Voices of Faith at Work in the World
Reading the words of an inspired leader may stir your mind. Hearing that leader speak might ignite your soul.
1,248 Programs Available • Free Unlimited Listening
About this Collection
The historical religion programs in this collection came from the archives, library shelves, and back rooms of many organizations. Faith groups represented include African Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Presbyterian, Quaker, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army, United Church of Christ, United Methodist, and others.
This SoundTheology online archive is an independent service of Audio-Rescue.com, provided in conjunction with the United Methodist General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH). Many of these programs would have been lost forever if not saved in this project. The originating institutions have made the recordings available for public access to further private study, scholarship, and research. They retain the rights to the recordings.
This audio collection has been chosen for inclusion in the Library of Congress Radio Preservation Task Force Sound Collection Database.
Randomly-chosen Program From This Collection:
| Is Religion Big Business? |
Speaker(s): Alfred Balk, Del Shields (host) |
Description: Alfred Balk (1930-2010) was an American reporter, nonfiction author, and magazine editor. At the time of this program, he was a feature editor and editor-at-large for The Saturday Review and had just published his book, "The Religion Business." Over his career, Balk wrote groundbreaking articles about housing segregation, the Nation of Islam, the environment, this history of radio, globalization, and Illinois politics, as well as this program's focus: the tax-exempt status of religious organizations. In this program, Balk talks about schemes such as the "buy-back" in which a religious group buys a business for no cost. Then the business is owned by the church, pays no taxes, and partially supports the religious group. Balk suggests it might be best to tax church organizations. There are questions about where the money is kept, what is used for, and what if should be used for. Balk says much of the money is used for deluxe facilities for the church. The question is raised whether a bigger and fancier building is a better dedication to God, or if using the money to help people would be better. Balk wrote more than 100 magazine articles and eight books. In 1991, he moved to Syracuse, New York to teach journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He retired in 1994. | Length: 58:16 | Recording Date: January 10, 1969 | Recorded at: WRVR Radio Studio, New York City |
