Keenly observed and meticulously reported, God’s Profits examines the unholy alliance between a new breed of corrupt televangelists and the Republican Party, which is eagerly courting “values voters” in the nation’s largest megachurches.
Author Sarah Posner exposes the activities of Kenneth Copeland, John Hagee, Rod Parsley, T.D. Jakes, and other politically connected, skillfully marketed, and increasingly influential religious leader s. Preaching the “prosperity gospel”—the notion that faith and tithing alone can ensure financial security—both in their churches and over the airwaves, these charismatic leaders scam the gullible even as they enjoy unprecedented access to top Bush Administration officials.
Televangelists John Hagee and Rod Parsley have been in the news a great deal in recent weeks, after both men endorsed John McCain for president. God’s Profits chronicles their careers, laying bare their apocalyptic vision of the Second Coming and the influence of Hagee’s Christian Zionist lobbying organization, Christians United for Israel, on neoconservative foreign policy. God’s Profits goes further than any of the news coverage, however, in exposing how these ministries make so much money preaching the “prosperity gospel”: God demands that you tithe to me, the televangelists tell their followers, and you will receive a supernatural return of riches. But while their flocks open their wallets week after week, it’s the televangelists who prosper, living in luxury homes, buying up choice real estate, and traveling the globe in their private jets.
Admired by Republican strategists for their antigovernment ideology and authoritarian leadership styles, these televangelists work together to maximize profits; protect themselves legally; influence elections, judicial nominations, and legislation; and promote their pro-war, apocalyptic ideas about the Middle East and its critical role in the “End Time.”
Sarah Posner is an investigative journalist covering the activities of conservative evangelicals. She has written for The Nation, The American Prospect, AlterNet, The Washington Spectator, and The Gadflyer. She also writes The FundamentaList, which counts down the week’s top news about the religious right, for The American Prospect website.
Praise for God’s Profits
In God’s Profits (Polipoint), journalist Sarah Posner follows both the money and the beliefs of a crew of the nation’s sleaziest snake oil salesmen to produce a horrifying but important story. Posner knows which side she’s on — this is hard-hitting lefty journalism — but God’s Profits is a book that anyone who wants to understand how good and honest people are seduced into movements led by theological sham artists needs to read. Of particular value is Posner’s reporting on Rod Parsley, a rising star of “populist” fundamentalism. This is fast-paced, fearless muck-raking of the first order. My one complaint: God’s Profits is burdened with one of the dullest covers of the year, which probably explains in part why this book wasn’t the hit it should have been in liberal/left circles. Polipoint, a new small press, has done a nice job of producing timely work that evokes the early American pamphlet tradition at its best; now they need to bring that same vigor to their packaging.
—Jeff Sharlet, editor of The Revealer, Dec 11. 2008
Sarah Posner’s “FundamentaList” for The American Prospect is an invaluable source in understanding the inner workings of the religious right, in Washington and across the country. In God’s Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters (Polipoint), she deftly dissects the financial doings — and more importantly, the financial methods — of religious right leaders waging perpetual culture war on their followers’ dime. She follows the money from televangelists and tax-exempt churches to some of the stranger and more mystical corners of evangelicaldom, and back again.
—Kathryn Joyce, The Revealer, Dec 11, 2008
“Word of Faith Christianity, a strand of Pentecostal evangelism that promises health and wealth to those who dig deep and obey their conservative Republican preachers, is brilliantly dissected in Sarah Posner’s God’s Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters.”
—Eleanor J. Bader – The Indypendent – May 16, 2008 – Read the whole review
God’s Profits is a fascinating and important investigation into the sordid nexus between religious zealotry and run-amok capitalism. Sarah Posner has given us a vivid account of a new generation of spiritual hucksters whose venality is nearly matched by their political influence. The story she tells is appalling, but the way she tells it is enormously compelling.
—Michelle Goldberg, author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
Sarah Posner has produced the definitive exposé of America’s leading “prosperity gospel” preachers. With direct access to the Bush White House and Republican lawmakers, these televangelists have injected their Armageddon-based agenda into U.S. foreign policy. Posner’s book should serve as a stark warning to anyone tempted to dismiss the John Hagees and Rod Parsleys of the world as benign loons.
—Max Blumenthal, Nation Institute Writing Fellow
Sarah Posner’s reporting on the religious right is dogged, informed, and ceaselessly illuminating. She never condescends to rank-and-file believers; at the same time, she never excuses their leaders’ hypocrisies or fundamental misunderstanding of, and threat to, our constitutional republic.
—Michael Tomasky, The Guardian
Sarah Posner introduces us to the stars of a new evangelical movement who have declared welfare Satanic, poverty a religious curse, and redistribution of wealth “contrary to the word of God.” God’s Profits serves as an urgent warning about their toxic and corrupting effect on American politics.
—Esther Kaplan, author of With God on Their Side: George W. Bush and the Christian Right
God’s Profits is an astounding tale of religious hucksterism—and its role in politics—as big and crass as the ostentatious empires of the Word of Faith movement itself. It features a cast of charlatans, demagogues, con men, and the pols and presidents who pander to them. It is also a window on the rise of the Bush family dynasty and details how John Hagee, Rod Parsley, and their ilk treat faith as a cheap political commodity on its behalf.
—Frederick Clarkson, author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy
[...] Farias interview clip for you all. Today, it’s a great piece with Sarah Posner, author of God’s Profits, from April 27, 2009. For more interviews with Progressive thinkers visit [...]