The Mind of “the Bible-believer”

In trying to understand the mind of “the Bible-believer” it is perhaps interesting to look toward what we know from the social sciences.   Some people look on organized religion as a kind of Ponzi scheme.  In the classic Ponzi scam, the swindler gets together a group of investors and cons them into recruiting more investors.  He pays off the early investors with money coming in from the later investors, so that the swindler and the people who got into the game early can make a lot of money.  Ultimately, however, the game runs out of people who can be persuaded to invest, and the whole game collapses in on itself.

      Unlike the classic Ponzi game, organized religion is a con game that never really ends. With organized religion you are not dealing with cash, but with something much more valuable: Faith.  The goal of the game is not to grab large amounts of cash quickly, but to entangle people emotionally in a religious organization centered on a religious belief system. The game doesn't end because none of the members get paid with real money--they only get their gold bricks when they die and go to "Heaven."

     Of course, the game is not just about money (though there is often plenty of that) but about drawing on people's time, money and other resources, including mental and physical resources.

      When Rev. Pat Robertson began his 700 club, he started by putting together 700 people who could each donate a thousand dollars.  From this small (relatively-speaking) beginning he built both a religious empire—including a Christian university in Virginia—and a commercial empire that included a cable channel, the Christian Broadcasting Network.  Robertson later sold the cable channel for millions (renamed "The Family Channel") to Rupert Murdoch.  Murdoch (who has never once been accused of being "Christian" in his values) has added this channel to his media empire, which includes the notoriously right-wing Fox News.

      The lines between Robertson's commercial empire and his religious empire are rather loosely drawn.  For example, Robertson has been criticized for using planes belonging to one of his religious charities to haul mining equipment for one of his commercial ventures in Africa.  Robertson also has a powerful political empire, with strong ties to right-wing Republicans and to several third-world dictators.  Rev. Pat Robertson represents, in one person, everything that is wrong with evangelical Christianity.  While constantly calling on his followers to search for spiritual renewal and make sacrifices (especially monetary sacrifices) Robertson himself is morally no better than some of the most notorious traveling fakirs of India.

      In Old Testament times, a person’s religious standing (Righteousness) was measured in the amount of money, property and servants you could accumulate. This still seems to be the measure used today, along with the number of “followers” or “tithing members” you lead.

      In the 19^th century (as with the O.T. Patriarchs) the Mormon Church also looked to the number of wives you had access to (as in, regularly get to boink) as a quick measure of your proximity to God’s Love.

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Earl Lee is the author of Libraries in the Age of Mediocrity (McFarland 2001)