Net profits: Chip Berlet tracks computer networks of the religious right

Afterimage, Feb-March, 1995 by Grant Kester

CB: The populist rhetoric is the sales pitch. There are so many issues that are bundled together here. One is simply the use of the technology to propagate evangelism. Mostly this is political persuasion based on very strong ideological and theological convictions. If you're a Calvinist (with apologies to Calvin from whom Calvinism diverted, just as Christianity diverted from Christ) then you believe that people are basically sinful and that they will correct their behavior through punishment and discipline. Thus a lot of the rhetoric is designed to convince people that what the country really needs is discipline and that people who do not behave properly need to be punished so that they will change their behavior.

This explains a lot about the welfare debate and a whole range of hot button issues. If you believe that homosexuals are sinful, even if you believe you should hate the sin but love the sinner, you're still going to go after the practice of homosexuality. If you believe that the feminist movement is destroying the God-given structure of the family, then you're going to go after feminism as an enemy of America. Is that propaganda? It isn't false propaganda if you actually believe these things. However it is certainly destructive if you're a woman, a gay man, or a lesbian in the current climate. But I think people underestimate how many people involved in the Christian Right actually believe that they're doing the right thing, no matter how destructive it is to other people. Another issue is the use of the electronic media in a demagogic manner. There are Christians and moral Conservatives, and I would include Newt Gingrich in this category, who will say just about anything, without regard to the facts, to advance a political agenda and broaden their own personal power base.

GK: You are describing the various rhetorical levels at which these information systems function. On the one hand there is the proselytizing function of witnessing over the Internet, which would imply a more open architecture. Anyone is free to join a given bulletin board or chat group; you may be a lurker who is drawn in and brought to Christ in this manner. In this context some of the users may not be evangelicals or even Christians.

CB: You often see interesting philosophical and theological debates taking place on computer networks. There are also people sharing Biblical passages about specific emotional needs. You also see just pure networking. People use these systems just like they would use internal office calendars to plan appointments and to schedule events ("don't have your camp revival on this date because there is a church festival already scheduled in the next county over"). Much of the community-based activity echoes what's available in print. There have been concordances and Bible study aids for a long time. But now you're seeing that kind of information circulate on-line. The electronic media have attracted the full range from Conservatives to the far right. Conservatives have the "Town Hall" section on Compuserve. There are thousands of local Christian Evangelical BBSs, mostly aimed at local audiences. These even offer computer games for Christians, with Bible study contest questions like "how many colors were in Joseph's coat of many colors?" But it's important to understand that you also have Lyndon LaRouche on-line, and you have the Klan on-line. There is a tremendous diversity of right-wing and conservative Christian discourse taking place.