Some people are willing to believe anything a charismatic figure tells them to without checking to see if it is true. Many of these "prosperity gospel" preachers could care less what rational, intelligent people think of them because their bread and butter comes from the naive people who follow them and there will always be an element anxious for someone to tell them what to believe. However I don't think a mortgage crisis of this magnitude came be blamed on an overall small group of dopey people like this.
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