The preachers getting rich from poor Americans

[brooklynite]

BBC

Televangelist Todd Coontz has a well-worn routine: he dresses in a suit, pulls out a Bible and urges viewers to pledge a very specific amount of money. "Don't delay, don't delay," he urges, calmly but emphatically.

It sounds simple, absurdly so, but Coontz knows his audience extremely well. He broadcasts on Christian cable channels, often late into the night, drawing in viewers who lack financial literacy and are desperate for change.

"I understand the laws that govern insurance, stocks and bonds and all that is involved with Wall Street," he once said, looking directly into the camera. "God has called me… as a financial deliverer."

Crucially, he always refers to the money as a "seed" - a $273 seed, a $333 seed, a "turnaround" seed, depending on the broadcast. If viewers "plant" one, the amount will come back to them, multiplied, he says. It is an investment in their faith and their future.

[keithbvadu2]

1. Pat Robertson and his ilk are CBR - Cash Based Religion.

Pat Robertson and his ilk are CBR - Cash Based Religion.

Judas was an early modern day conservative disciple.

Judas got 30 pieces of silver, but just once, for selling Christ.

Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker and their ilk get millions of dollars repeatedly for selling Christ.

Judas was a fool for doing a one-time sale.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. i dont view most televangilsts as men of god but crooks .

[blueinredohio]

3. I'll bet most "seeds" rotted in he ground. There's a sucker born every minute.

[democratisphere]

4. So-called religious and definitely conmen PREYING on the poor, misguided and uninformed.

[KPN]

7. "PREYING on the poor, misguided and uninformed" sounds a lot like the GOP the past 40 years.

[democratisphere]

8. Exactly why the GOP cozies up to religious fanatics.

Total frauds hanging together.

[comradebillyboy]

5. I did a book report on Elmer Gantry way back in the early 60s

My teacher was shocked. These religious grifters have been successfully grifting since the first religion was invented.

[Sneederbunk]

6. They need to be thrown out of the temple.

[LastDemocratInSC]

9. They are business men responding to a market.

There are used car dealers and used house dealers. Preachers are used myth dealers. All three are the same in my experience.

[trev]

10. Back in the 1980s

I used to listen to Gene Scott, a local California radio Fundamentalist preacher. I did this because Fundamentalism was growing at the time and I had a vested interest in knowing what was happening. His donation "drives" consisted of him angrily and degradingly accusing his listeners of being "cheap" and threatening to close down his ministry if they didn't cough up the big bucks. As far as I know, he never missed a funding goal.

People seem to love being fleeced and abused.

[Major Nikon]

11. Grifters gonna grift

Sheeps need shearing.

[SWBTATTReg]

12. One of the worse things one can do is literally steal from the poor (I may be wrong in my ...

assuming that most listeners are poor, needful, and financially unstable), but this ranks as one of the worse crimes in my opinion, preying on those least able to afford it. Thanks for posting brooklynite.

[msongs]

13. suckers who need "saviors" will fall for anything nt

[The Genealogist]

14. I'm familiar with how this works

A lot of people are raised to have unwavering deference to religious authorities. Many elderly people will take money from their small food or medication budgets to send these people their "love offerings" or "seed" or whatever. Then, these people will fly around in private jets and otherwise live in luxury while donors will go hungry.

I imagine the mindset that these preachers prey on is similar to the one found in parents who punish their children for reporting that a priest has sexually assaulted them. Blind deference to religious authorities can have serious consequences.