Josh Gilliam's List: Culture & Religion

• That included many of Meyer's 80 books, or her $20 DVDs. Pamphlets offered "partnerships"--monthly donations to the ministry bolstered by scriptural justification for giving ("It is more blessed to give than to receive."--Acts 20:35).
• Women won everything from free massages and makeovers to $250 Wal-Mart gift certificates to a home addition.
• Meyer is known as a champion of the so-called prosperity gospel, which ties financial generosity and wealth to physical and spiritual well-being.
• Shayne Lee, a sociology professor at Tulane University and author of "Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace," compared Meyer to George Whitefield, the 18th-century British evangelist who toured the colonies preaching the gospel and becoming "the first American celebrity."
• Roby Walker, the ministry's chief operations officer, said the conference costs "millions" to stage, and that total receipts add up to "about $2 million to $3 million."

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• Has religion thus become just another commodity traded in the American marketplace?
• With the right PR expert, some creative advertising, and maybe even a little divine intervention, the Crystal Cathedral may well continue to tower over the California skyline as a symbol of the American way of life. Hallelujah and amen.

• God is not the only "off limits" topic in many pre-wedding relationships, so is money!

• the sense of personal fulfillment combined with contentment.
• Words matter, and they have a life of their own, which may help or hinder our thought.