When Watching Religious TV is Like Attending Church

Abstract

Particularly among Protestants, watching religiow television programs may substitute for going to church. Popular interest in religious television programming in the UnitedStates for the most part has focused on the possible political impact of the programming and the TV preachers-often symbolized by JerryFalwell, star of "The Old-Time Gospel Hour" and leader of the Moral Majority (4). The religious establishment has been concerned with a separate issue-the extent to which the TV preachers compete with local churches, in terms of church attendance and the source of income that implies. Ben Armstrong, in The Electric Church, contends that religious broadcasts complement, rather than compete with, local churches. But he acknowledges the fears of leaders of mainstream religious organizations, quoting William F. Fore of the National Council of Churches:What worries me is whether this electronic church is in fact pulling people away from the local church, whether it is substituting an anonymous and therefore undemanding commitment for the kind of person-to-person involvement and group commitment that is the essence of the local church (1).Although over the years a number of descriptive studies of the characteristics of the audience for religious programming have been conducted, theoretically based empirical evidence about the effects of

Televangelism as Institutional Apologia: The Religious Talk Show as Strategized Text

“…Research has examined the use of technology to enhance worship (Schultze, 2004), fundamentalist Christians' portrayal on network newscasts (Kerr, 2003), religiosity and Internet use (Armfield & Holbert, 2003), religiosity and mass media use (Armfield, 2003;Hoover & Clark, 2002), the degree of religiosity in religious programming (Abelman & Neuendorf, 1985), religion and the education of journalists (Gormly, 1999), the effect of digital environments on religious television stations (B. E. Schultz, 2000), adolescent religious identity (L. S. Clark, 2002), the depiction of women (Abelman, 1991), personalities and charisma (Frankl, 1988;Lewis, 1988;Pullum, 1990), the place of religion in media theory (Hoover & Venturelli, 1996), viewership (Abelman, 1987(Abelman, , 1988a(Abelman, , 1988b(Abelman, , 1989Korpi & Kim, 1986;Pettersson, 1986;Schultze, 1985;Wright, 1989), political objectives (Abelman & Pettey, 1988;Hadden & Frankl, 1987;Johnston, 1986), commercial television and religion (Ferré, 1985(Ferré, , 1990Wolff, 1995), thematic analysis (Abelman, 1990;Abelman & Neuendorf, 1987;Zagano, 1994), televangelism (Gaddy & Pritchard, 1985;Hadden, 1993;Prevos, 1990;Schultze, 1988), and public policy (Goldzwig, 1987). Although only a very brief sampling of the literature can be provided here, a richness of inquiry is apparent.…”

Tuning in the Spirit: Exposure to Types of Religious TV Programming among American Catholic Parishioners

“…Informational Needs: A Theory of Social Influence As we indicated earlier, Gaddy and Pritchard (1985) applied the theory of "informational needs" (Harris and McCombs 1975) to help explain variation in viewing religious TV programming. They did not, however, point out that this theory has its roots in a theory of religious influence promulgated by White (1968).…”

“…A recent secondary analysis related to the impact of television ministry on congregants has provided some support for this hypothesis, indicating that those who are either most positively or most negatively influenced by the electronic church are most involved in the life of the congregation (Johnson 1988). Although Gaddy and Pritchard (1985) explicitly tested the functional substitution hypothesis, their regression analyses did not provide an effective test of the informational needs hypothesis.2 Tamney and Johnson (1984) have provided more extensive and appropriate tests of other explanations for frequency of viewing. In general, they have found statistically significant, positive relationships between age, frequency of prayer, a measure of conservative socio-political attitudes (the "Christian Right Index"), and Protestant religious orientation and viewing.…”

Religious television

“…Although there has yet to be much support for the longstanding concern that the electronic church has usurped congregational attendance and financial contribution in the living church (Fore, 1979;Gaddy & Pritchard, 1985), it is the ritualized viewer that is most likely to fulfill that expectation. These viewers of religious television are attracted by the presentation of religious services and sermons in a convenient and entertaining manner.…”

“…The viewers are typically older, poorer, less educated, and more likely to be blue-collar than the average American television viewer. They are also more likely to be religious and church members, to participate in other religious activities, to be Protestant and evangelical, and to be more conservative in a wide range of religious beliefs, values, and attitudes (Gaddy & Pritchard, 1985).…”