Christianity and Entertainment

It would appear, when it comes to entertainment, Christianity has caught up with the culture at large.  One social observer, Neal Gabler, who has no ax to grind in this regard, making no pretense to be a Christian, has noticed, “Evangelical Protestantism, which had begun as a kind of spiritual entertainment in the nineteenth century, only refined its techniques in the twentieth, especially after the advent of television.  Televangelists like Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart recast the old revival meeting as a television variety show, and Pat Robertson’s 700 Club was modeled after The Tonight Show, only the guests on this talk show weren’t pitching a new movie or album; they were pitching salvation.”  Christianity on television, by necessity, has always been presented in the form of entertainment.  Theology, rituals, sacred worship, prayer, and most other true components of the Christian faith, simply do no “play” well on television.

           Gary Gilley, This Little Church Went to Market, Xulon Publishers, 2002 pp. 35-36