TELEVISION
Calling For A Boycott
A broad coalition known as Christian Leaders for Responsible Television (CLEAR-TV) has called for a nationwide consumer boycott of Mazda Motors of America and the Noxell Corporation, because they sponsor television programs high in sex, profanity, and violence. Mazda is an automobile manufacturer, and Noxell produces Cover Girl cosmetics and Noxzema skim cream. CLEAR-TV includes 1,600 representatives of Christian organizations and Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic churches.
CLEAR-TV targeted Mazda and Noxell because they failed to take action after the coalition asked them to reduce the amount of offensive programming they sponsor. Billy Melvin, CLEAR-TV chairman and executive director of the National Association of Evangelicals, said Mazda is the leading sponsor of prime-time television sex, violence, and profanity. And during the past five years, he said, Noxell has shown a 70 percent increase in its sponsorship of offensive programs. The coalition has asked the two companies to reduce the amount of sex, violence, and profanity they sponsor by 35 percent.
TRANSITIONS
Wilson And Smyth Retire
Two long-time executives with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) retired last month. Executive vice-president George M. Wilson, 73, and Walter H. Smyth, 74, vice-president, international ministries, will continue as consultants to the association. Wilson will also remain on the BGEA board and will continue to serve as president of World Wide Publications, a BGEA affiliate.
“George Wilson has been one of my closest advisers for well over 40 years,” said Billy Graham. “I owe him a debt of gratitude I can never repay. Our board will still be turning to him for counsel and advice.”
Of Smyth, Graham said, “Walter is one of the most respected Christian statesmen in the world today.” For many years, Smyth oversaw Graham’s international crusades and directed the BGEA’s overseas offices.
John R. Corts, a former pastor and college president in Florida, has been named vice-president, operations. Formerly a BGEA crusade associate, Corts will head the association’s new leadership team. He has worked with Graham since 1964.
NATIONWIDE
A Flat Growth Curve
Church growth in the United States is lagging slightly behind the growth rate of the population at large, according to the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches 1987. The yearbook is produced annually by the National Council of Churches and published by Abingdon Press.
Based on 1985 membership figures from 218 religious bodies, the yearbook reports that 59.3 percent of the U.S. population belong to a church, synagogue, or other religious congregation. That percentage has held steady for several years. The overall church-growth rate for 1985 was 53 percent, compared with a general population increase of 1 percent.
Denominations registering membership increases include the Roman Catholic Church, Assemblies of God, Presbyterian Church in America, Baptist General Conference of America, Church of the Nazarene, Southern Baptist Convention, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Church of God (Anderson, Ind.), Wesleyan Church, Mennonite Church, and Reformed Church in America.
Bodies reporting a net loss of members include the United Methodist Church, Christian Reformed Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Episcopal Church, Lutheran Church in America, American Lutheran Church, and the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
OBITUARY
William K. Harrison, 91
Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison (U.S. Army, ret.), president emeritus of Officers’ Christian Fellowship, died May 25 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, at the age of 91.
After retiring from the U.S. Army in 1957, Harrison served as chairman of the board of Dallas Theological Seminary and a contributing editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. A 1917 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, Harrison became the most highly decorated soldier in the 30th Infantry Division during World War II. He later served as chief of reparations in postwar Japan under Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
Harrison served as chief United Nations delegate to the armistice negotiations that led to a cease-fire in the Korean War. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
CHURCH AND STATE
Religious Expression
The U.S. Supreme Court last month ruled unanimously that Los Angeles International Airport may not prevent groups from distributing religious literature inside its terminal buildings. The suit was filed by the evangelistic organization Jews for Jesus.
Lawyers who argued the case in March concentrated on whether an airport is an “open forum” where First Amendment activities such as free speech are guaranteed (CT, April 3, 1987, p. 43). However, the high court, in a decision written by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, set aside the open forum question. Instead, she wrote, the airport resolution banning free speech activities is unconstitutional because of its “overbreadth.”
“The resolution at issue in this case reaches the universe of expressive activity, and by prohibiting all protected expression, purports to create a virtual ‘First Amendment Free Zone’ [at the airport],” O’Connor wrote. If the resolution were strictly enforced, the Court pointed out, it would prohibit “talking and reading, or the wearing of campaign buttons or symbolic clothing.”
