I have the utmost respect for Barbara Ehrenreich’s work – “Nickel and Dimed” was required reading for some of my students last semester. And though I enjoy self-righteous snark as much as the next Alternet subscriber, she does the Prosperity Gospel’s collective obscenities no justice by recycling this tired angle and lumping Joel Osteen in with his criminal counterparts.
Consider me one of HIS “heartsick supporters,” rather than a vacuous tabloid slag. The Edwards Affair actually has plenty of tabloid spectacle to it, considering it was The Enquirer itself that broke the story. (And try watching his “Father of the Year” speech with a straight face now…)
Victoria’s airline hissy was probably just that, and the Osteens got off the flight and paid a $3,000 fine for her questionable behavior, and perhaps will be on the hook for a bit more to the plaintiff, whose reported background and motives don’t pass the smell test. I certainly feel immensely more human knowing that even Robert Schuller can have a REALLY bad day…But there’s no factual connection between Victoria’s alleged poor judgment and her husband’s ministry. This bandwagon approach is lazy journalism, and the posters here [on Alternet.org] who are jumping on it and going further by trashing all Christians and Biblical theology are stunning in their ignorance and intolerance.
While Joel might side-step Biblical taboos such as homosexuality and abortion in his preaching, I find it refreshing that he’s not willing to condemn anyone, and his decision to avoid those contradictions is in the hopes of bringing people closer to the teachings of Jesus – rather the point of the gospel, wouldn’t you say? Fire-and-brimstone is one approach, but thank god it’s not the only one, and sin as a theological turn-off is not the point. Joel’s preaching focuses on love, compassion and redemption and, far from the allegations of his critics, he quotes scripture extensively, discusses sin, and promotes the Bible. I know, because I’ve been a fence-straddling agnostic who accidentally discovered him on TV and now watches him regularly, embraces his style of preaching, and has started reading the Bible (though not as regularly do I understand it – it’s quite a hefty piece of literature).
Joel’s books, on the other hand, are naïve and sweetly simple – certainly nothing new under the sun. But they’re bestsellers for a reason – they appeal to people’s positive yearnings, with a “God helps those who help themselves” bootstrap message, and what’s wrong with that? And so what if he makes some money off them, even millions? Any reason he should live in a van down by the river after he’s been on the New York Times Bestsellers list twice?
If Victoria needs to get real and get her grace and humility on, so be it, but don’t let’s all find another excuse to take a self-satisfied shite on Christians, the Bible and sound bites of Christian theology without doing some homework or by treating this very unfortunate incident as some logical extension of “SSDD.” Not all TV pastors are out to fleece their flocks, and their parishioners aren’t all empty-headed narcissists – just like atheists, agnostics and alternative media mavens aren’t all dope-smoking, over-educated assholes. Check out The Wittenburg Door.com and other such sites to fuel your constructive outrage for the real shameless charlatans (Benny Hinn, et al) who need to have their broadcast licenses yanked and their finances given a rubber-gloved probe by the feds, for starters.
-- KT
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