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HADDEN & SHUPE, supra note 34, at 51.

Report by the Communications Committee of the U.S. Catholic Conference, in PETER G. HORSFIELD, RELIGIOUS TELEVISION: THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE 89 (1984).

The Networks produced their sustaining-time religious programs for more than a decade, but with the lure of big bucks from the syndicated televangelists, local affiliates elected not to run the network productions.

MURCH, supra note 33, at 179.

Personal interview, May 17, 1991. I did not sense the former commissioner meant this literally, but, rather, intended to emphasize the fact that religious broadcasters are sophisticated lobbyists.

The office of the Assistant General Secretary for Communications of the Nation Council of Churches has been the focal point of the counterattack.

William F. Fore, until recently the assistant general secretary for communications of the National Council of Churches, is the most important spokesperson for this argument. For an introduction to this perspective, see WILLIAM F. FORE. TELEVISION AND RELIGION. (1987).

This thesis can be pursued in many possible directions. For example, when Marvin Gorman, an Assemblies of God minister, began to develop a significant television ministry in Louisiana, Jimmy Swaggart brought charges of sexual misconduct before the Assemblies of God. Gorman was defrocked and subsequently lost his New Orleans church and television ministry. Swaggart subsequently threatened to bring Jim Bakker's sexual improprieties before the Assembly of God. When this became public knowledge, Swaggart denied that he had his eye on the PTL Network. Jerry Falwell similarly denied that his motivation for taking over PTL had anything to do with acquiring a network for his own broadcasting ambitions. The truth of the "economic motivation" thesis will probably never be proven. For some of the best investigative research on this thesis see Charles E. Shepard. Forgiven (1989); LARRY MARTZ, MINISTRY OF GREED. (1988).