For the Truthometer assignment I chose to investigate a news article from Alternet.com titled, “Trump ‘Spiritual Advisor’ Tells Followers to Skip Paying Monthly Electric Bills So They Can Send Her Church More Cash”. As soon as I read the headline I could not help but think, ooooo this’ll be fun! So off I began on my fact-checking journey.
Before skimming through the article, I first checked AllSides.com to identify the bias of the Alternet website. Not surprisingly, the verdict was far-left. The next step was using fact-checking databases to see if the article had already been investigated. I did this by typing the article title. This search led to zero direct matches on Snopes and Politifact. However when I used the same two databases to search just “Paula White”, there were a few previously checked statements on Snopes, one of which included January salaries. Titled, “Did Trump’s Spiritual Advisor Ask people to Send Her Their January?”, the rating was identified as “True”. Although it received this rating, it was based on a different claim since this fact check was performed on February 1, 2019 whereas the article I am fact checking was published on February 17, 2020.
I then revisited the Alternet article to find out more information. I quickly noticed there was an embedded link to a Mother Jones post that claimed, “Trump-loving preacher recently told followers at her Supernatural Ministry School in Miami that could secure God’s favor by sending her church as much money as possible—even if that meant skipping their monthly electric bill”. Before diving directly into the article, I decided to use Google to search “Paula White electric bill: -Alternet” to see if there were any reports of the same story. There were a few articles reporting on the same claim. I visited a few of them and it turned out all websites eventually led right back to Mother Jones.
At this point in the fact-check I quickly realized the importance of investigating Mother Jones since this was evidently the primary source these claims were based off of. So what is Mother Jones? According to Wikipedia, it’s a magazine based out of San Francisco that is known for its “liberal and progressive” views since 1976. To double-check the accuracy of this statement I checked the bias on AllSides. Wikipedia’s claim turned out to be true as AllSides also identified Mother Jones as a far-left institution. Wikipedia also stated Mother Jones has a total circulation of 203,251 since 2012.
After completing my Mother Jones investigation, it was now time to see what the article itself had to say. It was a long article that summed up some of White’s past, how she lead Trump to Christ in 2002, and how she has a history of offering blessings for a price-tag. After I read through the Mother Jones article, I decided to pay a visit to a post I discovered during my “Paula White electric bill: -Alternet” Google search.
In the midst of the Google search I located a Newsweek article, “Trump’s Spiritual Advisor Paula White Appeals to Christians to Give to the Church Before Paying Mortgages, Electric Bills”. This article contained, what I’d like to call, a hidden gem: a video of Paula White speaking to her congregation. In the footage White argues the importance of donating part of your paycheck to the church first in order to keep God first.
In the video White says, “Let’s just say I get paid a thousand dollars, and I pay my mortgage first, or I pay…FPO first instead of bringing the first ten [percent] to the house of God every week which is clearly instructed throughout the word of God, then what I’m saying is FPO I just made you chief”. Although still a controversial statement, it was a far cry from asking for the congregation to donate their entire paycheck to the church instead of paying their electric bills.
At this point I realized this video was evidently the primary source of the Mother Jones post. Upon watching the video I investigated where it was originally published and who the journalist was. It was shared on Twitter by a group called Right Wing Watch, and was originally published by Stephanie Mencimer, a journalist for Mother Jones. This is also the journalist responsible for the Mother Jones article I have been fact checking. Next I attempted to locate where this video clip came from. I searched “Paula White electric bill” on YouTube, however I only found opinionated newscast videos that again traced back to…you guessed it, Mother Jones. Since this search did not amount to much, I then decided to look into Stephanie Mencimer and Right Wing Watch.
My “Stephanie Mencimer” Google search led me to Washington Monthly where I discovered she had been “a Washington Monthly editor from 2000 to 2002”. It also satted Mencimer published a book titled “Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue”. In addition to that information, there were embedded links to other articles Mencimer published, including one titled “Was I Too Hard on the Mormons? Nope.”. The title of this article alone helped reiterate Menicimer’s far left beliefs, as she is clearly opposed to religion.
Next, I used Google to research more information on Right Wing Watch. This search led me to their official website rightwingwatch.org. At the very top of the homepage the website describes themselves “as a non-profit working hard every day to expose the Far-Right’s extreme and intolerant agenda”. I searched “Paula White 2020” on their website and a few articles popped up, however there were none from February 2020 discussing the electric bill controversy.
After completing my research I came to the conclusion Paula White’s claim was taken out of context after falling into the hands of a far-left journalist. It is highly controversial for White to offer her followers blessings for donations, especially if that requested donation is a specific amount. However, after watching the video clip of her preaching to her congregation it seemed she was delivering a sermon on keeping God first in your life, and make sure He is your biggest priority. In the video she also mentioned “people pay a tithe, but they pay it in left over”.
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