Clone of A Prodigal Sheep

A nauseating story in the Times about the Rev. Creflo A. Dollar Jr. (yes, that's his real name) and his World Changers Churches in Atlanta and Manhattan, with combined annual operating budget of $84 million.

Where does this lucrative revenue stream come from? Largely, it seems, from thousands of low income wage earners tithing ten percent or more of their income to the church each week. In turn, the church sponsors Dollar's lavish lifestyle, as he as his wife Taffi shuttle between a million-dollar church-owned mansion in Atlanta and their own $2.5 million apartment in Manhattan, driving Rolls-Royces donated to them by congregants.

And when this level of giving results for some church members in serious financial hardship, they continue to give with questioning the scriptural basis this arrangement:

But just as they started to give, their children became sick, and the family began to fall badly behind on the bills. "Things went from bad to worse," Mr. Anderson said. 

A few weeks ago, they had no food and no money. A concerned neighbor, however, surprised them with groceries. Another friend offered winter coats for their children, ages 5 and 7.

The Andersons attributed the unexpected gifts to God's provision and said they looked to the testimonies of others in the church for inspiration.

The family went into debt as a result of Rev. Dollar's teachings. Here we see cognitive dissonance at work. The concerned neigbor's response is not viewed as a natural reaction from someone who was worried about their financial situation (which was being worsened by their continued tithing), or as a stark wake up call to get their financial priorities right, but as evidence that God was blessing them in adversity.

The prosperity gospel is little more than a flattened pyramid scheme. A handful at the top become dubiously wealthy, not through their own effort, but through convincing a sufficient number of people underneath that tithing is an absolute guarantee to material rewards in this life.