Page 79 - Key Words in Religion Media and Culture

62 J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

The use of car bumper stickers issued by churches immediately identify
owners with specific religious communities. There is no doubt that new
forms of mediated religiosity have contributed to creating and extending
forms of community, strengthened personal self-esteem, and given people
hope in the context of the disruptions in modern urban life.
Rather than challenge the new traditions, mainline churches have joined
the trend and are offering similar mediated religiosity. In African mainline
churches, this has been taken to another level with car bumper inscriptions
such as: “I am a Methodist and I love my Church” and “I am proud to be a
Presbyterian.” Those familiar with the hemorrhage suffered by these historic
mission denominations at the emergence of the new Pentecostal churches
would appreciate the church stickers as defensive mechanisms against the
popularity of the newcomers. Pentecostal-charismatic pictorial images
on religious billboards, for example, are also chosen to reflect particular
theological moods and identities. They usually would have large portraits of
the pastor and his wife in their best clothes and sometimes shots of members
at worship selected to portray the large numbers of people in that church
community and how happy they are together. In Pentecostal-charismatic
Christianity in particular, numbers are important indications of God’s
favor and indices of the viability of the messages of prosperity they preach.
Congregations, in keeping with prosperity mindsets, must be mega-sized to
reflect the potency of the anointing of leaders, and members speak proudly
of these numbers as signs of God’s blessing. God is advertised as such.
This perception and interpretation of community goes against the grain of
conventional thinking that communities must be kept to manageable sizes
for people to have a sense of belonging. In these newer Christian religious
contexts, belonging to a large “family” is what is important; being personally
known is usually secondary.
The transition from radio to television in the middle of the twentieth
century was nothing short of an electronic revolution as far as information
and communication are concerned. The invention of the transistor radio
virtually moved listening to that medium from being a communal to a
“privatized” affair. However as Mitchell explains, radio’s potential to involve
people in depth, increased flexibility resulting from portability and ease of
access have contributed to the continuing commitment to radio listening
(Mitchell 1999: 62). Today, radio goes with people wherever they are, as
they are found in every automobile and on mobile phones and computers.
Religious communities can be reached by their leaders through radio religion,
ensuring that the religious menu intended to keep the faithful on course
is not restricted to regular places of worship. The use of the media and
the availability of religious resources outside the boundaries of the church,
mosque, or ashram enable the continuing “feeding” of the flock not just