Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner.

In full view of his television audience, he preached a new religion -- or a new form of Christianity -- based on faith in financial miracles and in a Heaven here on earth with a water slide and luxury hotels. It was a religion of celebrity and showmanship and fun, which made a mockery of all puritanical standards and all canons of good taste. Its standard was excess, and its doctrines were tolerance and freedom from accountability.

The salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world.