Is it just me or do Americans seem more vulnerable to religious conmen?

Question

And even psychics and fortune tellers seem more prevalent in the states, why is this? It might be because I’m just exposed to more American media than the media of other countries and I have mainly my own country to compare and we have scammers here but, they don’t seem to be as successful here as in the states.

Answer 1

I wish I had an answer to this question. Americans do seem to be pretty credulous. One of the earlier answerers said that skepticism and critical thinking are viewed as bad traits in the US. That's not really the case, but it's pretty close. School systems in the US reward obedience, so thinking critically can get you into quite a bit of trouble -- depending on what you are criticizing. Skepticism toward religion and US foreign and domestic policy is (for the most part) forbidden. Furthermore, teachers who are too critical could put their jobs in jeopardy.

Critical thinking is just not encouraged in our educational system. We are supposed to memorize and regurgitate the appropriate response. Most US students find themselves lacking the necessary critical thinking skills to tackle college education in their own country. That much could be changing. The change is that now, professors are also in danger of losing their jobs if they are too critical.

Answer 2

Complex question. There are many historicl and cultural reasons for this and, of course, America is a huge place. It has a bit of everything. But it is true that the kind of intellectualism that is found in Europe is almost absent here and that it is, in fact, generally viewed with suspicion. It's hard to talk of a country of 300 million people, so what follows is simply, of course, a set of general observations, but I think it applies if you don't carry it too far.
Americans like to think of themselves as practical instead of intellectual. They don't typically spend much time on theory unless there's a direct practical application for it. Toqueville wrote "an American is a Cartesian that has never read Descartes". Practical, logical, but with no patience for theory and subtelty. In fact, intellectualism is often viewed with suspicion in America. It is a form of elitism, after all, and America prides itself as being the beacon of popular democracy; a land where no man could claim to be better than another.
The American character has also been marked by puritanism. While open to industry and business, the settlers of the new world were more likely to favor literal interpretation of the Bible and conservative views towards society and sexuality.
These views have tended to permeate the education system of America. For the most part, the humanities take the back seat to subjects which aim at giving students skills that can be directly used in the professional world, with less emphasis on the theoretical background behind the knowledge being imparted. Religions has remained for the most part conservative and this mindset has left a great number of Americans unwilling to question Church doctrine. It is transmitted, but they do not have the reflex of critical thought, no little of the history of their church or the philosophy underlying its theology, and don't really care. To Europeans, American religion often looks as a caricature, and they wonder in amazement how educated adults can believe such things, but the simple truth is America simply does not value culture for its own sake, like Europeans do: They are technically and business oriented.
The American economic system, which is far more capitalist than in Europe, has also lead to more wide-encompassing social inequalities. In some parts, the schooling system is grossly inadequate and large parts of the population, despite the richness of the country, remain functionnaly illiterate. This, of course, greatly contributes to archaic religious models.

Answer 3

Not many more societies have been as tolerant as the United States with our constitutional guarantee for freedom of religion. Psychics and fortune tellers are bad but not as bad as preachers masquerading as preachers of the gospel when they are really con men trying to make a fortune. The biggest scam I see is the "health and wealth" scam where the preacher tells people that they will be financially blessed and healed of diseases if they give money to his church.

Answer 4

You haven't heard about the new trend sweeping across africa lately, have you. Seems American Televangelists are going there and holding huge tent revival meetings all across africa, and millions of africans are falling for it, EVEN when these "preachers" show up riding in limos and clearly dripping money from everywhere, while the africans they are preaching to don't even have shoes to wear.

So....I think that it's possible that Americans have finally, for the most part, stopped being quite so vulnerable to these idiots, and they have had to go find fresh victims elsewhere.

Answer 5

its not just the USA...its everywhere...people pay money to TV preachers and psychics and fortune tellers mostly because they are searching for something that man cannot give them ..such as, they may be grieving for a dead loved one and want so much to see them again, so people take advantage of them because of greed..also the elderly are often taken advantage of by TV religions who pry on their sympathy to so called help others when really they are just making the TV people money..the bible tells us at 2 Timothy 3:1-5 that these are the way people will act in the last days of this wicked world..it makes me upset to see these things happen and I'm thankful to Jehovah God that I have Bible knowledge to try and help others to see dead loved ones again and not be taken advantage of by greedy, dishonest people

Answer 6

Dunno what country you're in but Hillsong Church in Australia is scamming pretty well and have opened a church in the UK now. Peter Vardy, a Brit billionaire, is funding rightwing "faith schools" across the UK, so I think the conmen are doing pretty well. Toss in NZ's Exclusive Bretheren.

The states, where I live, seems to be coming out of its latest period of irrationality. I'm hoping, as the bestseller lists have been dominated by atheists this year.

Answer 7

When Mr. Barnum said, "There is a sucker born every minute" I think he was referring to the sound we make when we inhale not to where we come from.

Answer 8

In America critical thinking and skepticism are literally viewed as bad traits.

Answer 9

um, where are you??