Abstract
The end of the policy of networks giving free broadcast time to 'mainstream' religious denomination--Catholics, Lutheran, Baptists, etc--has led to radical changes in religious broadcasting in the United States. The organized churches have almost disappeared from most TV channels, while the so-called 'televangelists'--non-demoninational preachers who finance their broadcast by appeals to their viewers--have purchased time on local stations and the networks, as well as vigorously exploiting cable. Some observers even feel that televangelists have become the chief spokespersons for the 'religious viewpoint' in America.
Televangelism has begun to spread outside the United States, to Europe, Latin America, Africa and East Asia. Its identification with fundamentalism and Pentecostalism raises, in some places, the spectre of an alliance between conservative religion and reactionary political forces.
Secular researcher5s are concerned with the political implications of televangelism and with what it can tell us about the processes of media communication in general. Researchers in the mainstream denominations are asking, 'What are the televangelists doing right?' and 'What are our own communicators doing wrong?' Both are interested in the accuracy with which the efforts of the televangelists have been evaluated.
In this issue of Trends we shall look at some of this research, to see what it reveals about the television medium, in general, and about its used for religious purposes, in particular.
Recommended Citation
Biernatzki, William E. S.J.
(1991)
"Televangelism and the Religious Uses of Television,"
Communication Research Trends: Vol. 11:
No.
1, Article 1.
Available at:
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/crt/vol11/iss1/1