Fleecing the Faithful Flock

Observations on the social psychology of religion in the marketplace

By Curmudgeon

Interesting piece in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune on Val Southwick's use of his LDS faith to rope in the marks for fleecing, and his ability in some places to get local church leaders to rope them in as well.

NB: before allegations of Mormon bashing begin, let me note that the focus of the article is on Southwick's abuse of his faith connections, and on some Mormons' tendency [despite counter-urgings from the Church's leadership] to assume that co-religionist pitchmen are likely to be trustworthy because they are co-religionists, along with a tendency in some Mormons to believe that visible wealth, flashy cars, grand homes, are signs of God's favor, indicating that the possessor of those things --- like Southwick --- is a moral and upright [and therefor favored by God] individual.

It really is an interesting article on the social psychology of religion in the marketplace [so to speak]. And no, the problem is not at all limited to Mormons.