Why so Much Mail?

“Junk mail” is a bit of derisive nomenclature commonly used to refer to the volume of unsolicited mail sent to us each year. It gains easy access to our homes. Here is how we unwittingly give ourselves away.

We do lots of business by mail. We subscribe to magazines, send donations to secular and religious charities, apply for credit cards, and borrow money. All of which gets us on mailing lists. Our unknowing cooperation doesn’t stop there. The organizations with which we correspond indicate similar businesses or charities that might interest us. When we respond to any direct mail appeal, it shows that we are susceptible.

List rentals and direct mail appeals are common today. Many professional list-preparing companies exist. They prepare lists based on public announcements, such as weddings, births, and the purchase of houses. Direct mail is a major way of getting sellers and buyers and donors and charities together. Many products, such as magazines, rely heavily on this kind of solicitation. And it makes up a large part of the income of many “cause” organizations as well as of countless charities and religious organizations.

“Direct mail” appeals are expensive; their “packages” must be written and designed. There are printing and mailing costs. If it is a first-time package from a particular company our names and addresses were probably on a mailing list rented from someone else. Since a good response to one of these mailings is just two per cent, which doesn’t cover the costs for the entire mailing, the supplier or charity must find ways to do so (even so, a two per cent response is far higher than for other forms of advertising). Renting lists to others is one way to cover costs. Mailing lists are almost never sold; they are rented for a specified one-time use, or they may be swapped between organizations that agree to make one-time use of all or part of each other’s lists.

Despite its high costs, direct mail can be less expensive than a billboard or magazine ad—if it works. Ads in newspapers and general magazines are only appropriate for services and products of broad interest. The same is true for television. Direct mail promotions are efficient; they are only sent to those who have already qualified as possible prospects based on their past purchases or contributions. It would be difficult for smaller organizations or ones of special interest to promote their services or expand their clientele without list rentals and direct mail advertising.

Direct mail advertising provides people with information about products, charities, and services in which they have shown an interest. But for those people who want to avoid such unsolicited mailings the Direct Mail Marketing Association has provided—at the government’s urging—a mail preference service to either have your name removed or added to mailing lists. Although the required form emphasizes name removal, more people are now requesting that their names be added to rather than removed from lists.

A Christian needs to ask if it is ethical for an organization to rent its mailing lists. There is no simple answer. Even organizations that disapprove of renting or exchanging their active lists will often rent their “inactives,” for example, subscribers of a magazine who have not renewed. If there are organizations that don’t even rent “inactives,” chances are they do rent lists from others. In both cases the ethical question remains. If it is wrong to rent out a list, is it not also wrong to rent lists yourself? If someone enters into a transaction and specifies that his name not be passed along to anyone else, such a request should be honored. As long as that remedy is available we think that any ethical objections are subsumed under the broader question of the ethics of advertising.

A person can’t refuse to see television ads when watching a commercial program. If you read newspapers or magazines, other than those that do not have advertising, you can’t avoid advertisements. Almost all advertising is unsolicited. And direct mail packages can be thrown away. You don’t even need to open them (hence the importance given to the allurement of the envelope by direct mail experts).

CHRISTIANITY TODAY does rent its subscriber lists to other organizations if, after screening, the organization appears to be reputable and the products or services seem to be worthy of consideration. Since more than three-fourths of our subscribers became such through direct mail solicitation, it would be inconsistent to refuse to rent or exchange lists. From time to time the magazine now carries a brief notice informing the readers of this policy and of the options available.

Meditation On an Iceberg

“It may be only the tip of the iceberg.” That is the evaluation of one observer of the church-state scene after H. Curtis Meanor, federal district judge at Newark, New Jersey, ruled unconstitutional the use of $40,000 in federal funds for the teaching of Transcendental Meditation (see news article, page 56).

Albert Menendez, an executive with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said his organization has documented appropriations of some $500,000 in local, state, and federal tax funds for Transcendental Meditation activities in a five year period ending in 1976. The fact that TM has shown up from coast to coast in such public institutions as high schools, prisons, and adult education institutes seems to confirm that TM has done considerable dipping into the tax till. One reason that church-state watchdogs have no accurate figure on how much government money has been spent on TM is that it has obtained appropriations under several names. The courses at the high schools in the Newark area were named “Science of Creative Intelligence for Secondary Education—First Year Course—Dawn of the First Year of the Age of Enlightenment.” The missionaries of the Hindu-based movement have promoted the integration of their teaching into tax-supported programs by identifying it as ways of learning better study techniques, relaxation, or communications. Even in the literature inviting people to pay their own way into the classes labeled as TM, the assertion is made that TM is secular and not religious. The deception has worked all too often.

Judge Meanor did not buy the claim that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s disciples were not teaching religion, however. The value of his decision is that it clearly labels TM for what it is, a religious movement with doctrines and liturgies. He reached his conclusion after hearing thorough presentations from both sides. TM’s lawyers, from one of the nation’s top firms, presented voluminous exhibits to prove their case, and they lost.

Even if the Meanor decision is not affirmed by any appellate courts, the record in the Newark case is full of information that will be helpful to those who need documentation on TM as a religion. And it should also be an encouragement to those who might be somewhat weary in their attempts to keep anti-Christian teaching out of public school curricula. If the Christian faith cannot be promoted in American institutions, neither can any other. Vigilant citizens can use this ruling to chip away at that iceberg.

Exploited Children

Last month the United States Senate and the House of Representatives almost unanimously passed separate bills that would outlaw the use of minors in producing pornography and would make it a crime to distribute material depicting minors in sexually explicit acts. A house-senate conference committee needs to resolve differences in the two bills.

The condemnation of child pornography is relatively easy for lawmakers, the courts, and the public at large. But let’s face it, the vast quantities of child pornography that have been prepared and sold are proof that there are thousands, maybe millions, of people who are willing to pay high prices to see pictures of naked children engaging in sexual acts. So there is a constituency who will seek to evade the law and who will decry the government’s attempt to legislate morality.

But the United States government does have a constitutional responsibility to use its powers to protect people (whether they be young or old) from being abused. It would be preferable simply to persuade people to refrain from abusing other people. But when voluntary compliance fails, then in clear cases of abuse the force of law is warranted.

Support for legislation outlawing child pornography is not to be taken as indifference to adult pornography. Both are wrong in the sight of God. However, adult pornography usually involves informed consent among all concerned. Both producers and users are clearly sinning, but there are sins which it may not be expedient to make crimes. Bringing legitimate pressures against adult pornography by refusing to patronize or by restricting the places of business must continue to be a main concern.

The same bills also make it a crime to transport boys across state lines for the purposes of engaging in prostitution. It has long been a crime, under the Mann Act, to transport girls for that purpose. To many people it will come as a revelation that there are such things as boy prostitutes. Indeed there are, perhaps as many as 300,000, aged 8 to 17, in the United States alone. In many other countries boy prostitution is even more widespread. Such boys sell themselves to men, many of whom are otherwise heterosexual. Two responsible studies of this hidden problem have recently appeared and we recommend them to those who might be able to minister to these neglected and abused youngsters.

For Money or Love: Boy Prostitution in America (Vanguard, 236 pp., $8.95) is by Robin Lloyd, a journalist who began carefully investigating the subject when his own teenage boys were solicited near a beach one summer. Sexual Experience Between Men and Boys: Exploring the Pederast Underground (Association Press, 247 pp., $10.95) is by Parker Rossman, a clergyman and former professor at Yale Divinity School, whose study follows social scientific guidelines and is based in part on questionnaires and interviews with 1,000 men who have sexual relations with boys, and with 300 of the boys.

One Out Of Ten

How many people would fly if they knew that there was a one out of ten chance that the plane would crash? Probably not many. But flying is in fact safer (on the basis of fatalities per passenger mile) than riding in a car.

How many people would drink alcoholic beverages if they knew that there was a one out of ten chance that by doing so they would become alcoholics? Yet, the number of people who drink is rising despite the high incidence of alcoholism. And alcoholism affects not only the sufferer himself, but those around him. Nor is alcoholism an inconvenience, such as a minor automobile accident from which one quickly recovers, but it is chronically debilitating.

Social pressures to drink are apparently increasing, and at younger and younger ages. Many Christians defend drinking in moderation. But in the light of the high incidence of alcoholism in many societies around the world, Christians and anyone else interested in being a good steward of the creation entrusted to us by God should seriously question the wisdom of drinking. Is it right to take such a needless risk of becoming alcoholic? Is it right to set an example for others that can lead to their becoming alcoholics? The chances are one out of ten—for those who drink.

X-Rating Rock Radio

Although concerned parents do what they can to reduce the amount of sex and violence their children see on television, few of them realize that what is heard on the radio may do far more damage.

Consider this sampling of just the titles of the “Top Forty” hits on typical teeny bopper stations: “Nobody Does It Better” (Carly Simon); “I Just Wanna Make Love to You” (Foghat); “Do Ya Wanna Get Funky with Me” (Peter Brown). The lyrics of the songs fill in the details. While one singer croons “How could it be wrong when it feels so right” another angry lover asks his girl “Do ya wanna make love, or do ya just wanna fool around?”

Sex on radio is nothing new. Bob Dylan’s still-popular song “Lay Lady Lay” must be nearly ten years old. But many of the risqué lyrics of the sixties were either unintelligible to the listener or else drowned out by driving rhythms and twanging guitars. Today the lyrics are more prominent. This is unfortunate, because musical groups are now expressing perverted views of love and sex even more explicitly.

Three factors contribute to the mindnumbing effect of radio. First, it can be everywhere—in the student’s bedroom, in the car, in school study halls, and in stores and restaurants. He wakes to it in the morning, and goes to sleep to it at night. Second, composers combine debased lyrics with catchy tunes or rhythms. Third, repetition increases the problem. The more popular a song becomes, the more often it is played. The biggest hits can be heard two, three, or even four times an hour.

What can concerned parents do to minimize their children’s listening to such radio? First, don’t issue a decree against all rock or country music, even if you can’t stand it yourself. Reserve your condemnations for that which is lyrically contrary to the Word of God or outside the realm of good taste. That will keep you plenty busy.

Second, teach your children discernment. Explain that they may listen to any music that does not pervert or cheapen love or sex. They may listen to the radio more closely and realize for themselves how disgusting most of it is. Parents will have to be discerning in their listening habits, too. In most locations this calls for much greater use of the FM band than the AM.

Finally, encourage creative alternatives. Help your children spend more time reading. Give them music lessons. Attend local concerts and cultural events as a family. Don’t substitute television for radio. Encourage the appreciation of a variety of musical genres, including folk, classical, rock, jazz, and religious. And practice this general rule: don’t prohibit one kind of activity without providing a realistic alternative.

‘I Can Do All Things’

“I can do all things in him [Christ] who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13) is an oft-quoted verse. But as is usually the case it needs to be understood in its context. Paul does not mean that anything he wants to do can be done because of the power Christ supplies. Despite the value that he sees in planning to visit the Philippians, he is not certain that he will be released from prison to do so (1:27). He might want to see the Philippians, but he does not presume that he will see them. He is inclined to think he will, but the matter is in God’s hands.

What Paul means by “doing all things” is having the strength that God supplies to do whatever is God’s will for Paul. That includes at times being “abased” and at times “abounding,” at times having “abundance” and at times “facing hunger” (4:12).

Paul had learned to be content no matter what the circumstances (4:11). And he could be content because Christ was supplying the needed strength not only to endure hardship but, just as important, to enjoy pleasant circumstances without feeling as if they were owed to him.

Finally, notice that Paul is giving a personal testimony, and he obviously wants his fellow Christians to come to his level of maturity. But he is not suggesting that we use his words as an excuse for merely telling our fellow Christians to “be content” when they are hungry or otherwise suffering. If it is within our power to help others, then, as the Philippian Christians were used of God, so God might use us to fulfill the promise that “my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (4:19).

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