- Oct 17, 2011
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For some Latinos, ‘prosperity gospel’ led them to Trump
“Kamala said, 'Trump is for the rich, I fight for the poor.’ But I don’t want to be low-class — I hope that’s not a bad way to say it. But I don’t want to be there,” said Christian Pion, 31, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris. He became a U.S. citizen last year, a decade after coming to the United States from the Dominican Republic, and cast his first presidential ballot for Trump. “God doesn’t want you to be poor.”Next to him, his best friend, Willy J. Castillo, 39, who owns the shop and others, worked the register as he talked about Trump’s drive to succeed, overcome and survive. Castillo, who also voted for Trump, identifies with that: “The Bible says ‘God helps those who help themselves,’ right?”
[The phrase is often mistaken as a scriptural quote, though it is not stated in the Bible. Some Christians consider the expression contrary to the biblical message of God's grace and help for the helpless, and its denunciation of greed and selfishness.]
In the past half-century, driven by larger-than-life pastors, [the prosperity gospel] has overtaken other more traditional theologies centered on God’s priority being poor and disenfranchised people, some experts said.
“If you take Trump and all his characteristics, it’s almost exactly as any prosperity gospel preacher,” said Tony Tian-Ren Lin, an Asian-Latino pastor in New York who wrote a book on Latino Americans and the prosperity gospel. “… If for years you’ve been listening to someone like that, you’re not surprised when a political leader says those things.”
Trump grew up in the church of the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, whose book “The Power of Positive Thinking,” was a huge bestseller and is considered a classic of the prosperity gospel.
The movement started in the United States with healers and televangelists such as Oral Roberts and Benny Hinn, who told followers that giving them money would lead to divine blessings, conjuring a transactional God. By extension, personal wealth was seen as a goal for the faithful. It focused on the power of the self, and the idea that God would reward positivity, hard work and confidence.
[Conversely, from this view, Trump's wealth is a sign of his godliness]
Christian broadcasters and evangelical missionaries decades ago took the ideas overseas [with success in Latin America and Africa]
[Ironically [?], some of the newer floods of immigrants are chasing this spiritual American dream.]
“The more you believe in the prosperity gospel, the more you want to come. You have the faith and believe you deserve it. You want the American Dream. If you stay [in your home country], you’re not taking action, you lack faith,” said Lin, who profiled newcomers for his book.
