by televangelist John Hagee caused momentary problems because it seems that Hagee is just a tad anti-Catholic. As in 19th-Century, "Know-Nothing" Party, "great whore" anti-Catholic.
No biggie. "He endorses my views, that doesn't mean I endorse his," is a magic incantation that works automatically if you're a politician who is (a) white, (b) male and (c) Republican. Check, check and check! But Hagee was a good deal more than just virulently anti-Catholic. He was much more anti-Islamic, and positively gleeful over the prospect of Armageddon. He was also a fairly significant force in Republican politics, having organized the largest contingent of so-called "Christian Zionists" to militantly oppose anything remotely approaching a peaceful resolution of Mideast tensions. I was just one of many bloggers to note such things, even as the corporate media ignored them.
Hagee, you see, is part of a religious movement, known as "Word of Faith," that stands the Gospels, with their talk of God in "the least of these" on its head. It is not the poor, amongst whom Jesus lived, who are the children of God in Hagees world. It's the moneychangers in the temple. Hagee should know. He's one of them.
The Democracy Now! piece was particularly strong, as it was set up by some clips that are-of course-better heard than read in transcript. Russert badgering Obama about Farrakhan, for example. And McCain proudly embracing Hagee. Then, in the interview itself, Amy strated right off, asking Sarah just who this Hagee fellow is:
SARAH POSNER: Well, his church has been around since the early 1970s. He actually started it after a previous church went out of business, so to speak, after he divorced his first wife. And he has built this church that he has now, Cornerstone Church, to 19,000 members.
Hagee preaches the Prosperity Gospel, which essentially says that God wants believers to be rich, that you-believers can call riches into existence for themselves through their faith, and that you get rich by tithing to your pastor ten percent of your income, what Hagee calls your "first fruits," meaning pay him your tithe before you pay the rent, before you make the car payment.
Gosh! Divorced first wife? Prosperity Gospel? Is this a match made in Heaven or what? And you thought BushCo had made parody obsolete! The M$M doesn't like to talk about McCain's first mariage and divorce, you see. It makes him look like Newt Gingrich. Heck, it almost makes Gingrish look good!
