Stations Of The Cross

June 21, 2005 6:05 AM

Stations Of The Cross,a piece on "faith-based" news outlets from the May/June Columbia Journalism Review: "In recent months, evangelical broadcasters have dedicated program after program to bemoaning 'judicial tyranny,' and urging audiences to agitate for the 'nuclear option' — changing Senate rules so Democrats can no longer filibuster and thereby block nominees they oppose....All the while, the dizzying blend of God, news, and politics that he [Pat Robertson] has crafted and honed was bouncing off satellites, winding through thousands of cable systems, rippling over the airwaves, and glowing on television screens across America." [Via HighSignal]
posted by jenleigh (26 comments total)

I'd like to advocate a slightly different nuclear option: nuking Pat Robertson from orbit.

It's the only way to be sure.
posted by Floach at 6:10 AM on June 21, 2005

God, news and politics. All three things are nauseating by themselves, combined they can only be a carnival of lies.

Anyone willing to get their news or advice about governmental affairs from Pat Robertson will hopefully be standing next to him when Floach lets one fly from orbit.

Religion is today, as it always has been in the past (imo), a tool to control the humble masses.
posted by a3matrix at 6:55 AM on June 21, 2005

So many juicy tidbits..

"Many evangelical programs and networks are, in fact, linked to conservative Christian political or legal organizations, which use broadcasts to help generate funding and mobilize their base supporters, who are tuning in en masse."

"The number of religious radio stations — the vast majority of which are evangelical — has grown by about 85 percent since 1998 alone. They now outnumber rock, classical, hip-hop, R&B, soul, and jazz stations combined."

"Some newscasts reported as fact her [T Schiavo] parents’ contested claim that she tried to utter the words “I want to live” before her feeding tube was pulled for the last time."

"They believe that the Jews’ return to Israel was biblically foreordained, and that Jewish control over Israel will trigger a cascade of apocalyptic events that will culminate in Christ’s second coming. Israel’s strength is vital to their own redemption."

"This approach tends to cast events that flow from controversial human choices as the natural and inevitable march of destiny. Prophecy-focused shows suggest that the war in Iraq was foretold in the Bible, for instance."

"“It [the war with Iraq] has nothing to do with oil. It has everything to do with that there’s 1.2 million Muslims that have been deceived by the false God Allah, and that the God of heaven, Jehovah, is now in the process of doing war if you will against that spirit to . . . break the power of deception so those people can be exposed to the gospel.”"

"Many evangelical networks and program producers are also tax-exempt nonprofits. But while most were careful not to endorse candidates by name, they openly pushed the Republican ticket in the run-up to the 2004 election."

Oy. I don't particularly like death metal but whenever I see the word christian, I can't help but hear it with that typical death metal throat rasping voice for some reason.
Thanks jenleigh, that was disturbing.
posted by peacay at 7:06 AM on June 21, 2005

Where can I hide from this?
posted by Jon-o at 9:36 AM on June 21, 2005

Faith-based news?
Let's cut off our testicles now , drink the Kool-aid and wait for the magic comet...or Jehovah, whatever, to come and take us away.
Religeon is most certainly a tool. And can be used to control people. But that is the question: what kind of tool is it to be? It should be here to serve us. Like the government. But too often it is abused.
Any system has its limits and becomes self-destructive if it becomes greater than the ends it was created to serve, whether it facilitates the understanding of (insert "God" concept or secular equivalent here) or as a way to put into action certain 'nice guy' values.
When service to a government becomes greater than the will of the people behind it, it is called tyrrany. When this happens to religeon, it is most certainly a cult.
The apprehension and understanding of reality should not be limited by any tool no matter how useful. We may certainly disagree from perspective, but disagreement over which tool we use to apprehend that reality, particularly as the sole tool, is similar to arguing over whether russian roulette with guns is better than russian roulette with poisons. As silly and as deadly.
posted by Smedleyman at 9:38 AM on June 21, 2005

cut off your OWN testicles and just leave me the heck out of it!
darn...that was close!
posted by HuronBob at 9:51 AM on June 21, 2005

Where can I hide from this?
posted by Jon-o

the 7th level of hell.
posted by nola at 10:18 AM on June 21, 2005

Saw this in an article about faith based radio
"WRCM and its sister station, WMHK in Columbia, also were dropped by James Dobson's Focus on the Family after the two stations reserved the right not to air certain segments. The stations had expressed concerns about the partisan tone of some of Dobson's broadcasts." LINK
posted by surplus at 10:47 AM on June 21, 2005

I liked it when Senator Tom Harkin (D) called Dr. James Dobson a member of the "Christian Taliban". I dunno why the Christian Coalition didn't like it so much.
posted by surplus at 10:56 AM on June 21, 2005

Clearly, Christians should be prohibited from having radios stations.
posted by dios at 11:14 AM on June 21, 2005

Conservative media is just as fair game for bashing as liberal media.

/playing nicely gets you nowhere
posted by PsychoKick at 12:46 PM on June 21, 2005

Clearly, Christians should be prohibited from having radios [sic] stations.

Clearly, no one's arguing for that, but don't let that stop you from trying to derail.
posted by joe lisboa at 1:07 PM on June 21, 2005

Clearly, strawmen should be barred from receiving communion.
posted by aaronetc at 1:15 PM on June 21, 2005

Clearly, no one's arguing for that

Eh? If there is an "argument" here, then it must be that Christians shouldn't be on the radio expressing their opinions.

Otherwise, the only other point could be that you just don't like what they are saying, which isn't an argument---it's an opinion.
posted by dios at 1:20 PM on June 21, 2005

And if the only point is to criticize the political views these people are espousing, than this is one pathetic thread and a double post to boot (since we have already established several hundred times that Christians are evil and hateful bastards).
posted by dios at 1:22 PM on June 21, 2005

everyone's out to get you, dios.
posted by mcsweetie at 1:31 PM on June 21, 2005

When the station espouses ugliness, it is only fair that the response is in kind.

So it has sown, and so shall it is reap.
posted by PsychoKick at 1:39 PM on June 21, 2005

... since we have already established several hundred times that Christians are evil and hateful bastards

Christ on a crutch! Project much? Did you bother to stop feeling persecuted long enough to read the link? This isn't about religious broadcasting content, dios. This is about the (blasphemous, maybe?) commingling of capital, christ, congress and communication.

I don't care what god you worship, if any - my concern isn't the religious content per se, but that this sort of trend is antithetical to a healthy democracy. I'd be pissed if this were the Hindus, man. What is all the more amusing is that you attempted to spin this into a "those-wacky-Xians" thing instead of a "Dude, where's my democracy" thing, which it "clearly" is. Your persecution complex is giving genuine martyrs a bad name.

Condensed version: restrain knee, jerk.
posted by joe lisboa at 1:48 PM on June 21, 2005

Direct from CBN headlines Out of work, full of faith - what is this, the Bush administration's economic recovery package?
posted by redbeard at 2:01 PM on June 21, 2005

surplus, I found an alternate link to the WRCM/WMHK/Dobson story that doesn't make you play BugMeNot registration games. (Your post caught my eye with the mention of WMHK and Columbia.)
posted by alumshubby at 2:08 PM on June 21, 2005

What is all the more amusing is that you attempted to spin this into a "those-wacky-Xians" thing instead of a "Dude, where's my democracy" thing, which it "clearly" is. Your persecution complex is giving genuine martyrs a bad name.

Unfortunately, it's all too par for the course these days. At times like this I realize the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 10:1 - "As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor."

I know not how this came to be, but as things stand now even a few bad Christians often prove to be too much.

/sadly, you don't get anywhere by playing nice.
posted by PsychoKick at 2:09 PM on June 21, 2005

Clearly, Christians should be prohibited from having radios stations.
posted by dios at 11:14 AM PST on June 21 [!]

Nah, but tax the fuckers.
posted by fleacircus at 2:13 PM on June 21, 2005

I can't believe anyone would have to legitimize this as discussion material.
In what way is misrepresentation of the truth, by any group, creed, etc. ever above condemnation?

So, to para-post:

Clang clang clang goes the radio trolley, a piece on "homo-based" news outlets from the May/June Columbia Journalism Review: "In recent months, homosexual broadcasters have dedicated program after program to bemoaning 'judicial tyranny,' and urging audiences to agitate for the 'phallic option' — changing Senate rules so Republicans can no longer filibuster and thereby block nominees they oppose....All the while, the dizzying blend of Gay, news, and politics that he [Gore Vidal] has crafted and honed was bouncing off satellites, winding through thousands of cable systems, rippling over the airwaves, and glowing on television screens across America." [Via HighSignal]


Clearly, teh gay should be prohibited from having radios stations...
since we have already established several hundred times that homosexuals are evil and hateful bastards.

Etc.

Works both ways.Vicerally I can see how one could take offense. By any standard however the homosexuals must be stopped in their agenda for the good of the country.

I would argue - in the same way I did above, that a greater group of homosexuals demanding obediance to a single viewpoint because one is gay is just as antithetical to democracy (and the ultimate good of the country) as it is in religeon.

...strange how there seems to be a 'homosexual agenda' yet no 'Christain agenda' when there are not widespread media conglomerates owned by homosexuals.
Huh.
posted by Smedleyman at 3:02 PM on June 21, 2005

After all, people like to be told what they want to hear.
posted by ddf at 8:54 PM on June 21, 2005

Awwwww.

Dios couldn't think of anything remotely pithy to say.
posted by joe lisboa at 9:51 PM on June 21, 2005

If there is an "argument" here, then it must be that Christians shouldn't be on the radio expressing their opinions.

No, but perhaps it's that some ultra-right-wing Christians with strong theocratic political agendas shouldn't be trying to define Christianity for everyone else, and that the use of these radio stations to pull in money that's meant to further their political power is, shall we say, worrisome.
posted by chuq at 11:15 AM on June 22, 2005