How the "prosperity gospel" convinces poor people to give everything to grifty millionaire preachers

The "prosperity gospel" (previously) is a religious doctrine that encourages poor people to send specific amounts of cash (usually in the hundreds of dollars) to charismatic preachers, an act the preachers characterizes as "seed giving" -- and the preachers promise that God will reward these gifts by making the givers rich.

It's arguably the most predatory form of mainstream religion in practice today, and it benefits from the US tax code, which enables churches to accept donations without paying taxes on them, like nonprofits do, but unlike nonprofits, the preachers who exhort their followers to send them their millions never have to account for the money they raise, nor disclose how much of it lands in their own pockets and the pockets of their inner circles.

The BBC follows some prosperity gospel donors who gave to preachers (notably the convicted fraudster Todd Coontz, who is out of jail pending appeal and giving Periscope sermons from the front seat of his Mazzerati) out of desperation as their finances were hitting rock bottom -- often through a combination of catastrophic health bills, layoffs, and mortgage or rent increases -- and then ended up even poorer, sometimes homeless. Then, when they wrote to the preachers they'd sent so much money to, asking for help, the preachers either ignored them, or their flunkies told them to fuck off ("You know we get six or seven of these calls a week and if we help you, we are going to have to help everyone"). Read the rest