CBN and ARE as Persuasive Organizations

?People say ?[CBN] want[s] to turn America into a church,‘? Regent employee Ben Johnston protested. ?We don‘t. My God, we want separation of church and state? (Johnston interview, March 30, 2006). Woven into Johnston‘s protest, however, is a defensiveness based on public perception of CBN as threatening the neutrality of the secular. Far more than ARE, CBN relates to what Smith describes as the ?Protestant establishment? that was ?routed from social power? (2003:26). Robertson‘s visions of c...

 The Concept of "Parachurches"

These two seemingly opposite religious organizations, the conservative, evangelical Christian Broadcasting Network and the liberal, new age Association for Research and Enlightenment, in fact share a similar social positioning in that their core philosophies are religious or metaphysical in nature but their institutions are secular in design; they are part business, part charity, and part educational facility. As parachurches, these non-denominational religious organizations offer religious o...