> Over time, successive economists slid into the role we had removed from the churchmen: giving us guidance on how to reach a promised land of material abundance and endless contentment.
I don't think the author understands Christianity at all.
Depending on where you live, stuff like prosperity gospel is both mainstream and dominant, especially if you aren't associated with a less extroverted church that doesn't use modern marketing.
This modern religious thing that you see is weird to me. I spent most of my childhood going to an urban Franciscan catholic parish. Those guys took charity seriously and would have sold off the pews except that they didn't actually own the church building they were in.
I don't think the author understands Christianity at all.