I visit the USA quite a lot and have to say I love the place. The natives may well speak our language in a manner somewhat strange to our English sensibilities and some of their mannerisms can be puzzling to us folk from the old country but that, for me at least, is part of the attraction.

Some things though throw me completely and none more so than early Sunday morning television. In the UK we don’t really do religion on television to any great extent but in the US (and in the South particularly) it is big business. You can surf the channels and find at least half a dozen stations featuring some evangelist whipping the crowds into a frenzy with his or her Christian rhetoric. A lot of it, with its dramatic presentation, seems quite uplifting and I can see that it could possibly help a lot of those taking part and maybe even a good proportion of those watching at home.

There is however a side that seems somewhat less than wholesome and one show I recently tuned into was called “Wisdom Keys” presented by a “preacher” called Dr Mike Murdock. Murdock along with his excitable and enthusiastic co-presenters constantly urged the viewers to telephone the show’s hotline and plant a $58 seed, preferably each month for a year (though you could give more if you wanted as a one off payment!). This seed was said to ensure a substantial harvest and promised that the giver would, in return for his or her donation, receive a gift from God which could and often would change their lives. Examples were given of Mr A. who within two weeks of “planting his seed” received a tax refund of $20,000 or Mrs B. who, “ten days after planting her $58 seed”, won the local lottery and so on.

It may well be that these were true stories but it struck me as rather unsavoury that these presenters, who every few minutes linked hands and prayed for their audience, were quite clearly preying (no pun intended) on the emotions of gullible, vulnerable, and desperate members of society. I wonder if anybody in authority has looked into the ultimate destination of those $58 seeds? I think they should.