University of Virginia Library

The Electronic Churches

In recent years the electronic church has become a source of great controversy. The initial critics, largely mainline Protestant leaders, charged that the electronic church constitutes a threat to local congregations. The television preachers, critics argued, make it too easy for people to get their religion in the comfort of their living rooms. [1] The perceived threat of losing communicants from the pews and dollars from the offering plate has resulted in a barrage of wide-ranging attacks on the televangelists.

In 1979 a few of the syndicated televangelists began airing partisan political views on a wide range of issues. Jerry Falwell, for example, founded a political organization he called The Moral Majority, and James Robison accepted the vice-presidency of another religious-political organization, The Roundtable. This move of a handful of televangelists into the political arena resulted in additional volleys of criticism being hurled at the electronic churches. [2] Mainline Protestants, who had earlier perceived religious telecasting as a threat, were joined by large sectors of the Catholic and Jewish communities as well as by liberals in the secular society who feared the mixing of evangelical zeal and right-wing politics.

Neither of these controversies is likely to dissipate in the near future. During the current decade, it appears quite likely that we will witness yet a third dimension of the electronic church controversy the utilization of the airwaves to develop both new denominations and possibly new religlons.

The seeds of both new denominations and new religious movements are already apparent in existing religious programming. Why this is so can be more easily grasped if one understands (1) how the electronic church developed. (2) who largely controls it and why, and (3) why it has been

so phenomenally successful during the past decade. The first objective of this chapter will be to establish these linkages. Having accomplished this task, the paper will then analyze why and how new denominations and new religions will be likely to emerge.

To anticipate the first task to be accomplished, let us note that there exists an almost inexorable relationship between the way in which the electronic church developed and the people who control it, which ties in with the reasons why they have been successful. First, the electronic church was made possible by rapidly expanding technologies that have revolutionized communication possibilities. At the center of this communications revolution is the computer, the utilization of which is obviously not denied to other religious organizations.

The electronic church is utilized and controlled predominantly by evangelical Christians because the logic and imperatives of the technology are compatible with their theological stance toward proselytization. The more reserved orientation toward proselytization on the part of the mainline Protestant churches, as well as their somewhat more complex theology, places serious restrictions on their ability to engage in the "market model" [3] implicit in the electronic church.

Finally, the phenomenal success of the electronic church during this past decade is, in part, a function of the intelligent application of the available technology. But more importantly is the drift some would say stampede of American culture towards conservatism. Dean Kelley's perspective analysis of why conservative churches are growing is correct in the identification of "certainty," "ultimate answers" and "meaning" as central to the evangelical success formula.[4] These components are central also to the success formula developed by the televangelists.

Stages of Growth

The growth and expansion of the electronic church parallel the development of all modern electronic communication. Historically. there have been three crucial communications revolutions: the invention of writing, the invention of movable type, and the advent of electronic communication, which is barely 100 years old, dating from the invention of the telephone. The development of the electronic church has been affected by three distinct generational phases of electronic communications. The first begins with the birth of the radio. The first voice was transmitted by radio in 1906,[5] and Congress acted in 1912 to establish licensing procedures. The inauguration of programmed professional radio broadcasting dates only to 1920 in Pittsburgh and the church was there almost from the beginning. Within a month of regular broadcasting, radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh carried a live broadcast from Calvary Episcopal Church. Radio exploded in America in the 1920s. Within five years there were over six hundred stations. Fully ten percent of these stations were owned by religious organizations, and most engaged in some religious broadcasting.[6]

The second generation of electronic communication emerged with television during the 1950s. By the end of that decade nine of every ten households possessed at least one TV set. The technology and cost of television initially required a much greater centralization of broadcasting than was the case with radio. This meant a much narrower selection of programming. Nevertheless, religious telecasting was available almost from the beginning of this marvelous medium. Its first star was Fulton Sheen, the Catholic bishop with a twinkle in his eye. an impeccable delivery and an angel to clean his chalkboard.[7]

But evangelicals, who eventually would dominate television airwaves. early recognized the potential of this medium.[8] In 1952 when Rex Humbard spotted a crowd gathered at the window of a department store in Akron to

watch this marvelous new gadget called a television set, he knew immediately he had to put it to work broadcasting the gospel. He left his family of itinerant tent preachers and settled down in Akron so that he could start a television program. Oral Roberts brought the cameras into his gospel tent in the mid-50s. At about the same time, a young man named Jerry Falwell founded a Baptist church in an abandoned soft drink bottling plant in Lynchburg, Virginia. Long before he had any dreams of developing a nationwide ministry, he used television to build a 17,000 member congregation.

The third phase of electronic communications is not so easily dated. In some respects it can be considered an integral part of electronic ministries from the outset.[9] In another sense, the sophistication of the communication techniques, based on computer technology which permits rapid storage and retrieval of information, is so vastly improved as to represent a qualitative rather than a quantitative advance. Also critical to this third generation of electronic communication is the creation of feedback loops which permit direct communication between those who utilize the air-waves and their audiences.

From fairly early in radio broadcasting, many religious programs were financially dependent for survival on listening audiences. The most common and probably most successful technique to encourage listener support was to offer free printed materials (at times these were available for sale or for a "love offering"), and to compile a mailing list of names of those who responded. For the most part, early electronic preachers knew little about the audiences they were dependent upon for contributions. This remained essentially true well into the 1960s.[10]

The first revolutionary breakthrough in communicating with audiences was pioneered by Pat Robertson on WYAHTV in Portsmouth, Virginia. Telephone lines installed to receive pledges during a 1963 telethon to keep the tiny station on the air were transformed into prayer lines. In

1980, Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network handled 1.9 million calls requesting prayer and counseling.Twentyfour hour prayer and counseling lines have become an integral part of many of the electronic churches.

In its development, the electronic church is first of all a manifestation of a rapidly expanding technology which has revolutionized all communication. At the core of the revolution is the computer, with its continually accelerating speed of operation and a sharply declining per-unit cost. Without the computer, the modern telephone centers operated by Robertson, Jim Bakker and others would not be possible. And without the parapersonal services performed by volunteer counselors, it is doubtful that these electronic church enterprises could long operate in the black. Persons who call for prayer or counseling make up an important part of the mailing lists the electronic churches use to solicit money.

Again computer technology is at the heart of fundraising. The mailing lists of contributors and potential contributors of the major electronic church operations number quite literally in the millions. The practical value of the computer is that it allows the preachers to mount giant direct-mail campaigns, sending out millions of fundraising letters as if passing one huge collection plate. By concentrating on the names and addresses of those who pay off, they can work on upgrading the size of contributions while simultaneously reducing the overall costs of fundraising.

This technology is applied widely in voluntary associations, business, government and politics. Unlike the original undifferentiated mailing lists, the new systems are such that a substantial amount of information about the people behind the names and addresses can now be compiled. This information can be stored, sorted and retrieved with lightning speed at nominal cost. In the specialized trade of direct mail, promoters constantly test different sales "pitches," different words and themes, to sell anything from coins and lingerie to politicians and magazines. The professionals gath-

er once a year to distribute Golden Mailbox awards to the most successful marketeers. They can compare one sales pitch with another down to a thousandth of a percentage point of response.

The televangelists have yet to recognize the precision of such testing. To date they have largely adapted direct-mail technology to their own needs. Given a little more time and experience it is inevitable that they will become much more sophisticated. This greater sophistication will permit them both to better meet the needs of those in their audiences who write or call for help and to target fundraising appeals that meet their greatest vulnerabilities. Promoters of the electronic church encourage their listeners and viewers to write or call and share their problems and needs. Out of these pleas for help, the televangelists are building monumental data banks on the most intimate personal problems mentioned by the millions who phone or write.

Promoters and Proselytizers

Even the most casual observer will note that the religious airwaves are dominated by evangelicals, and that this is not accidental. Both the market economy and this technology are compatible with evangelical Christians' theological stance toward proselytizing. For better or worse, air time in our society is seldom available free of charge, and generally, the larger the audience one wishes to reach, the more it costs. Because utilization of the airwaves means participation in the free enterprise market, those who do so are overwhelmingly the ones who have something to sell. [11]

Evangelicals fit this criterion rather well, for they take literally Christ's command to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). The airwaves have opened up, as never before, the possibility of spreading the Good News from sea to sea and around the globe. The basic question is: How are they to pay? And the answer is not difficult to find. While spreading the gospel,

they encourage those who are already saved, or who have benefited from this electronic ministry, to contribute to the continuation of the good work.

Their success in raising money over the air is nothing short of phenomenal. At least a half-dozen of the major television ministries have operating budgets exceeding $50 million annually. A little simple arithmetic puts these large sums of money in perspective. All of the televangelists attempt to enroll viewers as regular contributors. By pledging a modest figure, usually $15 per month, you can become a "faith partner," "prayer key family member," "700 Club member," or whatever. A person who faithfully meets this pledge contributes $180 annually. But chances are that those who do this will also respond at least once during the year to one of the many special appeals made both on the air and via direct mail. Let us say they contribute, on average, an additional $20 for a total annual contribution of $Z00. At that rate, it takes only five thousand regulars to send in a million dollars. A quarter-of-a-million regulars, thus, could produce the $50 million budget. A fact sheet released by CBN in 1981 claimed 285,000 members of The 700 Club who donate $15 per month or more plus an additional 175000 persons who have donated.

To enlist this many people, one has to reach a fairly large proportion of regular viewers. The evangelicals know how to do this. They go directly to the heartstrings. Get right with God. Get right with your loved ones. Get right with yourself. However the appeal is made, it is almost always emotionally charged. Obviously, it works. The evidence, however, suggests that many of their contributors do not stay with them long. Those who do can be counted on, with a little prodding, to increase their annual contributions.

What we see is a confluence of theological orientation toward proselytization and an organization of broadcast media which works to the benefit of evangelicals but against other religious groups. Communications specialists from Prot

estant and Catholic churches were warned by psychologist Liebert that the conflict over the electronic church "has every hallmark of an intensifying war of survival among battling Christian groups." [12] Evangelicals because they believe they are being faithful to the great commandment to preach the gospel to all the world, have no difficulty using gimmicks and strong emotional appeals to raise the money to keep their programs on the air.

This is not the case with the mainline Protestant and Catholic traditions. First of all, they have a rather more sedate concept of evangelism, witness and Christ's commandment to spread the Good News. Furthermore, their tastes in worship do not appeal to the masses who think that Bach is a beer and Haydn used to be the quarterback of the Rams. Finally, the very thought of using the techniques required to raise money over the airwaves is simply repugnant to elites in the mainline traditions.

As a result, disgruntled mainliners remain on the sidelines complaining about the cheap grace and the dangerous political messages of the televangelists. In the meantime, the number of evangelicals who are getting in on the action is growing phenomenally. In 1980, the number of syndicated religious programs grew from sixty-six to ninety- seven. Whether the televangelists will be able to sustain their marvelous gospel spreading machines in the face of this much competition remains to be seen. The free enterprise system, which they all support, could be the very source of their financial collapse as they outbid one another for the most lucrative air times.

The million-dollar-a-week habit of the televangelists plus the increasing competition is likely to get some of them into financial trouble. While a few may go under, the electronic church will survive. The reason why this is so can best be understood by coming to grips with the persistence and significance of evangelical faith in American culture. When T. George Harris wrote "Our intellectuals are out to

lunch...as unaware of religion's danger as its hope,"[13] he must certainly have been thinking also of pious liberals, religious and secular, who continue to treat evangelical religion as though it were an archaic religious form, peculiarly persistent in some regions of the country, but not a significant factor in American culture.

George Gallup declared 1976 "the year of the evangelical," but what that date really symbolized was the nonevangelicals' discovery that this sector of American society. Previously presumed to be an insignificant fringe, was in fact very large. Perhaps it was also a turning point for evangelicals when they found that their world view was shared by a far larger proportion of American society than they had previously imagined.

It was the presence of this very large evangelical population which made the rapid expansion of the electronic church possible in the first place. To see the potential of the electronic church, we need to grasp the social context in which it grew and flourished. However unpopular the concept, resulting from its use by an unpopular president, "malaise" is an appropriate term to capture the American experience dating roughly from the assassination of John F. Kennedy. We have lost our leaders. We lost a war which tore us apart at home. We lost confidence in business and government. A president once admired by millions left office in disgrace. Inflation soars. Energy is scarce. International tensions mount one upon another. And for many who were over thirty during the sixties, the radical changes in young people's values and lifestyles underscored the loss of a taken-for-granted morality that was once as integral to American culture as baseball, popcorn and Chevrolet.

All of this bad news is so much the harder to take because television brings all the blood and guts and gore and hate and civil strife into the private sanctuary of our homes. And in addition to broadcasting the news, television magnifies the bad news by creating crime series and produc-

ing dramas that seem to condone lifestyles and language which affront the old values. It should have come as no surprise to learn that religious broadcasting would appeal to a segment of society angered and frustrated by all that has happened to disrupt their simpler and more tranquil world. And if one had understood how parapersonal communications and direct-mail technology could be combined to raise big money, one could have foreseen the growth in the electronic church that took place in the 1970s. But what can we expect of the electric church in the future?[14]

The Drive to Success

The electronic churches appear to be driven by two axiomatic principles. The first is that the television ministries themselves prosper in direct proportion to the boldness of their ancillary building projects. Oral Roberts built a university and is now endeavoring to complete a mammoth health care complex which includes a medical school. Jerry Falwell has launched a college he hopes will eventually become a university with 50,000 students. Pat Robertson is building a broadcasting network and a university. Jim Bakker's Heritage U.S.A. is a "total living center." Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral is a stunning architectural achievement.

The second axiom governing the television ministries is that they are most successful financially when they are, or appear to be, on the brink of financial disaster. The more they can persuade their audiences that they really are about to go bankrupt, the more the money flows into their mail rooms.

Professional money raisers feel they have a pretty good handle on the psychological dynamics of giving. Crises and bricks-and-mortar projects provide the best opportunity to tap the philanthropic instinct. People deserve a helping hand in their hour of great need especially those who are doing the Lord's work. If responding to crises is pure altruism. the bricks-and-mortar projects provide the opportunity to

contribute to something that will endure beyond one's own mortal presence on this earth. Those who contributed to the Crystal Cathedral could feel they were buying a little piece of immortality. Jimmy Swaggart; the latest of the televangelists to launch a major building project, offered his followers the opportunity to claim a square foot of his World Ministry Center for $50 or, for $500, one could be listed in the ''Living Stone Honor Book." Jim Bakker, who cries on camera to punctuate the seriousness of his recurring financial crises, recently encouraged his followers to claim an acre of Heritage U.S.A. for a gift of $1,000 and help pay off the overdue mortgage. If you came to Charlotte, you could present your check to Jim in front of the PTL Club television audience.

If crises, real or contrived, and buckling projects are successful means for raising money, both have inherent dangers. Crises. Iike drug habits, have the tendency of requiring larger and larger doses to get a fix. Furthermore. there may be a limit to the number of times a televangelist can plead crisis before his loyalist followers begin to question the credibility of the claim. The propensity of the televangelists to equate their dreams to God's will, and their childlike trust that the almighty will deliver the bucks to pay for their projects, no matter how ambitious, portends a disastrous conclusion someday. That there are now more televangelists themselves competing for money from a total audience that has not increased appreciably in a half-dozen years may serve to hasten the day when one or more of the major ministries collapses.[15]

It is this precarious quality of the electronic churches that will eventually lead some of them into the franchising business. None of the televangelists has strong ties to a denominational body. Oral Roberts joined the Methodist Church some years back, but he is not subject to the discipline of that church body. Robert Schuller is a member of the Reformed Church of America, a point he remembers

when he wants to remind people that he is a mainline Protestant. Jim Bakker's following is substantially Assemblies of God folks, but Bakker's ministry has no denominational ties. And so it is with most of the others there are essentially no organizational constraints to hold them to an existing denomination.

One of the strongest arguments pointing to the inevitability of television ministers starting their own denominations is the fact that they are substantially dealing with a revolving door audience. Very often people get involved in watching religious programs during some personal crisis. The crisis having passed, they gradually drift away from the religious program(s) that brought them comfort. And as their viewing drops off, so also are they likely to drop the television minister from their list of charitable contributions. Viewed from an organizational perspective, this represents membership loss and obviously, financial loss.

Audiences Into Congregations

If only a small proportion of persons who give to a television ministry could be converted into members of a local church organized by the televangelists, a much more stable financial base could be built. Good programming. magazines, cassettes, prayer lines, etc., all serve to reinforce commitment to the television ministries, but none of these services can be as effective in sustaining organizational commitment as regular face-to-face contact. Organizing audiences into congregations, thus, would substantially reduce the high turnover rate of contributors. Controlled from the top down, local congregations could be developed with little or no drain on revenues flowing in to support the national television ministry. And. since the local churches effectively belong to the national organization, their central mission activity would be to support the television ministry and its ancillary projects.

Persons who write or call the national ministry would

form the initial pool for recruitment of members. A skillful blending of communications technology and face-to-face recruiting techniques developed by groups like the Mormons could result in rapid church development. The televangelists and their local organizers could expect to receive a good bit of criticism for "robbing'' the pews of other churches, but member "snatching" has been going on for a long time among proselytizing evangelicals. Furthermore, it is likely that recruiting would be most successful among persons who were dissatisfied with their present church affiliation and, hence, had sharply reduced their level of participation.

It is precisely because the audiences of the televangelists are constantly changing that television presents tremendous possibilities for building local congregations. In addition to the millions of churchgoing evangelicals who view religious television programs, there are literally tens of millions of unaffiliated but nominally believing Christians the unchurched as shown by the 1978 Gallup study.[16] The potential pool of recruits, thus, is vast.

Research evidence indicates that door-to- door proselytizing is not a very effective way to recruit new members. But the disciples of televangelists could use this face-to-face contact to leave literature both about the local congregation and the television ministry. This kind of contact could produce multiple opportunities for follow-ups which do not exist when people say "no" to a doorknocker's invitation to enter their home for the purpose of proselytizing. The person contacted may decide to watch the television program this is certainly much less threatening than allowing strangers into one's home. And having taken this step, one may then call or write or request prayer or materials offered on the program. And, eventually, the person who was turned away at the door may be invited back.

In short, the television ministries are faced with the serious need to develop a solid base of ongoing support. Founding the local congregations from the ranks of their

television audiences provides an important channel for the accomplishment of this objective. The relative ease and limited cost of developing local churches, plus the potential rewards, will prove too tempting to pass up.

Some of the television ministries are better positioned than others to go into the franchising business. Perhaps best positioned to move in this direction is Jerry Falwell. [17] For all intents and purposes he already has the organizational structure in place. In addition to Liberty Baptist College, Falwell also founded and operates Liberty Baptist Seminary. It currently enrolls 170 students and Falwell claims that his seminary graduates have already started 200 new independent Baptist churches. Among his many ambitious goals for the current decade is the establishment of 5,000 new churches. Falwell denies any interest in founding a new denomination. To date, the new churches have no formal ties although some have taken the name Liberty Baptist. Falwell has great personal charisma and his students are intensely loyal to him. Were Falwell inclined, it would take little effort to transform independent Baptists into Falwellian Baptists.

Pat Robertson has in place a different kind of structure that could be transformed into the local congregations. The Christian Broadcasting Network maintains prayer and counseling centers in eighty-three cities in America. Many of the 10,000 volunteer counselors could be transformed into cadres of local congregations. And, the fact that counselors are usually only minutes away from those who call for prayers or help greatly facilitates the opportunities for face-to-face contact. [18] And, in this context, where people have voluntarily sought help, the probability of transforming contacts into converts is considerable.

Twenty-nine of CBN's prayer and counseling centers are full-time, 24-hour-a-day operations. Excluding Virginia Beach, the headquarters which receives calls nationwide. the average number of calls per month in early 1981 was almost 2,000. These roughly 25,000 calls a year could go a

long way toward building a local church. Robertson does not yet have a seminary as part of CBN University, but he is a very resourceful man. Staffing local congregations, should he decide to go that route, would not create a great problem. If other televangelists are not as ideally organized to create new denominations as Falwell and Robertson, they still possess considerable resources to build churches that would owe allegiance to them.

One has to ask the question, of course, why have not the electronic churches already put their considerable resources to work to build new denominations. There are at least two important reasons. First, the electronic ministries are still very young. They have been too busy getting where they are now to have had time to mobilize resources to create local congregations. Only now have they developed national audiences and an organizational base to launch such a bold undertaking.

A second kind of response is that there is a significant psychological barrier. On the one hand there is a moral hesitancy. Almost all of the televangelists have repeatedly claimed that they provide a support and supplementary ministry to the local congregation not competition or an alternative. It requires some mental gymnastics to begin deliberately to establish local churches while simultaneously denying that one is in competition with other local churches. The other source of hesitancy is motivated sheerly by an economic consideration. If they went about the business of organizing local congregations, would they alienate loyal viewers and financial supporters who are active in local congregations?

My own judgment is that neither moral hesitancy nor fear of economic reprisals will constitute serious barriers to organizing local congregations once the televangelists see the advantages and build the foundation to launch new church projects. Their rationale, of course. will be that they are filling a need unmet by others. Their experience in refer

ring new converts to local congregations, they will argue, was too often unsuccessful because the local church failed to adequately shepherd the newly won souls.

The New Electronic Religion

If the cathode tube provides a powerful medium for creating new denominations in America, what of its potential to spawn new religions? The line that separates new religions from sectarian splits can be ambiguous. Whenever the group in question is socially visible, resolution of ambiguity is a political process. The Unification Church sees itself as an extension of the Christian faith, its leader being the recipient of special revelation and, perhaps, a special mission. The National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S., supporting the generally negative reactions of America to Reverend Moon and his followers, has denounced the Unification Church's claim to being Christian and its application for membership. [19] The teachings of Jim Jones, leader of the People's Temple, moved well beyond even a remote resemblance to the Christian faith long before the tragedy that took 900 1ives in Guyana. Still, in spite of the negative publicity People's Temple received in the Bay Area, the status of the group as a congregation in good standing with the Disciples of Christ was not challenged.[20] By any criteria, the teachings of Sun Myung Moon are closer to the core of Christian theology than the teachings of Jim Jones. Yet, the former's claim to Christian heritage is denied while the theological teachings of the latter remain largely unexplored.

If by a new religion in America we mean a faith which is generally perceived by political consensus not to be spiritually kin to one of the Protestant, Catholic or Jewish traditions, the prospect for creating new religions via the use of telecasting is fairly remote. Without being perceived as Christian (or Jewish) it would be extremely difficult to attract a aufficiently large and sympathetic audience to raise the monies required to pay for air time. Furthermore,

any visible group that is perceived to be a "new" religion could be expected to be harassed by media and various government watchdogs alike. Hence, television would seem an unlikely medium to build a following for a group perceived to be new.

On the other hand, it is quite conceivable that a television minister, perceived to be in the Christian tradition, could gradually evolve principles or teachings which, again by political consensus, move so far beyond the range of accepted that they are defined as "new." To illustrate, let's look at a real case and project hypothetical developments.

Robert Schuller calls his theology "possibility thinking." He acknowledges debt to Norman Vincent Peale who wrote and preached about the "power of positive thinking." Both men steadfastly claim that the principles they teach are firmly anchored in the Christian faith. Let us assume that somewhere down the line Schuller begins to preach that sin is negative thought and original sin is self-doubt. Furthermore, let us assume he goes a step further and argues that many of the teachings of the Old and New Testament are antiquated myths that need to be jettisoned in light of knowledge about man gained by scientific methods. Would Schuller have overstepped the boundaries of Christian theology to create a new religion? Certainly many would think so. We need not project the scenario to see how others would respond in order to make the point that television ministers, because they tend to be charismatic and have large followings, have the potential to reshape religious doctrine perhaps even to the point of creating new religions.

The central argument developed in this paper is that the electronic churches have moved beyond a role that might be described as ancillary or supportive to the local congregations. While existing evidence does not support the widely held assumption that the televangelists are succeeding to the detriment of the local congregation, there is clearly a structural basis for competition for scarce financial

resources. It is argued here that growing competition among the televangelists themselves will almost certainly lead some of them to seek a solid base of support by establishing local congregations. This development most certainly will result in protracted conflict both with local churches and denominations most directly competitive theologically. Finally, it is suggested that the electronic churches have the potential to create new religions by evolving theologies that move outside the boundaries of existing groups. The potential for new religious groups to use the television airwaves to proselytize, however, is quite limited.

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