Posted on 09/15/2006 5:37:25 AM PDT by marshmallow
What ever happened to the televangelists of the 1980s?
Not a few Americans have grown nostalgic for the 1980s--at least in music and fashion. For those of us who study the intersection of religion and culture, it is hard not to be. Just think back: In the '80s, the Religious Right was in its infancy and ministers from both the left and right were making serious runs for the presidency. Not least, televangelists had successfully jumped from early-morning Sunday network slots to prime-time cable television.
Twenty years ago televangelism had its greatest year on record. With their own slick productions that looked less like church than variety shows, evangelicals tuned in by the millions. Those heady days ended suddenly. Beginning in 1987, a series of scandals broke the faith of some, the wallets of others, and confirmed the fears of millions that such religious showmanship was all a sham.
It seems like a dream now: Oral Roberts sequestered himself in his Tower of Prayer, telling audiences that he would certainly die unless someone bailed him out from the financial ruin caused by his building an unneeded medical center. He said that he was commanded to undertake that construction project by a 900-feet-tall Jesus he saw in a vision. (The fact that Mr. Roberts had to flee the tower, which was hit by lightning during his vigil, never struck him as an ironic answer to his prayers.)
Jim Bakker was led away in handcuffs from his mansion while Tammy Faye, makeup sliding from spidery eyes, sang for the cameras. Jerry Falwell, who loathed Mr. Bakker nearly as much as he did feminists, took over Mr. Bakker's PTL (Praise the Lord) ministries, including its theme park, and enjoyed a widely photographed plunge down the water slide in his dark suit.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
they just change mediums....
http://www.revike.org/
FWIW, I saw Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart on separate programs recently. Bakker looks like a frail, balding senior citizen. Swaggart's face is puffy, and his blond mane has thinned and gone gray. Both look like worn-out shells of their former selves.
They're on my mother-in-law's TV on the "All Western Televangelist for the Hearing Impaired" channel.
Yes, she does live with us. Why do you ask?
That's gotta be a load of not fun.
You're not kidding.
T.S. Ernesto knocked out our cable and for a few days she couldn't get her favorite channel.
She didn't appreciate me saying it was God telling her she shouldn't be watching that stuff.
DUH!! Discovering that Jesus Christ is a Real, Actual Entity, "Good People," as we say in tejas.
First, American culture, even in its most secular forms, may be quite religious in its growing focus on the interior life.
More wisdom from WSJ./s The American culture might still be religious and secular; however, the so-called televanglists and so-called megachurches are herding the flock to meet the Lord Face-to-face.
Second, because of mass media, religion in America is increasingly tied to secular culture in its presentation.
Not "tied," but makes no sense to reinvent the wheel.
Looking back, the '80s slicked-up televangelists don't look as strange as they do prescient.
Tired, old rhetoric; nevertheless, your "prescient" might be better termed Avant garde or leaders of the pack.
At least Jan Crouch of the infamous Pink Hair is still running around on TBN. She's the most watchable thing on that bunch of jokers.
At least the beloved Bishop Sheen is still gracing EWTN.
Jan Crouch and Fulton Sheen: Thesis, antithesis. Can you choose wisely, Grasshopper?
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