Chapter 9 will examine the research pertaining to the questions, What kind of people
watch religious programs?
A second implication of the uses - and - gratifications research for understanding why people
watch religious programs on television is the insight that uses made of the media and gratifications derived from these uses change over an individual's life span.
It is difficult to calculate accurately the total number of people who regularly or occasionally
watch religious programs on American television, because of the confusion in some of the available data.
(7) A similar poll conducted in 1980 for the American Research Corporation in Irvine, California, and published in a report titled «Profile of the Christian Marketplace,» found that as many as 40 million adults
watch some religious programs on a reasonably regular basis.
There may be a substantial number of viewers who
watch religious programs on an occasional basis.
Their suggestion is that different population groups
watch religious programs for very different reasons.
On the other hand, 14 per cent claimed that their viewing of religious programs was a «substitute for going to church,» and about 20 per cent said that
they watched religious programs on Sundays during church hours.
A Gallup survey conducted in 1982 found that 43 per cent of the total population said that they had
watched religious programming in the past 30 days.
In l982 a Gallup survey found that 43 % of the total population said that they had
watched religious programming in the past 30 days, and another Gallup poll in l98l showed that 32 % said that they had watched during the past week.
14 % said that their viewing of religious programs was «a substitute for going to church», and about 20 % said that
they watched religious programs on Sundays during church hours.
The poll indicates that for the three evangelical subgroups identified by the survey, 47 percent, 46 percent, and 45 percent, respectively, indicated that they either didn't watch or didn't know how much time they spent
watching religious programs on television each week, and another 9 percent, 6 percent, and 5 percent indicated they watched for less than one hour each week.
(29) The Gallup Poll of Evangelical Christianity in 1978 found that 27 percent of those who
watched religious programs claimed not to be a member of a church or synagogue, 18 percent claimed not to attend church, and another 18 percent claimed they attended less than once a month.
Among adolescents and young adults, 67.2 percent and 70.3 percent, respectively, reported that they never
watched religious programs compared to 25.7 % of older adults who said they never watched.
Only 5.3 percent of the professionals identified by the study reported that
they watched religious programs regularly compared to 30.4 percent of blue - collar workers and 25.3 percent of «others.»
I believe in God & say my prayers daily and would be willing 2
watch a religious program online but not alone.
Not exact matches
In March 2009, Coppedge claims that his supervisor advised him that co-workers had complained that he was harassing them over debates about his
religious views and coercing them in the workplace into
watching DVD
programs about intelligent design.
I listen to how they talk about matters of faith, religion, what they
watch on their favorite
religious tv
programs, often listening as well to their radios playing their favored «Christian music» radio stations in the background, what are in the lyrics.
To get around this problem with
religious TV viewers, the Annenberg researchers went to several previous months of Arbitron television viewers «diaries, looked up the actual
programs watched by day, hour and channel in the TV Guide, and thereby identified «confirmed viewing» — in other words, what people really
watched.
The ease with which many disconnect their individual faiths from institutional belonging is revealed in a study of the unchurched in Appalachia: 80 per cent engaged in
religious activities every week — activities ranging from prayer to reading, from
watching religious television
programs to conversations with others or visits to ministers (David H. Smith et al., Participation in Social and Political Activities [Jossey - Bass, 1980], p. 222).
Research by the Christian Broadcasting Network indicates that most of their viewers regularly
watch other
religious programs as well.
Who
watches religious television
programs?
Are
religious programs watched by people not otherwise in contact with a church?
Younger men appear to
watch less than any other adult group,
watching only slightly more adult
religious programs than do children.
While the characteristics mentioned in the previous section dominate in the audience of
religious television
programs, evidence suggests that these
programs are
watched on occasion and in some cases regularly by non - Protestants, non-evangelicals, those of higher income and education, those in white - collar occupations, and those who claim no
religious interest or church affiliation.
From a national population sample, the poll found that those who
watch religious television
programs compared to those who don't
watch religious television
programs are more likely to have had a conversion experience, to believe that the bible is free of mistakes, to believe in a personal devil, to read the bible more often, to talk to others about their faith more often, to attend church services more frequently, and to hold to or engage in beliefs and practices characteristic of evangelicals as a whole.
While the broadcast evangelists envisage television as a God - given tool by which to reach «the world» with their message, research on
religious television
programs indicates that the actual audience of most
religious programs is highly segmented and that those who
watch usually do so for very specific reasons.
In 1984, an Annenberg - Gallup study revealed that the total number of viewers who
watch one hour or more of
religious programs per week is about 4.84 million persons, or 2.17 percent of the total population.
(5) Solt, in a study of
religious program audience in a New York county, found significant differences occurring at age 44, (6) while Buddenbaum found that frequent viewers of
religious television were most likely to be over the age of 62, while those who never
watch are more likely to be under age 34.
In this chapter, emphasis will be placed on analyzing the available research in relation to three key questions: Who
watches religious television
programs?
Why do people
watch particular
religious television
programs?
The poll found that 14 percent of those unchurched who had listened to or
watched a
religious radio or television
program in the past 30 days had considered becoming active in a church again as a result of it.
It is wrong to assume that because a person is
watching a particular
religious program he or she is doing so for the reasons for which the
program was devised.
One of the most in - depth studies of the reasons why people may view
religious programs on television is that of Frank and Greenberg, published under the title The Public's Use of Television: Who
Watches and Why.
It is useful, however, to ask why people who otherwise express little interest in religion spend time
watching religious television
programs.
Following this approach, we might exclude parochial schools but not nonreligious private schools from a school - voucher
program, or bar
religious student groups but not chess clubs and neighborhood -
watch associations from meeting in public school classrooms.
Watch Ed Week's full interview with Calee on their YouTube channel and read more about how some educators approach teaching about religion in «
Program Takes Aim at «
Religious Illiteracy» in Classroom» on Ed Week.