Moral Majority SIOM in debt

Press, 8 July 1983, Page 6

Moral Majority SIOM in debt

MIKE ROYKO,

By

of the “Chicago Sun-Times” (through NZPA)

It must be nerve-racking to be a loyal follower of the TV bible-thumpers, faithhealers and hallelujah hustlers. It’s just one crisis after another.

Once you get on their mailing lists your mailbox will almost quiver from the urgency of their needs. The Rev. Billy Bob says his church roof has blown off, so please send cash immediately. The Rev. Bobby Bill says he dreamed the Devil is after you, so send cash or a cheque now. The Rev. Joey Jim says he wants to make you rich, so cash, a cheque, a money order and even postage stamps might help.

Most of the hallelujah howlers ask for $lO or $2O which is a pretty good bargain, I guess, considering that for that modest sum a few of them promise to save your soul, cure your gimpy leg, and maybe get you a winning lottery numBut the price is going up for those who follow the Sreachings of the Rev. erry Falwell, leader of the Moral Majority. The movement has fallen on hard

times. Or so his letterbelching computer is telling us. And he wants every one of his followers to send him a fast $lOO. In a recent letter, Mr Falwell said: “I deeply regret to inform you that I have been forced to make the decisions that put this ministry into a state of retreat.

“This causes me a great deal of personal pain and anguish because for 31 years, ever since the day I was saved, it has been pursuit and momentum all the way.” He goes on to say that retreating means he will have to stop construction of new buildings at a fundamentalist college he founded, cancel some of his regular TV shows, cut down his missionary programme, and knock off their counselling programmes. And finally, if all else fails to balance the books, he “will be forced to take the step that would pain me the most — and that is to cut back or eliminate our prime-time television specials. These specials are doing more to generate a moral and spiritual revival in thmcountry than any-

thing else we have ever done. They are shaking the nation." How serious is Mr Falwell’s financial bind? He says: “As I write this letter to you, the sad fact of the matter is that we have approximately $lO million in unpaid bills.” Well, that’s not peanuts. Most of us have been in hock at one time or another. But how does a Virginia preacher go $lO million in the hole?

Mr Falwell gives annexplanation. It’s not an’ex-

planation I’d run by a hardeyed certified public accountant when shopping for a fast $lO million loan, but it’s what Mr Falwell sa y?:

What it amounts to is that he’s deeply in debt because of his own magnetic personality. He says that his TV pitches have recently caused 150,000 new familes to join his TV church and other crusades. And that’s the problem, Mr Falwell says. His followers have grown in such great numbers that his phone bill has soared. So has the printing bill for the material he sends out asking his followers for money. His postage bill, too. And he’s had to add people to his payroll. In other words, every time he gets a new follower he has to send this person hallelujah letters that ask him to send money. But as it costs so much to send out these letters asking for money he’s losing money on the deal.

Boy, and Chrysler thought it had problems. Mr Falwell says: “Last month, these additional costs exceeded $2 million — money we don’t have.

“The cost of handling this explosion ... has now driven this ministry to the verge of bankruptcy.” Besides asking everybody on his computer list for $lOO he says that his church is going to conduct a round-the-clock prayer vigil until the end of the fiscal year. Day and night he will have people praying for the money to roll in. “I believe in the power of faith and the power of prayer,” he says. “No matter how dark the night may be, I am going to keep calling on the Lord for this $lO million miracle.” That’s nice, but I wonder if the Almighty operates on the same fiscal year as Mr Falwell. And how will God be able to filter out Mr Falwell’s prayers for money from the money-hustling prayers of Mr Falwell’s many competitors? At any given moment, the Revs Billy Bob, Bobby Bill, and Joey Jim are all howling to the heavens to do something to hype their cash flow.

To heavenly ears, there mustfbe times when all that praying sounds like the floor

of the Commodities Exchange.

I wish Mr Falwell everything he deserves, but meanwhile I have a suggestion. About the same time that I heard from Mr Falwell I received a letter from Oral Roberts’s son, Richard Roberts. Oral’s boy also wanted money. But a more modest $2O. He doesn’t have any red-hot crisis these days.

Richard goes in for healing people with his prayers, and he described this happening: “I must tell you ... about a nine-year-old East Indian boy whose eyes have been crossed since birth. “His left eye looked to the right and his right eye looked to the left. "When I prayed for him the Lord touched and healed his eyes and they were perfectly straight.” Just like that, and the kid wasn’t looking at the tip of his nose any more. So I suggest that Richard Roberts drop in at the Rev. Falwell’s headquarters and put his hand on the head of Mr Falwell’s bookkeeper. _ Maybe hll he needs is to gefi‘ his eye< straightened out. T