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Sarah Posner is one of the new wave of journalistic experts on the radical Christian right. Her January 29, 2008, book, "God's Profits," could not be more timely. Recently, there have been senate hearings into how some high-profile Evangelical leaders have been making a financial killing off of peddling Jesus and God.

One just need look at the recent scandal at Oral Roberts University, involving Oral Roberts the Junior and his wife, to get a glimpse of how "dialing dollars for Jesus" often ends up enriching those at the top of the "faith business."

And a business it has become. There's no room for the poor in this "Biblical" worldview where wealth is a sign of being in "God's graces." Poverty, in this Mega-Church enterpirse, is a sign of God's scorn.

In short, to be wealthy is to be Godly.

How much more perverted can it get?

Well, read Posner's insightful book.

From the publisher:

Keenly observed and meticulously reported, God's Profits examines the unholy alliance between a new breed of corrupt televangelists and the Republican Party, which is eagerly courting "values voters" in the nation's largest megachurches.

Author Sarah Posner exposes the activities of Kenneth Copeland, John Hagee, Rod Parsley, T.D. Jakes, and other politically connected, skillfully marketed, and increasingly influential religious leader s. Preaching the "prosperity gospel"�the notion that faith and tithing alone can ensure financial security�both in their churches and over the airwaves, these charismatic leaders scam the gullible even as they enjoy unprecedented access to top Bush Administration officials.

Admired by Republican strategists for their antigovernment ideology and authoritarian leadership styles, these televangelists work together to maximize profits; protect themselves legally; influence elections, judicial nominations, and legislation; and promote their pro-war, apocalyptic ideas about the Middle East and its critical role in the "End Time."

About the author:

Sarah Posner is an investigative journalist covering the activities of conservative evangelicals. She has written for The Nation, The American Prospect, AlterNet, The Washington Spectator, and The Gadflyer. She also writes The FundamentaList, which counts down the week�s top news about the religious right, for The American Prospect Web site www.prospect.org.

Reviews & Comments

God�s Profits is a fascinating and important investigation into the sordid nexus between religious zealotry and run-amok capitalism. Sarah Posner has given us a vivid account of a new generation of spiritual hucksters whose venality is nearly matched by their political influence. The story she tells is appalling, but the way she tells it is enormously compelling.
Michelle Goldberg, author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism

Sarah Posner has produced the definitive expose of America�s leading �prosperity gospel� preachers. With direct access to the Bush White House and Republican lawmakers, these televangelists have injected their Armageddon-based agenda into U.S. foreign policy. Posner�s book should serve as a stark warning to anyone tempted to dismiss the John Hagees and Rod Parsleys of the world as benign loons.
Max Blumenthal, Nation Institute Writing Fellow

Sarah Posner�s reporting on the religious right is dogged, informed, and ceaselessly illuminating. She never condescends to rank-and-file believers; at the same time, she never excuses their leaders� hypocrisies or fundamental misunderstanding of, and threat to, our constitutional republic.
Michael Tomasky, The Guardian

Sarah Posner introduces us to the stars of a new evangelical movement who have declared welfare Satanic, poverty a religious curse, and redistribution of wealth �contrary to the word of God.� God�s Profits serves as an urgent warning about their toxic and corrupting effect on American politics.
Esther Kaplan, author of With God on Their Side: George W. Bush and the Christian Right

God�s Profits is an astounding tale of religious hucksterism�and its role in politics�as big and crass as the ostentatious empires of the Word of Faith movement itself. It features a cast of charlatans, demagogues, con men, and the pols and presidents who pander to them. It is also a window on the rise of the Bush family dynasty and details how John Hagee, Rod Parsley, and their ilk treat faith as a cheap political commodity on its behalf.
Frederick Clarkson, author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy


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