Anthony B Pinn Quotes

• What we ought to be trying to do is limit the harm that Christian communities and other religious communities can do. But we can't rely on them to make a world of difference. It's just not going to happen.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Christian, Religious, Community

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• If one has good faith, you can unlock the secrets of scripture, and in unlocking the secrets of scripture, you have access to everything God wants you to have. Ministers of megachurches become examples of the truth of that claim, because they're well paid, living in wonderful homes, driving very nice cars, dressed well. They are doing well, so if you do this, you too can have success.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Nice, Home, Car

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• The key figure in the Christian faith involves a story of suffering so that others do well. You're only going to get so much liberation, you're only going to get so much transformation, from a system that is based on suffering.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Christian, Suffering, Transformation

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• There's a separation of church and state. If you want the perks that churches have traditionally received, then abide by the rules. If you're going to be involved in the political process, even in soft ways, then surrender the privileges. Let ministers pay income tax on all of their income. Let churches pay income tax, let them pay property taxes. They can't have it both ways. You can't pat the politicians on the back, break the rules, and then get all these perks.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Political, Church, Separation

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• Churches typically argue is that God wants God's people to have a good life, and that a good life involves prosperity. This prosperity is not just emotional well-being, spiritual well-being, or physical well-being - it's also having good stuff. Having a nice house, a nice car, good clothing, etc. It's a package deal.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Spiritual, Good Life, Nice

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  5 Copy quote

• So long as there's been black churches in the United States, there's been a relationship between spiritual well-being and material acquisition. This has always been the case.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Spiritual, Long, Black

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• The problem is poverty. And it hides the problem. We often associate black churches with a history of protest. But prosperity gospel and megachurches tend to be rather soft on political issues. T.D. Jakes doesn't take a major stand on political issues. Creflo Dollar certainly doesn't.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Political, Black, Church

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• I think of the US as an empire. The UK at one point, because of its reach, was an empire. But these megachurches - for me the concern is to not assume they have more authority than they actually have, to not give them a kind of reach that they really don't possess.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Thinking, Giving, Assuming

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• Poor people want to be poor; if they just worked harder they could have more.

  Anthony B Pinn

  People, Poor, Poor People

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• Churches can easily bring together, in a short period of time, a substantial number of people, and politicians have to assume that these folks have the potential to vote. Although there's supposed to be a separation of church and state, they want to go to these churches to say hello to the people, and they assume their hello might turn into votes.

  Anthony B Pinn

  People, Church, Together

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• Perhaps God gives us a hint about whom God favors through physical and material prosperity. So those who are doing well are probably favored by God.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Giving, Prosperity

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• The ministers argue that within the context of scripture there's a requirement given by God that you've got to give ten percent of your income to the church. And if you give ten percent - here's the hook - God is going to reward your faithfulness by giving you that ten percent back, and a whole lot more.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Giving, Church, Hook

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• The American Dream has really good PR. It's kind of difficult to live in the United States and not on some level be pulled into the allure of the American Dream. It's in the DNA of the country. So, for a population coming out of slavery, desperate to become part of the full life of the United States, it only makes sense that they would embrace this route to the American Dream.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Dream, Country, Slavery

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

• You get a sense that it's okay to have good stuff and still claim a relationship with God. So enslaved Africans rethought their predicament in a way that entailed getting good stuff, material stuff, and having a deep relationship with God. There was no contradiction. And the idea just moves forward from there.

  Anthony B Pinn

  Moving, Contradiction, Relationship With God

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

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