Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

In America this is called "prosperity preaching" and is very popular in the black community, which also happens to be the demographic most affected by poverty in the United States.


Do you have any numbers on that? I don't sense a particular racial component to prosperity preaching in America. I have heard that it's particularly popular in developing countries, though, for what it's worth. That's not to say there aren't many, many prosperity gospel megachurches in the U.S., but they're not especially prominent compared to evangelical, catholic, or mainstream protestant ones.


I hadn't heard that either, but here's one survey: https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/docume...


Thanks for digging that up!

It seems like there's a significant racial trend in that survey. Though it's still a small minority of black respondents that give answers in line with prosperity gospel.

Though that may itself may be misleading since prosperity preachers will say things like "wealth is not a sign of God's favor" while teaching tricks (prayers, phrases, "seed offerings") for getting God to favor you with money, good relationships, and health.


Prosperity gospel is very popular in Brazil, in fact many politicians are now paying lip service for churches of this kind. Some of the largest new churches in Brazil are prosperity gospel churches, like the IURD of Edir Macedo, the richest Brazilian pastor according to Forbes, and owner of a bank and the 2nd largest (secular) TV network.



No it isn't. prosperity theology is most popular among evangelical whites, social gospel is generally what is considered theologially sound among mainline protestants in America, regardless of race.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: