The "Prosperity Gospel" is Neither

Rod Dreher over at Beliefnet is generally more conservative than I am, but I think he's right on the money, as it were, with this post about the prosperity gospel's effects on the banking crisis. He quotes a Time article:

While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California Riverside, he realized that Prosperity's central promise -- that God would "make a way" for poor people to enjoy the better things in life -- had developed an additional, toxic expression during sub-prime boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe "God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house." The results, he says, "were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers."

Does God promise that he'll provide all your needs? Yes. Does God promise that we'll all get to live in our own fancy houses with laundry rooms and a 2-car garage? Not so much.