By Robert H. Knight and Tim A. Drenk* 

September 1994 –  As a subsidiary of the Corporation for    Public Broadcasting, National Public   Radio is bound by CPB’s congressional mandate for “strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature.”

But public radio sometimes falls short of this standard, particularly when reporting on topics dealing with religion, and particularly Christians and/or Christians and politics. Two programs described below are examples of how some NPR staff members’ apparent disdain for Christianity is finding its way into publicly-funded radio programming. One is an NPR news program and the other a privately-funded documentary that has aired under NPR auspices.

On September 6, 1993, All Things Considered chronicled a controversy in Colorado Springs. The story was about some parents who objected to their children being baptized without their parents’ knowledge during a local church carnival. The controversy was real, and the conflict is compelling. However, NPR’s handling of the story was anything but even-handed.

After a straightforward introduction by host Linda Wertheimer, reporter Ansel Martinez set the stage by describing Colorado Springs as a city “where parents could raise their children in safe, wholesome surroundings....” Martinez went on to note that many Christian organizations have settled in the city at the behest of civic leaders, “but now some people in Colorado Springs feel the city has become a place of religious extremism.”

A parent was interviewed, relating how she was surprised to learn that her twin daughters had been baptized during a church carnival without her knowledge. She said other parents, too, were upset. The church pastor, Dean Miller of Cornerstone Baptist Church, was given one opportunity to defend his church, and was followed by a remarkable commentary from reporter Martinez:

“This isn’t the first time the religious right and opposing groups have faced off against each other in Colorado Springs. The police department is reviewing a citizen’s complaint that last month, an off-duty patrolman was distributing religious literature to a mentally disabled man. Last year, a self-described born-again public school teacher was demoted when she showed graphic abortion films to seventh graders.”

Martinez then quoted a liberal activist from a group called Citizen’s Project, who took another unanswered slam at the “theological conservatism” now in evidence in Colorado Springs. The story ended with a summary of the legal actions taken by four parents against the church, and a paraphrased statement by the pastor that the controversy had not hurt the church.

This NPR report is interesting for several reasons:

■ The opening remarks by the reporter clearly imply that children are no longer safe in Colorado Springs because of the presence of Christian groups.
■ Christian activity – any activity – is equated with “the religious right,” a political term used by groups such as People for the American Way to discredit conservative and politically active Christians. Linking the baptism of children to the political realm is a way to politicize basic Christian practices.
■ An abortion film is described as “graphic,” a word that implies that the children viewing the film are at risk. NPR routinely avoids use of such terms as “graphic” when reporting on the use of sexually explicit materials in sex education and AIDS-oriented “safe sex” curricula.
■ No spokesmen are included to combat the anonymous charge that Colorado Springs is fraught with “religious extremism.”
■ The Citizen’s Project is said to be a “liberal volunteer” organization that promotes communication and understanding between its members and conservative Christians. However, on another program aired on National Public Radio, which also was openly biased against Christians, the Citizen’s Project is described as a “watchdog” organization that gives citizens a sense of belonging by “organizing opposition to [the Christian] agenda.”

Five-part documentary targets Christian “bigots”
In Jesus’ Name: The Politics of Bigotry, produced and narrated by Barbara Bernstein, is described as an “in-depth investigation of the Christian Right, providing an inside look at the motivation, strategies, and agenda,” of the movement. In Jesus’ Name portrays the Christian Right as bigots who support hatred and violence and have a “far-reaching agenda.” The series was funded by the Paul Robeson Fund and sponsored by KBOO Radio in Portland, Oregon, and distributed by the far-left Pacifica Radio. It aired in October of 1993 around the nation on various stations under the banner of National Public Radio.

The two-and-a-half-hour documentary contains interviews with representatives of Christian groups, and “experts” and “watchdog” groups that monitor the Christian Right. Christians are not given the opportunity to respond to the majority of statements and conclusions made by their detractors.

The Christian Right is defined in the program by Sarah Diamond, the author of Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right, as “average people who have a certain worldview that they want to impose on the rest of society...people who are very threatened by the real uncertainty going on in society.”

Project Toxin spokesman Gary Sloan says, “The kid that graduated from their Christian schools voted for George Bush this year [laughs]. And the youngster that they enroll today will be voting for some other conservative and be just as bigoted 15 years from now.”

As one Christian says, “The trickle down morality doesn’t work; we need a bubbling up type of morality among the masses.”  There are bubbling sound effects in the background which continue a few seconds after he is finished speaking. Several other interviews with Christians are accompanied by menacing and eerie music.

Bernstein says, “Focus on the Family is a large and influential Christian Right ministry that hides behind a facade of being a social service agency.” Focus on the Family is not given the opportunity to respond to the statement. He says that Citizen’s Project “grew from five people to 6,000 concerned citizens who watch and oppose the Christian Right.” Following that statement, several people from Citizen’s Project state their concern about the “takeover” by the Christian Right.

A major portion of the documentary is spent discussing the Christian Right’s response to homosexual activism, with little Christian input. Christians are compared to Hitler, the Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and male chauvinists. Christians are given one opportunity to respond to the comparisons, and that argument is sandwiched between obscene and hate-filled statements supposedly made by a Christian.

According to the documentary, Christians have no empirical studies or data to back their position. And if there is evidence, it is based solely on discredited and falsified research.

Some of the other elements of the program include:

• “The only thing Christians are called to be completely intolerant of are people who...are hypocrites. Hypocrites are condemned in the Bible, but homosexuals are not,” says one interviewee. Bernstein states that Christians have no Biblical support for their non-acceptance of homosexual activity.

• “The Christian Right doesn’t understand the gays, like Hitler didn’t understand the Jews,” says Lois Vanleer, a lesbian activist. She goes on to say, “The Christian Right says hatred [against homosexuals] is okay. If you look at the statewide and national figures, it is at an all time high.” The number of incidents of hate crimes is not cited by an independent observer, but by homosexual activist groups who have a vested interest in seeing higher numbers.

According to The Washington Post, after passage of Colorado’s Amendment Two, which prevented localities from enacting special rights for homosexuals, there was a reported 10% drop in hate crimes against homosexuals compared to the previous year at the same time. And the mayor’s office in Denver reports that anti-homosexual hate crimes “show little or no increase this year over last.” Likewise, in the District of Columbia, a report from the mayor’s office released in April of 1994 summarizing hate crimes for the four-year period of 1990 through 1993 lists only 10 anti-homosexual hate crimes. National anti-homosexual hate crime figures are limited because of inconsistencies among local jurisdictions and lack of participation by states. However, the data that are available do not show an epidemic of anti-homosexual hate crimes as Vanleer would have us believe. In 1991, 425 homosexual-related incidents were reported by nearly 3,000 law enforcement agencies in 32 states. Ascribing bigotry to a particular incident is often problematic, such as when a mugging occurs in a homosexual neighborhood. Was the victim chosen for a robbery or a “hate crime?” Such categories are easily manipulated for political ends. Also, the definition of “hate crime” is rather broad in some jurisdictions, ranging from actual battery to verbal assault.

• Kathleen Sadot, a homosexual rights activist, says, “To attack homosexuality is to try to make some people stay within their places...male and female. The ultimate goal of the Christian Right is to ensure that men stay superior, that men are the driving and controlling force for society, especially white men. The Christian Right wants to be in charge and get to say who is in the human race.”

• According to several lesbian activists in Colorado, the Christian Right is based on “militant religious fundamentals” and “tries to control women and deny civil rights to blacks, Hispanics and homosexuals.”

• According to the “experts,” the Christian Right also supports hatred and violence against homosexuals. After the passage of Colorado’s Amendment 2, which denies homosexuals special minority rights, one lesbian activist says, “Because the state can discriminate, it must be okay to yell at gays and lesbians as they walk down the street, or to shoot queers or even stab us.”

• An obscene and threatening phone call and an obscene and violent confrontation with a lesbian are attributed to the Christian Right. The clips used are of similar voices and it is not explained who said it or how the clips were obtained.

The documentary ends with Lois Vanleer saying, “What motivates the Christian Right is that they think they are doing God’s work. Our only hope is that the liberals, the left, the progressives, the grassroots people can find something they can find in their core that says, ‘I have to act.’”

Conclusion
It is inappropriate for public funds to be spent airing religious bigotry. In Jesus’ Name: The Politics of Bigotry is, in fact, a clear violation of First Amendment protections against infringement on free exercise of religion. In the All Things Considered segment, Christian activity itself is equated with “the religious right,” a media-created monolith deliberately concocted to smear pro-family activists or even agnostic researchers who document the health risks of the homosexual lifestyle.

Both programs are evidence of a bias against Christianity at National Public Radio that threatens to undermine NPR’s claim to strive for objective reporting. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees NPR, and answers to Congress, should demand an explanation for this obvious bias in NPR’s programming.

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* Robert H. Knight is Director of Cultural Studies at Family Research Council. Tim A. Drenk is an FRC Research Assistant.