"The
market is becoming a mystical object of worship," says Chris Lehmann, editor in
chief of left-wing "little magazine" The Baffler and the author of the new book
The Money Cult: Capitalism, Christianity, and the Unmaking of the American
Dream. "The market is becoming sanctified."
Which, he argues, helps to
explain the rise of Donald Trump, who has no qualifications to run for president
other than his vast (and exaggerated) riches. Evangelical Christians, Lehmann
notes, are supporting Trump despite the billionaire's questionable religiosity
and lack of charitable donations.
From poor and dispossessed
millennialists to wealthy celebrity preachers such as Aimee McPherson and
mega-pastor Joel Osteen, The Money Cult charts changes in the American economy
and Protestant theology that led to what became known as "the prosperity
gospel," or a sense that worldly success was a sign of spiritual salvation.
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