Word: grassley
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...small scale, Prosperity's positive thinking has sometimes energized the march of the poor into the middle class, but many Christians find it theologically and ethically perverse. Prosperity dominates American religious TV, and millions of adherents send millions of dollars to preachers they have never met. For Grassley, this might be fine if the ministers put all the money back into their mission work. But his now famous question about Meyer's $23,000 commode suggests he questions the destination of her estimated $124 million annual take. He has asked for her real estate records, reminding her fellow Missourians...
...Among Grassley's questions to Dollar was one about a gift of $500,000 to Copeland. Dollar told TIME that he made a gift but said the sum was not that high. He and the Copelands claim to be tax-compliant. Hinn and Long did not respond by press time. White's ministry says to the best of its knowledge it complies with all tax codes. Meyer posted a 2007 IRS letter confirming tax-exempt status...
...larger conservative Christian community has not been supportive. "Grassley has a shotgun, and lead is spraying all over the place, but I'm looking at the good that can be done," says Marvin Olasky, editor of the evangelical weekly World. J. Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine, where some of the six advertise, hopes all can prove their innocence, but he adds, "If God wants to use a Senator to help the American church clean up its act, then I say bring on the Reformation...
...should Grassley play the role of Martin Luther? Some see Grassley's acts as a religious vendetta, launched by a white-bread Evangelical who doesn't get the group's view of rich pastors as a sign of divine grace. Grassley has hinted that his purpose may be to revamp tax laws to keep up with rapacious preachers. Remarks Charles Haynes, senior scholar with the First Amendment Center: "I'm worried that [the six] might be used to push for stringent transparency regulations that would affect all religious groups. They are extreme, and extreme cases can lead...
...Grassley rejects the criticism. "We're not looking at doctrine. I don't know much about the words Prosperity gospel," he says. But he acknowledges that religious-freedom concerns may make an investigation a "little more difficult to defend." Fellow Senators--"I won't give their names"--have asked what they should tell the preachers. Says Grassley: "My answer was, 'Tell them to do what all the other nonprofits do--answer my letter.'" And hope for a different kind of grace...