Spreading the Message: The Nature and Paradox of Christian Broadcasting :: Essays Papers

Spreading the Message: The Nature and Paradox of Christian Broadcasting Sit down on any given Sunday morning, turn on your TV, and you are bound to happen upon a religious program of some sort. It was the 1980’s that saw the powerful phenomenon of the religious broadcast emerge. No longer were game shows, soap opera’s, and Billboard Top 20 the biggest draw to the family television set and radio, but rather Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell. With their joyful church choirs, clean-pressed preacher suits, and booming messages of hope, protection, and salvation, religious broadcasts of church-services, evangelism rallies, and other such events and programs became popular and powerful television and radio fare. Over 130 million people were drawn to their radio and television sets, which together reached more people than all of the nation’s churches combined. This phenomenon continues today into the 21st Century, as the religious broadcast has come to find its staple and permanent place in both the consciousness and the home. The relationship between broadcasting and religion has become increasingly complex, and many books have been written on the subject. Media scholars such as Peter G. Horsfield and Quentin Schultze have dedicated their lives and careers to researching and understanding the religious broadcasting phenomenon, and there are other innumerable supporters and critics. While I am personally largely supportive of religious broadcasting, there are some specific points and relationships with which I have come to be concerned about. In this essay I shall focus on the relationship between the religious television show and its presentation, both aesthetic and suggestive. From there I will also be asking some questions, such as, what is the nature of the religious broadcast in light of and in comparison to secular television? How does the entertainment factor affect the viewers experience and understanding? What secular connotations are suggested through religious broadcasting, and how do they affe ct the viewer’s religious experience? These questions and other will be addressed as I delve into the complexity that is religious television. Many scholars, theorists, and clergymen are positive and optimistic about the current importance of religious broadcasting and what the future holds for this type of media. Religious broadcasting involves a new approach to a problem as old as the Bible, in that it is the revolutionary way in which to introduce un-reached individuals to the messages of redemption, hope, and salvation generously offered by a loving God.