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Media and religion in transition 61

where while US-style televangelism has long been banned from the
domestic airwaves, it has been available via satellite channels, and recent
moves by conservative religious groups have attempted to open British
terrestrial broadcasting and cable services to this kind of programming at
least on radio. 54
In terms of the media marketplace of religious symbols, then, televange-
lism and religious broadcasting more generally remain significant elements
of the landscape. Their history and prominence over the last quarter-
century means that they endure with a certain set of stereotypes, though,
and are interpreted within historical frameworks that make them in
some ways controversial. If we divide this turf in three parts: the contin-
uing remnants of the televangelism of the 1970s and 1980s; the continuing
vibrant religious radio market; and the emergent and growing Christian
music industry and its broadcasting outlets, we can see that there
continues to be a presence of this type of media in the landscape of media
choice. It is important to note, though, that the history of these forms and
formats leaves them with a certain legacy that is difficult to overcome.
Whereas once it was thought that religious television could find a place in
the mix of commercial television, but be a kind of “broadcasting with a
difference,” that hope has faded. The social and cultural prominence that
televangelists sought during their rise has left the genre of religious broad-
casting with continuing baggage. Pat Robertson once aspired to create
within his Christian Broadcasting Network a schedule of programming
that would compete on the same footing with the commercial forms. 55
That is no longer possible, or even necessary. Today, as we have begun to
see, and will see in more definition in later chapters, the general commer-
cial marketplace now provides a wider range of religious material than
was the case when Robertson started his television ministries. The corner
of the marketplace he now occupies is, ironically, as marginal as it was at
the beginning, while material such as Touched by an Angel is more at the
center. At the same time, though, the character and nature of much of this
new religious/spiritual material is more significant of the changing face of
American religion than those early televangelists would have been
comfortable with.

Religious publishing
As we noted earlier, it is important that we understand the media market-
place as something broader than the electronic media alone. Dating back
to the eighteenth century, as many historians have shown, a vibrant reli-
gious marketplace has existed that has cut across and combined a variety
of media and entertainment forms. 56 The consistent medium throughout
has been publishing, and as sociologist Anne Borden has demonstrated, it
is within the evolution of religious publishing that we can see the trends of