Religion: That T-Bone Religion

No other country quite matches the U.S. in the razzle-dazzle, freewheeling preaching of its religious pitchmen, and perhaps none of those preacher-salesmen is more bizarre than the Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known as "Reverend Ike." One trait especially distinguishes Ike from the others: his clear-eyed, unabashed love of money and other things material. TIME Correspondent Timothy Tyler heard that note loud and clear as he recently followed Reverend Ike from Los Angeles to Houston. Tyler's report:

Eyes shut, up on stage, Reverend Ike is having a vision: "I see myself . ....

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