'Prosperity Gospel' is the Greatest Threat to Black Churches
There is a crisis in many black churches, what a scholar-preacher calls a "mission crisis." And the greatest threat to the churches is the "prosperity gospel" movement.
Dr. Robert M. Franklin, author of newly released Crisis in the Village, says the achievements of the African American community are losing ground, especially among church leaders who have shifted more focus onto individual achievement.
"I am convinced that the single greatest threat to the historical legacy and core values of the contemporary black church tradition is posed by what is known as the 'prosperity gospel' movement," he writes, explaining that the black church has assimilated into a culture that is hostile to marginalized people, such as the poor, the HIV-infected, homosexuals and immigrants....