Did Christianity cause the market meltdown? Probably not completely but according to Hanna Rosin at The Atlantic, it fueled the housing bubble that created the crash.

In her piece, Rosin talks about a different strain of Christian faith which has has grown in popularity, one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now. It's called the prosperity gospel, and fosters risk-taking and intense material optimism. And unfortunately, that contributed to the housing bubble.

Rosin writes: "Many explanations have been offered for the housing bubble and subsequent crash: interest rates were too low; regulation failed; rising real-estate prices induced a sort of temporary insanity in America’s middle class. But there is one explanation that speaks to a lasting and fundamental shift in American culture—a shift in the American conception of divine Providence and its relationship to wealth."

She says that the growth of the prosperity gospel tracks the foreclosure hot spots, populated by the exurban middle class and the urban poor. All inhabit neighborhoods that have been decimated by foreclosures.

It's a striking argument worth exploring further. But if Rosin is right, it means that America will inevitably head into another bubble because religious views are so hard to shift. And that should be a concern for economic policy makers.