Prosperity Gospel & Power Politics: Reassessing A Controversial Claim

A Viral Claim Rekindles an Old Debate

A recent commentary by Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin has reignited debate over the historical roots of prosperity Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa. In a widely circulated social media thread, Hundeyin argues that the rise of the Prosperity Gospel across Black Africa was not merely a theological evolution but part of a broader Cold War strategy by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to counter Liberation Theology and suppress collectivist political movements.

The claim draws on declassified U.S. documents and academic literature examining how religion intersected with foreign policy during the Cold War. It has generated strong reactions, with supporters describing it as “thought-provoking” and critics cautioning against oversimplification.

Liberation Theology and Cold War Anxiety

Liberation Theology emerged in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, emphasising social justice, structural inequality and collective resistance to authoritarianism. Some U.S. policymakers, concerned about communist influence in the Global South, viewed aspects of the movement as ideologically aligned with Marxist thought.

Declassified intelligence papers confirm that U.S. agencies monitored religious movements during the Cold War. For instance, internal analyses such as “Liberation Theology: Religion, Reform, and Revolution,” produced by the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence, examined the movement’s political implications.

Scholars such as James C. Wallace and Wesley Granberg-Michaelson have also documented instances in which U.S. foreign policy actors engaged religious institutions as part of broader geopolitical strategies. However, historians caution that engagement does not necessarily equate to direct authorship of doctrinal shifts.

The Rise of Prosperity Theology

Prosperity Theology — often associated with Pentecostal and charismatic movements — emphasises personal faith, individual blessing and material success as evidence of divine favour. Its rapid expansion in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa from the 1980s onward coincided with economic downturns, structural adjustment programmes and weakening state institutions.

Religious sociologists argue that prosperity preaching found fertile ground in societies grappling with poverty and unemployment. In such contexts, messages promising personal uplift and economic breakthrough resonated strongly.

While some American televangelists and evangelical networks influenced African Pentecostalism through training institutions and missionary partnerships, there is limited publicly verified evidence demonstrating a coordinated intelligence-led project to engineer the doctrine’s spread.

Individualism, Capitalism and Collective Action

Hundeyin’s central argument is ideological: that prosperity Christianity redirects attention from systemic reform to individual advancement, thereby weakening collective political action such as labour unions or grassroots mobilisation.

Political scientists acknowledge that religious narratives can shape civic engagement patterns. Yet empirical research on African Pentecostalism presents a more complex picture. In some contexts, churches have mobilised voters, advocated governance reforms and provided social services where states have faltered.

Dr. Ruth Marshall’s work on Nigerian Pentecostalism, for example, notes that while prosperity preaching emphasises personal transformation, it also fosters new forms of community organisation and public morality.

Institutional Training and Transnational Networks

Hundeyin suggests that examining where prominent African pastors received theological training may illuminate transnational connections. Indeed, many influential clerics studied in American seminaries or were shaped by U.S.-based Pentecostal movements.

However, religious historians stress that transnational exchange is a longstanding feature of global Christianity. Influence flows in multiple directions, and African churches today export theology and media content worldwide.

Separating Evidence from Assertion

The broader question raised by Hundeyin’s commentary is whether Cold War religious engagement constitutes proof of a deliberate, centrally coordinated effort to reshape African Christianity into a “capitalist trojan horse.”

Declassified documents confirm U.S. interest in religious dynamics, but definitive archival evidence directly linking intelligence funding to the institutional birth of Prosperity Gospel movements in Africa remains contested.

Experts argue that multiple factors — urbanisation, media liberalisation, economic hardship and indigenous revival movements — contributed to the theology’s rise.

A Continuing Conversation

The debate highlights enduring tensions between religion, politics and economic ideology in Africa. Whether one interprets Prosperity Gospel as foreign policy blowback, organic theological evolution or a hybrid of both, its social impact is undeniable.

As scholars continue to examine archival material and contemporary religious practice, the discussion underscores the importance of distinguishing documented evidence from interpretative extrapolation — particularly in matters where faith, history and geopolitics intersect.