Televangelism and Its Religious Impact in the World - Essay Example

Televangelism and Its Religious Impact in the World Televangelism involves the use of television to relay religious messages. In our modern day, technology use is rapidly increasing and has enhanced communication and interaction between people. Radio was the first mode of communication that religion relied on for transmission of religious messages. The contemporary day religion relies more on television to connect to worldwide viewers. The media has enabled religion to have an impact in the world as far as preaching and transmission of other religious messages is concerned. Widespread televangelism has also led to the rise of televangelists. The media has played a great role in ensuring that religion is spread throughout the world (Fishwick & Browne 51). The media provide a platform through which millions of people are able to interact and share information. The use of television to rely evangelical messages is referred to as electric church. The use of media by evangelists has created a positive impact as more people tune in to watch televangelists. Religious shows command a big following, which proves that a lot of people support the role of media in religion. Television as a Gathering Place Television as a gathering place is a theoretical framework, which considers television as an environment through which experiences, values and ideas are shared. It helps in explaining how media presents religion to its masses. Television as a place of gathering means that it is considered a hemmed in system in which figurative interaction between people takes place. This leads to interaction among people. When talking about television as a place of gathering, one considers two main aspects. These aspects include its integration with the society and as a source of meaning. These two main aspects help people to understand that television is largely a place that does not have any specific location. Religion, thus, capitalizes on the theoretical framework of television as a gathering place in order to reach out to people from different parts of the world (Franki 61). Television helps in shaping the social lives of people through sharing of ideas and meanings. Role of Television as a gathering place in the religious impact played by televangelism The term televangelism was first coined by Times Magazine. Christianity was the first religion to reach out to many people through the use of media. Christianity is the dominant religion in the world since it enjoys a mass following. Compared to all other religions, Christianity has the greatest congregation across the world. This is partly due to the fact that Christianity was the first religion in the world and partly because of widespread popularity. A global increase in the number of Christian denominations led to competition within Christian churches. This competition was driven by the need to attract followers. Protestants and Catholics turned to the media to win global members. Early Christian churches would send missionaries to various parts of the world in order to win people to their domination. The emergence of media, however, made it easier. Churches turned to radio to preach their gospel and doctrines (Hoover & Clark 71). Media was the easiest and fastest means of communication. Innovation led to the emergence of television. Churches turned to televisions to rely their messages, which led to televangelism. Television as a gathering place constitutes a theoretical framework that explains why televangelism relies mainly on television as a means of communication. Most people in the world today own television sets. According to the theory, television is considered as a place where vast people gather to listen to the messages of Christianity. A gathering place is where people meet and share ideas. Television, thus, connects the globe. People share information and meaning. It also ensures that people are able to interact and associate themselves with the information being shared. Televangelism has relied on the theoretical frame to play a positive impact in the world. Televangelism gives hope to many people. In a tweet, a message from Joel Osteen, a televangelist, was re-tweeted. The message simply said that the titanic ship had been built by experts, but it eventually sank. Noah’s ark however, was built by amateurs and it never sank (Duck). This is a biblical allusion. Noah was asked to build an ark by God because He wanted to punish the world for their sins. Noah and his family were supposed to take shelter in the ark as God flooded the world. The tweet which was retrieved from a sermon by Joel Osteen gives hope to people. It aims to prove that God can perfect an amateur’s work. Television as a gathering place means that television is also used to exchange knowledge, ideas and information. Televangelism, thus, relies on television to spread words and messages of encouragement to people (Schmidt 81). Television gathers people, who receive these messages from televangelists. This creates a positive impact in the world. People all over the world are faced by issues that discourage them. Religion provides an avenue through which people find encouragement and hope. Televangelism spreads messages of encouragement to millions of people in the world who own televisions. Televangelism builds social interactions. Social interactions constitute ways through which people live and behave in their social settings. Social interactions also involve the ways through which people act, view, and react to others including the attitudes that shape their behaviour. Thus, social interactions rely on television, which helps in shaping social lives of people through sharing of ideas and meanings. People often discuss trending stories in the media. Christians can also interact and share messages that were featured on television in the previous sessions (Johns 70). They can also share teachings from televangelists. This shapes or creates social interactions in our society. This creates a positive impact as it build on social relationships. Televangelism, thus, relies on television as a social environment in playing a positive impact in the world. People will often flock to churches to find hope and inspiration. Televangelism, however, creates an avenue that creates hope and inspiration to people wherever they are. One can get inspired and receive hope from the comfort of their home (George 65). It does not matter the rendezvous from where events are occurring in Christianity; the primary determinant is the receptive ability of the listeners. The preacher can preach the same way and give the same sermon in both situations of physical presence and through the television. This is a religious impact of televangelism in the world. TBN, a Christian channel, is widely followed all over the world. Its success is proof of televangelism’s religious impact in the world. Televangelism, thus, relies on television as a gathering place to create hope and inspire people. Television as a gathering place provides a platform where people share ideas and interact socially (Stout 55). Televangelism has relied on this as it plays a positive impact in the world. Televangelism gives people a positive attitude towards life. Televangelism shows often air testimonies from different people in the world, who overcame situations. The television airs testimonies from people affected by the tsunami, hurricane and earthquakes. The message is one of hope and determination in overcoming odds. People will often relate their own experiences to other people’s experiences. People also learn from other people’s experiences. Televangelism builds on this through testimonies. This creates a positive attitude in people from all over the world. This is a positive impact that televangelism plays in the world. Televangelism also promotes peace in the world. Christianity is one the few religions in the world that preaches peace. It preaches about loving one another and living harmoniously. Many people in the world, who watch television, are able to receive this message. Peace is paramount in the world we are living in. Terrorism, genocides, racism, xenophobia and drug wars are some of the vices that have ruined peace in the world. Television as a place where people gather to share ideas and information provides an avenue for televangelism to promote peace in the world. Television is an environment where people meet and interact (Melton 90). Televangelism relies on this to promote peace to all people in the world. This in turn creates a positive impact in the world. Televangelism also plays a positive impact in the world by promoting love. It relies on the theoretical frame, television as a gathering place, in promoting love. The theoretical frame promotes the social lives of people through sharing of ideas and information (Schmidt 81). Televangelism relies on this in playing a social impact in the world. We all need love and deserve to be loved. The world needs people who love each other and can live together harmoniously. Televangelism preaches about love, loving your neighbour as much as you love yourself. Loving one’s neighbour spreads love in the world. It creates global love which promotes unity and harmony among people and nations. Televangelism, thus, creates a positive impact in the world through use of media. Televangelism has also created a positive impact by spreading Christianity in countries that prohibit Christianity. Not all countries in the world embrace Christianity; however, there are countries characterised by paganism and atheists. It is difficult to access these areas and spread Christian messages to the citizens. Televangelism has relied on the global usage of television as a gathering place to spread Christianity in areas that prohibit Christianity (John 80). There are countries that persecute Christians and destroy churches. Some Islamic countries prohibit Christianity and persecute those involved. Christians living in such countries rely on televangelism in maintaining their faith. This because televangelism performs a positive role in transforming the lives of people in these countries. They use television as their place of worship and centre of hope. Televangelism also promotes a positive impact by uniting Christians. It relies on television as a gathering place to reach out to all Christians despite their denomination. Christians in the world identify themselves using their denominations as sources of identity. (Mark). Christian denominations follow their own doctrines in their churches. This leads to contradiction in the Christian world. Televangelism however, does not rely on any doctrines. They only preach the gospel in the bible without using doctrines. This creates a positive impact as it unites Christians from all denominations in the world. Televangelism also plays a positive impact in the world by providing solutions to people who have problems. Televangelists provide hotline numbers that people call seeking for help and prayers. People from all over the world call these numbers. This is made possible by televisions, which act as an environment where people meet and share information. Televangelists often hold prayer sessions where they pray for people. Prayers connect people to God and help in seeking solutions to problems affecting people. In cases of calamity e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding and natural disasters, televangelism provides an avenue through which people make donations to help those affected. It relies on the ability of television as a gathering place to reach out to many people (Stout 60).This creates a positive impact in the world. The money that has been donated is usually channelled to areas being affected by the calamities. Some televangelists also lead ministries that help the poor, widowed, orphaned and those who are homeless. This is an act of hope and inspiration that creates a positive impact in the world. Televangelism relies on television to create a universal church. A universal church accommodates all people regardless of their race, sex, origin or faith. Televangelism is actually one way of eliminating religious discrimination in the world. This creates a positive impact in the world. Televangelism reaches out to people who are not Christians also. It passes messages of hope and love to them. This inspires them and plays a positive role in their lives. Televangelism, thus, plays a positive role in people’s lives. It relies on television as a gathering place without boundaries or limitations on who can access it. Televangelism however, also plays a negative impact in the world. Controversies have surrounded the world of televangelism. This in turn has led to criticism and a negative impact in the world. Some televangelists have been openly rebuked and others sued for blasphemy and misleading people (Humanist). Television as a gathering place has contributed to this negative vices. This is because televangelists continue to rely on television in spreading false messages and conning people. Television channels get to earn money after airing their program. This creates a business relationship between television channels and televangelists. This has created a negative impact in the world because people see it as a way of making money. Television reaches out to many people in the world. The ability to reach out to many people has led to some televangelists exploiting many people in the world. The emergence of televangelism has led to people using television as an avenue for making money. There are also some televangelists who often ask for money in order to perform miracles to people (Trotter). This means that they cannot solve one’s problems without being paid first. This creates a negative impact in the world. People end up finding televangelism as a way of stealing other people’s money. Many televangelists often ask for donations to fund their ministries. The money they receive is not taxed and people often accuse them of tax evasion (Condell). Televangelists also receive donations from people across the world, which amounts to millions and billions. Some of them end up using these donations to enrich themselves. Benny Hinn is one of the televangelists who were investigated by the American senate. This creates a negative impact since most people think that televangelists are materialistic in nature. Conclusion Televangelism is regarded as a Christian ministry run on television. There are many channels in the world which broadcast televangelists. There also many Christian channels which broadcast Christian messages only. Televangelism relies on the popularity of televisions as a form of media in the spread of the gospel. Television is regarded as a place of gathering. People normally gather to share ideas and information. Television is one of these places. It however, does not have any boundaries or any specific location. It is, thus, not limited to venue or time. A channel can air at one single time in different places in the world. Evangelism capitalized on this and turned to television in order to reach out to many people in the world (George 66). Televangelists’ pay television channels some money in order to air their message. They normally rely on well wishers who support their ministries through donations. Televangelism has created both a positive and negative impact in the world. It has attracted praise, criticism and rebuke (Niiler). Televangelism promotes love, peace, unity, hope and help in the world. There are however, televangelists who use their program to make money (DigitalBuddha). This has led to rebuke and criticism by people across the world. It has also led to a negative impact in the world. Televangelism however, is of great value to millions of people who tune in to Christian channels every day. Works Cited Fishwick, Marshall, and Browne Ray. The God Pumpers: Religion in the Electronic Age. Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987. Print. Franki, Razelle. Televangelism: The Marketing of Popular Religion. Illinois: Southern Illinois University, 1987. Print. Hoover, Stewart, and Clark, Lynn. Practicing Religion in the Age of the Media: Explorations in Media, Religion and culture. New York: Columbia University Press. Trotter, Brock(Brock-Trotter). “I have the answers to all your spiritual questions, but first I need a donation of at least $25 to release them to you.’’ 24th October 2014, 5.51 p.m. Tweet. Niiler, Eric (eniiler). “#NPR’s John Burnett hits a homer; compelling tale of greed, corruption and phony televangelism in Texas.” 1st April 2014, 5.06 p.m. Tweet. Humanist, New (NewHumanist). “Breaking: Televangelism is a scam. Who knew?” 22nd May, 6.22 A.M. Condell, Pat (patcondell). “Televangelism is religious predation at its most brazen. Pure showbiz hocus pocus. And tax exempt. Nice work if you can get it.’’ 15th October 2014, 10.46 PM. Duck, Dumb (Floatingonsand). “Experts built the Titanic and it sank. Amateurs built the Ark and it floated-Joel Osteen, televangelism is alive and well.” 17th October 2014, 8.39 AM. Televangelists Exploiting the Gullible. September 18, 2007. YouTube. www. Youtube.com/watch? V=xXOEAz46Vmk. 26th October, 2014. Televangelists: Fleecing the Flock. January 2, 2014. YouTube. www. Youtube.com/watch? v=N82YvHx9Cek. 26th October, 2014. Schmidt, Rosemarie. Television Advertising and Televangelism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1986. Print. Melton, J. Encyclopedia of Protestantism. New York: Facts on File, Inc, 2005. Print. Johns, Kenneth. Televangelism: A powerful Addiction. Indiana: Xlibris Corporation, 2006. Print. George, Susan. Religion and Technology in the 21st Century: Faith in the E-world. Hershey: Information Science Publishing, 2006. Print. Stout, Daniel. Media and Religion: Foundations of an Emerging Field. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print. Read More