It's" a holy
Local ministers
By ALECIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer
The problems of Jim and
Tammy Bakker and the battle over
the PTL Club have had a negative
impact on the image of televan
gelism. According to local mini
sters, the controversy has wea
kened the credibility of
televangelists but it may benefit
local churches.
"I'm not just amazed, I'm
abhorrent!" said Manuel Wort
man, the United Methodist Cam
pus Minister, when asked about
the Bakker Falwell televangelist
controversy. "Those of us in the
mainstream are amazed at the
amount of money that televange
lists bring in and expend on
salaries and houses. Most of us
have found that they are doing just
what they have now been proved
to have been doing. If we haven't
said 'see, I told you so already,
we have felt that."
Robert Seymour, the minister
of Olin T. Binkley, said, "I haven't
had any confidence in this kind
of ministry (televangelism) for a
long time. It is already damaging
to the televangelist movement, but
people have short memories and
in a few years it will be ancient
history."
James O. Abrahamson, the
pastor of the Chapel Hill Bible
Church, said, "It is better that this
controversy, as ugly and embar
rassing as it has been, be exposed
now than continue. Many people
have suspected what is going on
for a long time."
Pastor Evans of the United
Christian Fellowship of Chapel
Hill said he was surprised that
people have been so alarmed that
an evangelist could make a mis
take. "It is a shame that this
controversy has been dealt with
publicly and not privately by the
church."
Both Evans and Abrahamson's
ministries are evangelical, but
neither is directly related to the
televangelist movement. Neither
Seymour's nor Wortman's minis
try is associated with the evangelist
movement.
Abrahamson, Seymour and
Wortman believe that televange
lism's lack of credibility may
benefit local and community
churches. Wortman believes
this will not affect most main
stream churches because most of
their finances come from local
church members. However, this
could go in favor of local churches
because there is public accounta
bility of funds, or accountability
to those who contribute, he said.
"Prosperity Christianity is not
what I consider Christianity to be.
In my way of thinking, televan
gelism is not the way the church
should be. Televangelism is a form
of religious entertainment it's
like Johnny Carson with a reli
gious host. The church as I under
stand it is a community of faith,
with a focus on people being
American Heart
Association av
mess
preach on televangelism saga
present as people," Wortman said.
"My fear is that so many of the
contributors are the poor, the
emotionally unstable and the
elderly, who, for whatever reason,
send money without adequately
informed judgments," Wortman
said. "There are some people who
are ideologically bound by a belief
pattern that you are supposed to
send money to get into heaven."
Seymour agreed with Wortman
that the poor and the elderly are
being harmed by televangelism. "I
think it is clear that the major
damage done by the televangelists
is that they are exploiting vulner
able people who give money in
good faith who don't have the
money to give," Seymour said.
"This is a way of robbing the
poor."
Evans said that he does not see
local churches benefiting from the
controversy. "A church that
teaches tithing will not be threa
tened at all," he said.
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Wortman said that people who
have seen that corruption can exist
'n televangelism will give their
money to local, or community
churches where there is more
credibility. "The difficult thing for
us now is to discern who has
credibility," he said.
Abrahamson said, "A distinc
tion needs to be made between
legitimate televangelists, such as
Billy Graham, and the 'empire
builders.' Billy Graham's first
intent is preaching, not fund
raising like Oral Roberts, Falwell
and the Bakkers. Graham's min
istry will be affected, but not
devastated, because some people
do not see the distinction between
legitimate televangelists and
others."
Wartmon said, "The issue at
stake here is character. It is not
just Jim Bakker, it is Gary Hart,
it is Ted Kennedy, it is all of those
people who have the public's
trust."
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In need of a computer?
Here is where to look
By KAREN SMILEY
Staff Writer
A variety of computers and
software are available across
campus for student and faculty
use this summer, according to
Lisa Morrow, spokesperson for
the Microcomputing Support
Center.
There are seven locations,
with a total of 40 PCs, 37
Macintoshes, three Apple lie's,
two NEC letter-quality printers
and one Apple LaserWriter.
The computers are located in
the Undergraduate Library
microcomputer room; the base
ment of the Health Sciences
Library, 232 Davis Library (PC
lab); 7001 Davis Library (Mac
lab); the basement of Phillips
Hall, rooms 14 and 28; Gardner
Hall, room 05; and Craige
Residence Hall. The computer
room in Venable Hall will be
open during the second summer
session.
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Reservations are not required
for any of the computers but
they are required for the letter
quality printers, Morrow said.
These printers are located in the
Undergraduate library and
Davis library. Reservations may
be made by phone and must be
claimed within 10 minutes of the
reservation time.
There are assistants in each
lab who are trained and avail
able to give tutorials in several
supported word processors: PC
Write, WordPerfect, MS Word
and MacWrite. These pro
grams, as well as other software
such as Lotus and Systat, are
available in the labs and may
be checked out with a student
ID or driver's license.
Several summer hands-on
training workshops are being
offered by the MSC, Morrow
said. They are free of charge to
all staff, faculty and students,
she said.
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