Full Disclosure

An important issue is emerging from the televangelism scandals: the hidden conflict between the legitimate right of religious ministries to protect themselves against inordinate government intervention and the legitimate right of government (and the taxpayers it represents) to have accurate tax information. As radio evangelist Robert A. Cook concisely stated to Congressman J. J. Pickle (D-Tex.) of a House Ways and Means subcommittee that was investigating the funding practices of Christian broadcasters: “We will answer any questions that you are constitutionally authorized to ask.”

Ministries have a right to carry on their work without inordinate governmental interference. However, tax-exempt status places special responsibility upon organizations whose receipts are nontaxable, and donations to which are tax deductible. The law gives these organizations privileged status, and thus they face a special moral requirement.

The tax-exempt status of an organization requires that it operate exclusively for religious or charitable purposes. In turn, donors are allowed to deduct contributions from their taxable income. To retain this status, the organization is required to serve a not-for-profit public purpose, refrain from lobbying and political campaigning, and from enhancing the wealth of any private individual. If the organization has earnings not related to religious purposes, these earnings are subject to taxes.

If ministries abuse their privileges, the government has a responsibility to investigate. If one who represents a religious organization takes more than a fair share of its income for personal benefit, the public has a legitimate interest, donors have a right to know how funds were administered, and the press has a duty to investigate.

Nevertheless, overzealous critics of religious broadcasters may forget the continuing need to protect freedom of speech and freedom of religion. They may prematurely imagine that an IRS investigation or other governmental regulatory action is the obvious solution to problems of abuse.

However, there remains a lot to worry about with respect to governmental intervention. True, the IRS, the House Ways and Means Committee, and other regulatory agencies are responsible to the American people for the accountability of tax-exempt television ministries. But there is already sufficient legislation to cover the rules of financial reporting of our nonprofit institutions. We do not need more laws.

The activity of Big Brother government could easily escalate, with investigations of scandal-ridden televangelists spreading to other religious organizations—and even to local churches. Thus the federal government could enter into the sanctioning of some ministries and into not sanctioning or even discrediting others. Any step in this direction must be resisted by those who are committed to constitutional protection of religion and speech.

Since there are serious First Amendment concerns, it is far better that the religious broadcasters put their own house in order than wait for the government to do it. And they are trying to do just that, with the new Ethics and Financial Integrity Commission (EFICOM) criteria of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), an effort at policing the financial practices of their own members.

The New Rules

The self-regulatory process has been under way for some time and is now beginning to bear fruit. First, the NRB adopted a code of ethics in 1944 and revised it in 1978. In 1979, fear of strict government regulation spawned the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). And in 1986 the NRB created EFICOM, giving it board approval in September 1987, and full approval by the national organization on February 3, 1988 (CT, Mar. 4, 1988, pp. 32–33).

EFICOM sets fund-raising standards for nonprofit religious broadcasting organizations, and evaluates religious broadcasters for accreditation and certification by the NRB. It will publish annually a review of accredited organizations. Organizations that have failed to comply with these standards cannot be approved (or can lose their earlier accreditation).

The guidelines require members to submit an annual audit prepared by independent public accounting firms. The standards seek to avoid conflicts of interest and inordinate compensation; they require full disclosure of all income and expense, including indirect staff remuneration, perks, housing, transportation, and bonuses; they require that funds be solicited for stated purposes and that the use to which funds are put be disclosed to the donors. And under new EFICOM standards, funds for stated purposes cannot flow back into administration; fund-raising expense may not exceed 35 percent of related contributions; and total fund-raising and administrative costs may not exceed 50 percent of total income.

EFICOM rules require every organization belonging to NRB to qualify for accreditation. They have 90 days to submit to the process, NRB members who wish to continue with ECFA may do so; and their ECFA membership is considered certification for NRB membership.

In the EFICOM guidelines, we are witnessing an attempt to restore public confidence in religious broadcasting—a serious effort to insure the integrity of these ministries by independent audits, by published annual reports, and by open disclosure of financial expenditures. Though these efforts seem late, they are nonetheless the fruit of soul searching. If they do not work, there may be no second chance. The IRS waits at the door.

Read On

A selective, annotated bibliography.

Sounding The Alarm

Buying Time: The Foundations of the Electronic Church, by Peter Elvy (Mystic, Conn.: Twenty-Third Publications, 1986). A British churchman sounds an alarm about “commercial” religion on American TV.

Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists on the Road to Nuclear War, by Grace Halsell (Westport, Conn.: Lawrence Hill & Co., 1986). This is a critical and somewhat unbalanced look at fundamentalist views of the Middle East today, based largely on visits to the Holy Land with Falwell-sponsored tours.

The Faith Healers, by James Randi (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1987). A secular humanist uncovers faith-healing frauds, including several TV hucksters.

Academic Accounts

Television and Religion: The Shaping of Faith, Values and Culture, by William Fore (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987). This includes a theology of communication and a critical assessment of religious broadcasting.

Televangelism: The Marketing of Popular Religion, by Razelle Frankl (Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986). This is an academic but readable treatment of the origins of TV evangelism in urban revivalism. It includes provocative discussion of the impact of secular program styles on religious programming.

Religion and Television, by George Gerbner et al. (Philadelphia: Annenberg School of Communications, 1984). This is the most ambitious social-scientific study of the impact of religious programming on the local church and the broader culture. It is not for lay readers.

Religious Television, by Peter G. Horsfield (New York: Longman, 1984). This is by far the best summary of the academic literature on religious broadcasting for a lay audience.

Televangelists’ Portraits: Authorized And Otherwise

Pat Robertson: The Authorized Biography, by John B. Donovan (New York: Macmillan, 1988). This favorable bio Pat Robertson: A Biography, by Neil Eskelin (Shreveport: Huntington House, 1987). The inspirational but superficial account of Robertson’s life is by one of the first CBN employees.

Strength for the Journey, by Jerry Falwell (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987). Falwell’s autobiography describes his involvement in television, the church, and politics.

Oral Roberts: An American Life, by David Edwin Harrell, Jr. (New York: Harper & Row, 1987). This is the best biography of a televangelist to date. It is scholarly but readable.

Pat Robertson: A Personal, Religious, and Political Portrait, by David Edwin Harrell, Jr. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988). This is a valuable study of Robertson with limited analysis of CBN.

Robert Schuller: His Story, by Michael and Donna Nason (New York: Jove, 1987). An anecdotal and flattering portrait of the Schuller ministry.

Ashes to Gold, by Patti Roberts with Sherry Andrews (New York: Jove, 1983). Oral Roberts’s former daughter-in-law describes her experiences as a TV personality and cautions Christians about the medium.

Holy War: An Inside Account of the Battle for PTL, by John Stewart (Enid, Okla.: Fireside Publishing and Communications, 1987). A Christian attorney who helped represent Jessica Hahn early in the PTL scandal strongly criticizes the Bakkers in this journalistic narrative.

Salvation for Sale: An Insider’s View of Pat Robertson’s Ministry, by Gerard Thomas Straub (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1986). A Christian turned secular humanist recounts his conversion and his days as producer of “The 700 Club.”

Mountains into Goldmines: Robert Schuller and the Gospel of Success, by Dennis Voskuil (Ann Arbor: Books on Demand, no date). This is a critical, readable look at Robert Schuller’s theology and ministry.

Compiled and annotated by Quentin J. Schultze

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