Mike Pence, Mike Huckabee, James Dobson, Eric Metaxas, Al Mohler, Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer, Hugh Hewitt, and Jay Sekulow were or are radio talk radio hosts. Is there a corrosive effect on humility and reflection when you talk for an hour everyday and try to entertain an audience?
Dave Ramsey, John MacArthur, James MacDonald, Ravi Zacharias, K. P. Yohannan, Greg Laurie, Robert Jeffress, Jack Hibbs, and Skip Heitzig also have shows on Christian radio.
This is a Marshall McLuhan or Neil Postman question: "What if the media and technology we think we are utilizing (like a radio or a YouTube show or a podcast) to broadcast our message to others also changes *us*?"
Note Anne Nelson wrote a book, Shadow Network, on the power of Christian radio in the United States to influence voters to vote for Republicans (and some of the people who funded this phenomenon because of oil!).
Thread of notes comparing the 990 tax forms of
- Samaritan's Purse (2019). CEO: Franklin Graham.
- World Vision (2018). CEO: Edgar Sandoval Sr., previously Rich Stearns.
- Compassion International (2018). CEO: Santiago "Jim" Mellado.
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Number of employees / total revenue / profit / net assets:
Samaritan's Purse: 3,305* / $734,112,873 / $44,985,504* / $701,956,825*
World Vision: 1,049 / $1,135,591,490* / $-13,516,839 / 193,274,099
Compassion: 1,196. / $953,223,395 / $20,603,361 / 268,592,542
* designates high.
Number of independent members of the board:
Samaritan's Purse: 12 out of 18.
World Vision: 14 out of 15.
Compassion: 10 out of 11.
Board members: Franklin Graham (father), Roy Graham (son), Cissie Jane Austin Graham Lynch (daughter) are in Schedule O. Others in Schedule L.
@phillipmholmes@drantbradley@Fikkert - Kanye West accurately pointed out the three states with the highest proportion of black abortions (MS, GA, AL). Mississippi has the most black people per population so that is not surprising (GA is #3 and AL #6).
@phillipmholmes@drantbradley@Fikkert To reduce the number of abortions, people would need to (a) abstain or (b) utilize contraceptives or (c) be supported sufficiently to have the baby.
a. I argue that hoping for abstention is not a sufficient public health strategy.
My pastor friend was thinking about teaching his people how to vote in his Sunday sermon without being partisan.
But I have already voted and am thinking about what happens next! I also told him I am praying the Psalms to get through these stressful days (and weeks and months!)
A social conservative thinks that if LGBTQ behavior and abortions are made illegal or expensive, less people will engage in these behaviors and that will be good for those people and society.
However, it seems unlikely that popular opinion will not permit LGBTQ rights like same sex marriage to be rolled back.
I hear a lot of "I cannot vote for a Democrat. Abortion is murder. I am conveying that message!"
When pressed about why, they say: "I want Roe v Wade overturned and abortion to be illegal so there will be less of it!"
But this indicates to me they have not thought this through.👇
Their reasoning: 1. Abortion is murder. 2. Make abortions illegal.
No reflection on what happens when abortion is illegal.
1. Alcoholism is bad. 2. Make alcohol illegal.
Their assumptions:
- The law is a moral teacher. If you tell people it is illegal, that is another way of teaching them it is wrong.
- Supply and demand. If you make it harder to get by making it illegal, there will be less of it.