God Wants Your Money

Another urban legend bites the dust:

Televangelists devote less time to fundraising than commercial television does airing commercials. That is the latest finding of Stephen Winzenburg, a communications professor at Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa. He just released his eighth independently funded survey of religious programs.

On average, televangelists use 17 percent of their airtime fundraising and promoting their programs, while commercial television devotes 28 percent.

Winzenburg has been studying television ministries for 25 years and takes televangelists to task for some practices (like refusing to reveal financial statements), but his studies have consistently found that fundraising is a different matter. "The criticism so often is that TV preachers spend so much time asking for money," Winzenburg said. "To be honest, they don't."

The programs of Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, and Paul Crouch were among the least focused on financial appeals, spending less than 2 percent of airtime fundraising.