"Spiritual Warfare and Religion"(part 2):"SPOTLIGHT ON TELEVANGELISM!

Le 09 juillet 2012 par IVOIREBUSINESS - Televangelism has its roots in a tradition of fervent evangelical christianity dating back to the nineteenth century. The term

"evangelical" encompasses a wide spectrum of protestants who actively seek to proselytize and conVert non-believers. With evangelicalism are two major camps: Those who belong to denominations that do not stress a literal reading of the bible; and the literalists, themselves divided into two major groups, the fundamentalists are usually associated with baptist churches, which teach that the ability to perform miracles of healing and to "speak in tongues"(unknown languages) ended in new testament times! Pentecostals, on the other hand, believe that the supernatural abilities described in the second chapter of "the Book of Acts" are meant for modern christians as well(see glossary for more the above terms).Historically, Evangelicals shied away from political participation partly because of their theological priorities and partly because of the ridicule heaped on them by secular society. Public derision of fundamentalists and pentecostals reached a peak after the famous (1925) "monkey trial" in which schoolteacher "Jhon SCOPES" was found guilty of teaching evolution in "Tennesse":(He was later acquitted on appeal)!The writings of "H L Mencken" in the nation and "Sinclair Lewis", in his novel,(Elmer Gantry),popularized public scorn for evangelicals who by and large retreated from the political arena until (1970s).(In 1921), the first christian radio broadcast was transmitted from "Calvary Episcopal church" in "Pittsburgh", "PENNSYLVANIA"(In 1924), "the lutheran church Mission Synod" founded radio station(KFUO)!(In 1926), "moody bible institute" started radio station(WMBI) in "Chicago", and by (1926), the newly formed National broadcasting company(Nbc) began airing a weekly program, "the national radio pulpit". The early days of christian radio coincided with a period of competition between fundamentalists and the more liberal denominational christians affiliated with the federal council of churches. After biblical literalists suffered the humiliating defeat of the scopes "monkey trial", many conservatives christians had retreated to a state of disgruntled apathy toward "worldly" affairs. Their desire to evangelize remains intact, however, as did their historical animosity toward fellow christians on the liberal side of the theoligical and political spectrum. A precedent for the rise of the influential media ministries was set in the (1930s) and (1940s) when "Father Charles Coughlin" stirred controversy with the militantly anticommunist radio broadcasts. His messages often overtly anti-semitic and pro-nazi, attracted a following of several milion listeners during the depresion and pre-world 2 eras. Current fundamentalist broadcasting is not a direct descendant of "Coughlin's ministries, but he was the first major religious figure to use the airwaves for a decidley political purpose. Protestant fundamentalists' tradition of challenging the patriotism of church members affiliated with the federal council of churches(later known as the national council of churches) was in sway long before the widespread anticommunism of the 1950s!

(Yves T BOUAZO)(the title, subtitle are from the staff of "IVOIREBUSINESS"-"Sources":"Spiritual warfare"-(the politics of christian right-("Sara Diamond")