washingtontimes.com
Two preachers who teach that God will make the faithful rich are among the religious leaders chosen to offer prayers at President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in, the inaugural committee said Wednesday.
Prosperity gospel preachers Paula White, a friend of Trump‘s, and Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, whose Detroit church hosted the Republican in September, will be among six faith leaders selected to participate in the Jan. 20 inauguration. It will be the first time preachers who spread the prosperity gospel will be included in the ceremony.
While the faith movement is widely popular, many Christians consider it heretical. Ministers in the tradition often hold up their own wealth as evidence their teachings work. Trump had campaigned in part on his record as a wealthy real estate developer and businessman.
The Senate Finance Committee had investigated White and five other prosperity preachers over their spending, but the inquiry ended in 2011 with no penalty for the televangelists. White said in a statement that she will pray to God at the inaugural “that He would richly bless our extraordinary home, the United States of America.”
Anthony Pinn, a Rice University religious studies professor, described the prosperity gospel “as a way to religiously rationalize material acquisition.” He said participating in the inaugural gives the preachers a new kind of prominence.
