Reverend Ike’s loss is great

Last week, one of our nation’s most enigmatic, controversial and influential figures passed away.

Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known as “Reverend Ike,” died at the age of 74. Ike, one of America’s first major televangelists, is largely remembered for drawing millions of Americans into his “gospel of health and wealth” that promised material success for true believers.

Although Reverend Ike has faded from the public conversation in recent years, his impact on American religious life has undoubtedly endured.

Over the past few decades, many American preachers have gained national prominence by offering their own updated versions of Reverend Ike’s gospel of prosperity. Some, like Creflo Dollar and Fred Price, flash expensive clothing, jewelry and cars with the reckless abandon of a Top 40 rapper. Others, like Joel Osteen, operate as life coaches whose scriptureless sermons are more devoted to selling self-help products than promoting righteous living. By reducing social misery to a lack of faith, these preachers reinforce the tired conservative argument that the problems of the poor are largely self-inflicted. They also promote the neo-liberal belief that all social problems can be resolved by expanding capitalism and increasing consumption. As a result, these churches displace traditional narratives about collective struggle, sacrifice or redemptive suffering with demands that the poor “get right” with God by accumulating things for themselves.

Unlike Reverend Ike, today’s cadre of prosperity preachers are not on the margins of mainstream Christianity. Instead they are becoming leaders of a mainstream church movement that has grown increasingly unresponsive to the social conditions of its members. One of the more disappointing examples of the New Black Church’s profit-driven cowardice came in January 2005 when President George W. Bush spoke to the First Baptist Church of Glenarden, a mega church in Maryland.

Pastor John Jenkins, an affirmative action advocate, refused to publicly challenge the president’s stance on the subject because he considered it inappropriate to take a stand against the president’s policy from the pulpit. By eliminating protest from the church’s agenda, except for when they’re echoing Republican talking points regarding so-called “moral issues,” these leaders effectively strip the church of its transformative potential while enhancing their own earning capacity. In the wake of Reverend Ike’s death, we must confront the possibility that many churches have gained the whole world but lost their souls.

Marc Lamont Hill is associate professor of education and African-American studies at Columbia University.