The 700 Club is the flagship program of the Family Channel (previously the Christian Broadcasting Network). Conservative Christian minister Pat Robertson lay the foundations for the Christian Broadcasting Network in 1960 when he purchased a run-down UHF station in Portsmouth, Virginia, where he developed a talk show format combining interviews, music, teaching, prayer and healing. The 700 Club was named in honor of the first 700 people who pledged $10 per month in support of the station's core operations budget. With the rise of cable television in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Robertson positioned his local station as a superstation targetting fundamentalist and other Christian viewers. The network helped to fuel and in turn responded to the growth of a Christian political movement in the United States and Robertson would eventually become a Republican candidate for president in 1986, only to be defeated by George Bush. In 1988, the network changed its name to the Family Channel, but the agreement which established this new network contained a requirement that the network would broadcast the 700 Club program in perpetuity.

In her book, Tele-Advising: Therapeutic Discourse in American Television (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992), Mimi White describes the program's format and goals: "Adopting a news magazine format, it includes reports on current events, lifestyle features, human interest stories, and celebrity and expert guests, along with prayer, healing rituals, religious teaching, appeals to conversion, and fund-raising. With this combination, The 700 Club represents one version of a model media system from the perspective of the Christian Right. Fully integrated in the discursive and institutional practices of contemporary American television, it aims to provide an overarching, morally correct perspective on the world in concert with the evangelical call to save souls." At first glance, the program might look like any other cable news broadcast, but the news has been framed for a niche market of conservative Christians. It often depicts contemporary social problems which it ascribes to the moral ills of the society and offers solutions, which most often depend upon religious redemption.

The following exchange between Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson occurred during the program's discussion of the WTC tragedy on Thursday, 13 September, sparking fresh debates about the relationship between religious and political discourses on the show:

FALWELL:	And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters - the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats - what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact - if, in fact - God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.
ROBERTSON:	Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.
FALWELL:	The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.
ROBERTSON:	Well, yes.
FALWELL:	And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."
ROBERTSON:	Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.
FALWELL:	Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged"? In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time - calling upon God.
ROBERTSON:	Amen.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Lorri L. Jean offered this response: "The terrible tragedy that has befallen our nation, and indeed the entire global community, is the sad byproduct of fanaticism. It has its roots in the same fanaticism that enables people like Jerry Falwell preach hate against those who do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does. The tragedies that have occurred this week did not occur because someone made God mad, as Mr. Falwell asserts. They occurred because of hate, pure and simple. It is time to move beyond a place of hate and to a place of healing. We hope that Mr. Falwell will apologize to the U.S. and world communities."

A White House spokesman repudiated the statement as "inappropriate".

Falwell subsequently apologized during a CNN broadcast: "I would never blame any human being except the terrorists, and if I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize."

Questions to Consider

• Does this incident reveal a potential tension between the desire to mimic the formats and content of mainstream news coverage and the desire to express a conservative religious perspective on the day's events?
• How do we reconcile the statement which Falwell made during the broadcast with his subsequent apology on CNN? Was Falwell "blaming" gays, civil libertarians, and other progressive groups for the bombing in his original statement? Why might he feel otherwise?
• How do we compare the religious views expressed by Falwell and Robertson with, for example, the use of Biblical quotations in George W. Bush's addresses to the nation or in the various local church services and prayer gatherings around the nation? What functions can/should religion play in our public commerations of tragedy? How can religious faith be expressed in a multicultural society without causing frictions between different religious denominations? Can you point to ways that church groups in your community have helped to foster respect and understanding between religious groups?
• An atmosphere of "moral panic" often shifts attention away from the actual causes of societal harm and towards groups which are already viewed negatively by the speaker and their intended audience. As such, the language of blame in a public debate sheds light on points of tension within a particular community. What can we learn by reviewing the groups whom Falwell and Robertson hold accountable for the "moral decline" of America? How might such language translate into acts of aggression against members of those groups Falwell has identified?
• How do you think those groups should respond to Falwell and Robertson's negative depictions of them? How do you evaluate the responses offered by the Gay and Lesbian Task Force and People for the American Way?

Related Links

• Falwell Apologizes to Gays, Lesbians, and Feminists, CNN, 09/14/2001
• God Gave Us "What We Deserve," Falwell Says by John Harris, Washington Post, 09/14/2001
• Pat Robertson's Statement Regarding Terrorist Attack, CBN, 09/14/2001
• Pat Robertson Comments on Falwell Interview, CBN, 09/14/2001
• Response from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
• Response from People for the American Way

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