Church's Use of the Media For Religious Influence

The emergence of religious television exemplifies the church’s widespread use of the media for religious influence. It is a useful tool for religious persuasion due to its ability to generate interest in new viewers by assimilation into regular television networks and encouragement of strong emotions due to acting and judicious film technique. Much like the past use of icons and printed word, televangelism has the ability to influence viewers’ opinions but does so by creating an illusion of personalization that reaches a larger audience. By appealing to emotions, televangelism has the ability to catch the interest of regular television viewers who may just be flipping channels. “Like the word spoken and printed, and like the radio, television has become an integral part, an important one, of the means of disseminating the Christian message. This means of transmission, has an extraordinary capacity for seduction as well as propensity to communicate rather schematic messages to a somewhat anonymous and sometimes little motivated public” (Gutwirth 132). Individuals who either do or do not profess to religious beliefs are more often than not, likely to prefer television to regular Sunday mass (Gutwirth 2000). Televangelism takes advantage of this by appealing to regular television viewers’ emotions through the energetic personalities of televangelists, who have the charisma, to pull viewers in. With the use of multiple cameras and editing tactics, producers can suppress pointless repetitions and any awkward phrases, thus, choosing the most expressive and emotion inducing sequences of each shot. The use of intense scenes enhanced by broadcasting ...

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...d well thought-out film technique, and creates an illusion of personalization which affects viewers through head shots and close ups. Television has become an important part of spreading religious message to the public, it has an extraordinary ability to pull the viewers in and creates strong emotions and attachment in the unmotivated public by film technique and production.

Work Cited Bamn, Elizabeth. , and Litman, Barry R. “The viewership of religious television programming: A multidisciplinary analysis of televangelism.” Review of Religious Research. June 1989. 329-343. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO Host. Web. 26 February. 2010. Gutwirth, Jacques. “From the Word to the Televisual Image: The Televangelists and Pope John Paul II.”Diogenes. 1999. 122-123. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO Host. Web. 26 February. 2010.