de-conversion

Religion and the U.S. Mortgage Crisis

One of my weekly pleasures is an NPR program called This American Life. I download the podcast and take it on a walk or bike ride where I can enjoy it uninterrupted.

In a recent program, the staff of TAL coordinated with NPR’s news division to produce an hour long, behind-the-scenes feature on the recent U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis. I highly recommend this fascinating program, which answers questions on the hows and whys of the mortgage implosion of 2007-2008.

What the show uncovered was at once both surprising and not. It was surprising in terms of the brazen greed, sloppy assumptions and barely disguised fraud the program uncovered. And yet it was not surprising: Isn’t that trio – greed, laziness and fraud – at the heart of all scams?

As I listened to this sordid tale, spun out in the words of a bartender-turned-mortgage-broker and a mortgage “bundler” who made $75,000 to $100,000 a month (a month), I found my thoughts turning to religion.

Now, hold on just a minute. As a born-again Christian for 30 years, I don’t believe that religion is primarily driven by greed, laziness and fraud. I know that the televangelist stereotype that some lifelong atheists adopt for all religious people is false. I’m well aware that most religious believers are sincere, good-hearted and many are self-sacrificing…

Continue Reading May 26, 2008 at 11:17 am karen 13 comments