The Abuse of Power

I live in a dry county. Businesses can't sell alcohol here. On election day, we had a chance to vote on whether to stay dry or not, and by a 60/40 percentage margin we voted to stay dry. Before the vote, a person couldn't drive down a road in Blount County without seeing either a "vote yes" or "vote no" sign. It was obvious where the line was split: churches were saying no and gas stations were saying yes. Some of these signs are still lingering around on the sides of roads. Yesterday I was driving on 231 and I saw one that said "What would Jesus do? Vote no on alcohol sales Nov. 4." I was confused. Jesus drank wine. He even turned some water into it at a wedding. Is it really that obvious what Jesus would do? Would he really go to the polls and vote for Blount County to stay dry?

I bring this up because I think that people should be careful about pairing up their own causes with the cause of Christ. You can definitely control people if you can get them to believe that God's will is the same as yours. This is especially true when it comes to politics.

I have said before that it is hard for me to listen to Christian radio without getting angry. Since I work at a place where Christian radio is played almost all the time, I can't avoid it. I have several reasons for my frustration - some good, some not - a lot of it probably has to do with me being forced to listen to it all day and then needing to vent. It's true, I am a little bitter, but I do have reasonable complaints.

It's no secret that I have supported Barack Obama in this election. I'm not surprising anyone there. If you were to ask me I would tell you that I voted Obama both in the election and the Democratic primary. But let me make it clear that what I am saying is that I support Obama. I am not speaking for anyone but myself. And while my faith has a lot to do with my decision, I am never going to say that God supports Obama.

Christian radio, at least the station I listen to, is different. During the weeks and months when John McCain and Barack Obama were campaigning, WDJC would occasionally have a report or ad providing coverage. Every time I heard one of these reports, it was always slanted in favor of John McCain. He was always the clear, good guy. He was our guy - the Christian guy. And Barack Obama was that shady, liberal, other guy. From the coverage I heard, WDJC might as well have come out and officially endorsed McCain. It was that obvious.

I have a problem with Christian institutions supporting candidates like this. So many people around here listen to Christian radio because it's Christian radio. And of course they associate Christian with Jesus and therefore the DJs, advertisements, and songwriters might as well be speaking for God. When you, as a Christian radio station, support a politician like that you are basically saying to your listeners, "Vote for so-and-so because he is the Christian candidate. If you are a Christian, then this is your guy."

The problem with this lies in the ownership of WDJC. I'm not talking about God, I'm talking about a man named Don Crawford. Crawford Broadcasting is the corporation that runs the station. WDJC may be a ministry in some ways. You can call it whatever you want - it's still a business. Not only does Crawford Broadcasting run Christian radio stations all over the country, but it also is invested in another type of radio genre - conservative talk radio.

While there are those who think these two are one and the same, they're not. Christians come in a variety of flavors. Some are conservative, some are liberal, some are in between. Some say to-may-to, some say to-mah-to. All have their own Bible-based reasons for their own views. God lives and loves and works inside of them all.

On the radio, everyday during the commercials, Don Crawford has one little segment called The Crawford Stand, which is basically him talking about and promoting conservative ideals - on a Christian medium. It would be like a company with a liberal owner also controlling a Christian radio station and using it to promote liberal ideals. Both situations are bad. The masses are given one take on things and it is presented as the Christian take on things. There is no rebuttal, no counter-argument, no antithesis, and no one to object - because the guy pulling the strings is in control of what the listeners hear. And the guy at WDJC is an intense conservative. During the election process there was no hint of the possibility that Barack Obama, or Ralph Nader, or any other candidate other than the Republican would have possibly made a better president. Christian listeners all around central Alabama were presented with only one viewpoint.

That's not teaching you how to think, it's telling you what to think.

God is not a Republican. He is not a Democrat, or Independent, or even American for that matter. He doesn't work on a campaign trail. He is God over the entire world. A person may act and choose and vote based on his or her faith, but that does not mean that God always supports that person's cause. He is much bigger than that.

If WDJC can't be fair and objective, then it shouldn't cover politics at all. Just keep playing the music, promoting concerts, and giving out t-shirts as prizes for stupid games. Don't promote an agenda, don't tell people what to think. Let us pray and talk and decide on our own. Being at the head of a mass media company is a powerful position to hold.

So stop abusing it.