Religious broadcasters remove director who opposed politicking

Church & State, Mar 2002

The new president of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) quickly lost his job by daring to question the organization's involvement in far-right politics.

Wayne Pederson, former executive vice president of Northwestern Radio in Roseville, Minn., was scheduled to assume the presidency of the group during its annual convention in mid February. Instead, he ended up submitting his resignation.

Pederson ran afoul of Religious Right activists in the NRB, led by Focus on the Family head James C. Dobson, by asserting in a newspaper interview that the organization should present a less political image.

In a Jan. 5 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Pederson said that when people think of the NRB "they think of the political right, and I think that's unfair. We missed our main calling with that."

Continued Pederson, "But what's probably more disturbing to me is that evangelicals are identified politically more than theologically. We get associated with the far Christian right and marginalized. To me the important thing is to keep the focus on what's important to us spiritually."

Pederson noted that the NRB's constitution doesn't say anything about politics.

"Our constitution says we're to make the Christian media as effective as it can be," he said. "We need to not be pulled into the political arena."

Pederson's comments did not sit well with several Religious Right leaders, who began clamoring for his resignation.

"I think this is a tragic thing for the NRB," said the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association, a group that regularly broadcasts far-right political content over Christian radio. "Mr. Pederson has criticized those he calls the members of the Religious Right.... It is just tragic. I really think Mr. Pederson would best serve the cause to step aside, because if he does not there is a good chance, a real good chance, that either he would be replaced or that another organization more representative of our views would come forth."

Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy for Dobson's Focus on the Family, told the Star Tribune he was also concerned.

"This kind of thing represents a complete break with the recent history of the NRB and the leadership of Brandt Gustavson, who died last year," Minnery said.

Fundamentalist author and longtime Religious Right activist Tim LaHaye also weighed in.

"I think we need to reappraise whether we want him to run this organization, because what he is proposing would result in a sea-change from what we had at the NRB during the days of [former NRB President] Ben Armstrong and Brandt Gustavson," LaHaye said. "We don't need a passive, non-involved organization."

LaHaye and others expressed concern because the NRB dropped a plan to invite House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-- Texas) to give an address at the group's national convention last month. Over the years top Republican office-holders have been asked to speak at NRB meetings, but President Bill Clinton was denied an invitation during the 1990s. (For more information on the NRB's partisan politicking, see "God's Air Force," April 2000 Church & State.)

Pederson tried to defend his call for a new direction, saying, "I myself am a religious and political conservative. But it's important for NRB to position itself in a non-partisan way."

The Washington Times reported that Dobson, infuriated over Pederson's remarks, convened a meeting of Religious Right leaders who demanded Pederson's removal. One anonymous source called the meeting "an end run that bypassed the governing process."

The NRB's executive committee subsequently voted 7-1 to accept Pederson's resignation. A 47-36 vote by the full committee confirmed the ouster.

Pederson had held the job only six weeks.