Faith Incorporated

Chippla writes:

Poverty and illiteracy are, to a large extent, responsible for the success of the New Wave of Christianity that one sees in several African countries. The poor are desperate to get out of their current situation and improve their social status. Thus, they cling onto any message that seems to offer some form of hope or succor. And this is where the church proprietors come in. By adopting a fatally flawed reductionist approach, these proprietors relate every single action to a Deity, or a devil, be it bareness, poverty, inability to pass examinations, ill health, smoking addiction.
In such an environment, people are unable to help themselves because they are made to believe that greater forces dictate the course of their lives. Such a situation inevitably leads to more people remaining in poverty because rather than being given necessary tools of empowerment (e.g. an education that frees the mind), their minds are left constrained—to the advantage of those who claim to be offering spiritual direction.