Evangelizing Neoliberalism Through Megachurches in Latin America and the United States
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations and Theses City College of New York 2018 Evangelizing Neoliberalism through Megachurches in Latin America and the United States William O. Collazo CUNY City College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/732 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Thesis for the Master of Arts in the Study of the Americas Submitted by W. O. Collazo Evangelizing Neoliberalism through Megachurches in Latin America and the United States 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents - 2 Acknowledgments - 3 Section I - 6 The Cold War Foundations of the Modern Megachurch in the Americas: Between Pentecostalism and Neoliberalism Section II - 26 Chile: The Point of First Contact, 1973 Section III - 68 Neopopulism and the Megachurch in Puerto Rico, 1992 Section IV - 111 Ministry Inc.: Latinos, the Megachurch and Neoliberalism in the United States, 2016 Section V -173 Conclusion Bibliography -187 2 Acknowledgments I have never written an academic work that affords me the space to acknowledge those who have provided me with their assistance and support. I am glad to have such an opportunity because it is long overdue. I begin by thanking Professor Martin Woessner for being a terrific mentor to me as I worked on this thesis. He is also a terrific professor in class, which I know is an opinion shared by so many of his students. Sharing his keen insight, Professor Woessner led me through the most challenging academic work I ever attempted. He went over my work so carefully that I can honestly say this is the best work I have ever produced. I shall remember our long discussions fondly and hope that I have not added too much wear and tear to the guest chair in his office. I also want to thank Professor Marlene Clark, who also went over my thesis with great care. Her enthusiasm for this thesis never faded. I can sincerely say that with these two professors guiding me, I always considered myself in good hands. I also want to thank Professor Carlos Aguasaco who first approached me to discuss the Master of Arts in the Study of the Americas program during my last semester as an undergraduate three years ago. As a graduate student, his course in Latin American populism was invaluable to this thesis. Professor Aguasaco is the only professor to have the dubious distinction of having me as a student, both as an undergraduate and as a graduate student - to wit, I am sure he is owed some sympathy. Nevertheless, it was my good fortune to have been an undergraduate and then to continue my studies as a graduate student at the Center for Worker Education. I believe that only at CWE could I have formulated this thesis and its scope. My education at CWE has benefited me in immeasurable ways, and has left an indelible mark on the way I view the world. To refer to the beginning of my education at CWE, when I was a freshman undergraduate, means acknowledging the profound and lasting influence that Professor Grace Ali has been on me. In 3 my humble opinion, she is that professor every student should be lucky enough to have in their collegiate career. She has inspired me, and the lessons she teaches still guide me to this day. I strive to be more like her – a passionate voice in the struggle to make our America a better place for us all. The final two people I will mention are important in my life. They have provided the support, I believe, everyone should have when they are attempting to accomplish something important. I thank my intrepid friend and fellow graduate student from Japan, Miho Egoshi. I am grateful for the time that we shared during her stay here in America. But the person that I want to thank the most, for her constant support and belief in me, is Ayanna Richberg. We have been together for many years, and throughout those years I have always felt loved. Thank you, Ayanna, so very much for being there and for sharing your life with me. Of course any failings within this work are mine alone, but the people mentioned above were so very helpful to me in order to be able to complete this thesis and to get any of it right. Thank you all. William O. Collazo, May, 2018 4 5 The Cold War Foundations of the Modern Megachurch in the Americas:Between Pentecostalism and Neoliberalism The subject of this thesis is North American neoliberalism's relationship with Latin American Pentecostalism. Beginning in the Cold War era, during the heyday of Area Studies, scholars attempted to classify the growth of Pentecostalism in general, and to examine its association with the poor in particular. It was during this era that much of the developing scholarship on the rapid growth of Pentecostalism among the poor looked toward Latin America for ready test subjects and case studies. The Pentecostal movement has been a global phenomenon since the early decades of the twentieth century, but the emergence and proliferation of megachurches and Pentecostalism's significant, often political, influence on Christianity is more recent, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.1 This context was overlooked by much of the initial scholarship on Pentecostalism. It overlooked the emergence of United States-exported neoliberalism, and how it has interacted with Pentecostal beliefs and their megachurches in a wide variety of ways. As a result of this, scholarship failed to detect how megachurches used Pentecostalism's influence with the poor to stand aside as a brutal dictatorship sought to remake society into a haven for neoliberalism. One of the most salient features of contemporary Pentecostalism is the phenomenon of the megachurch. Today, the megachurch is Pentecostalism's most influential institution, yet the rise of the megachurch is all too often viewed as an incidental byproduct of Pentecostalism’s growth. I contend that the paradigm shift of neoliberalism, which is one of the most “global transformations” of our age, has been left out of much of the analysis of megachurches.2 The emergence and proliferation of the modern megachurch has only recently been recognized as a global phenomenon deserving of study in its own right.3 But this scholarship is too often rooted within sociological frameworks that predate the rise of neoliberalism. In other words, the works that were written in the age of Area Studies could not 6 but fail to explore how and why neoliberal ideology has influenced the development of Pentecostal doctrine and practice, especially as they have taken shape within the structures and practices of the megachurch. To rectify this omission in the scholarly literature, the first section of this thesis will revisit the time when Latin American Pentecostalism first came into contact with US-exported neoliberalism. This thesis will argue that these two transformational, ideological movements have developed into a mutually beneficial relationship with each other. Specifically, it was a relationship that was not brokered by the poor, but by a segment of Pentecostalism that should be identified as the affluent. As the neoliberal “shock therapy” of dictatorship and repression was being applied, often towards the poorest segments of Latin American society, the Pentecostal Latin America middle-class recognized an opportunity to advance its own, class-based economic and political agenda.4 Their agenda was based upon neoliberal ideas and was incorporated into the organizational structure of worldwide Pentecostal movement's most economically and politically influential institution, the megachurch. Like the rise of a politicized Evangelicalism in the US, more generally the Latin American-style megachurch has become synonymous with conservative, if not to say right-wing, politics and social practices. Latin American Pentecostal megachurches share much in common with the rise of the religious right in the United States. Therefore, after reexamining Chile as the point of first contact between neoliberalism and Pentecostalism, this thesis will move north, first to the American colony of Puerto Rico, then to the United States. Because of its small size, Puerto Rico provides a manageable and unique case study for examining the relationship between American-exported neoliberalism and indigenous Latin American Pentecostalism. Puerto Rico demonstrates how a “neoliberal market-based populist culture” came to be fomented by Pentecostal megachurches.5 In this section the focus will be on how populism and megachurch politics came to be staunch supporters of neoliberal polices. I argue 7 that an alliance developed between megachurches and neoliberal politicians, with religious values serving as the basis for “the restoration of class power,” brought megachurch pastors and middle-class Pentecostals into the ranks of the wealthy and the politically influential on the island of Puerto Rico.6 In an effort to outline the path of exported American neoliberalism back to its point of origin, the final section of the thesis analyzes the evolution of the United States megachurch, within the context of growing immigration from Latin America to North America. There are many different types of megachurches, and many myths that obscure their importance within contemporary religious and social life alike, but the importance of the US megachurch are nevertheless, often measured through its wealth, its political influence, and its overall potential for mobilizing the poor.7 As the archetype by which all others are measured, the US megachurch has solidified and institutionalized the religious link with neoliberalism that has transformed the manner in which religion motivates and directs worshipers today.