[The 90’s raw: National Religious Broadcasters]

Raw footage for the award-winning series The 90's. Three lengthy economics-based interviews, taken at the National Religious Broadcasters convention. One with Don McAlvany, one with a CEO of a company that is selling financial advice for Christians, and one with David Bradshaw.

00:00Copy video clip URL Tape opens at a convention for religious broadcasters. There are lots of booths, and most of the attendees are men in suits. A Lutheran pastor plays a basketball game, and the man running the game is a Christian college sports reporter.

05:20Copy video clip URL Interview with Don McAlvany, a conservative religious, politics and economics commentator, who talks about the Gulf War and economics. He calls the war a mistake and thinks that we shouldn’t have gone in, but now we have no choice: “The enthusiasm for the war is going to run thinly,” whereas Iraqi troops have a great motivation. “This war will not be a slam dunk.” He goes on to talk about the Soviet role in the war. “Kaddafi is a puppet of the Soviet Union.”

15:02Copy video clip URL McAlvany talks about Israel’s possible role in the war. “In the wake of this war… there will be tremendous pressure on Israel to give away the territories.” He then goes back to the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. “We’re looking at a very large and formidable Soviet machine,” believing that the Soviet Union is trying to get at the Persian Gulf oil fields. “The United States should cease all aid… to the Soviet Union” until they break up labor camps, free eastern European countries and stop arms. He believes the Soviets are deceiving the Bush administration.

22:20Copy video clip URL McAlvany discusses the debt crisis. He criticizes Reagan and the Congress, but not because of the military budget. Videomaker Eddie Becker disagrees, but McAlvany continues on about a speculative binge in the ’80s. “Next will be the insurance companies,” because they are large holders of real estate. “Liberals and conservatives alike abused the system.” “The war will exacerbate the problem.”

30:07Copy video clip URL As for the US as a producer, McAlvany agrees with Becker that we are declining, comparing the situation to Britain’s. McAlvany talks about his recommendations to individuals in dealing with the crisis and protecting their own assets. He thinks there’s nothing we can do to avert a crash. Becker asks about the inevitability of a fall of an empire, and McAlvany cites the financial problems with democracy. “We need to go back to a system where the government is no longer interfering with the free market system.” Depression is natural, he says.

37:28Copy video clip URL McAlvany believes in a constitutional republic, and that people should have very limited terms. That is, he does not believe in professional politicians. He also wants a flat tax, and a reduction in dependence on government.

39:46Copy video clip URL Becker asks about the religious theme of his opinions, and McAlvany sees the nation in spiritual and moral decline as well as an economic. “We have forgotten God.” He thinks a revival is imminent. Becker then asks about inner city problems and race relations. McAlvany sees the answer as being the same as in prisons, where religion can change people. On the subject of apartheid, McAlvany says that what follows apartheid is important, and says that communists are trying to gain influence. The interview ends.

46:13Copy video clip URL Shots from the convention. A financial corporation selling coins of the Bible and ways to get out of debt. Becker questions him about the strategies they suggest for getting out of debt. “The basis of stewardship is turning your mind Godward in terms of your finances.” They talk at length about wealth and money in relation to Christianity.

01:04:46Copy video clip URL More general shots. Becker looks at a radio broadcast advertising a book. Tape cuts to another radio station, CBN: America’s Christian Voice, where two men talk about problems in marriages.

01:11:40Copy video clip URL Interview with David Bradshaw, the producer of a radio show about economics. He talks about the perceptions of Islam, and “Fundamental Militant Islam.” They restart the interview, and Bradshaw talks about solving problems from the inside out. He then talks at length about economics and the gold backing of money. He encourages people to keep part of their wealth in tangible assets.

01:22:00Copy video clip URL Becker asks about the current crisis, and Bradshaw addresses this by turning to Biblical economics. He encourages Christians to turn back to this–“moderation in all things”–and talks about what the church’s agenda for the ’90s should be. Becker questions him about the company he is promoting, Swiss America.

01:33:00Copy video clip URL Becker asks Bradshaw about the war. Bradshaw feels the US has been deceived. He talks about it in terms of economics, and says the war is unconstitutional. He believes that all the problems start from within ourselves. He talks about Islam not spreading in Africa as a result of the war, because funds were cut off, and thinks the war is ideological, and Biblical Christianity is a “sleeping giant.”

01:44:38Copy video clip URL Becker asks about why Bradshaw is considered controversial, and he says that people are too attached to the status quo. He also attributes his controversial nature to the fact that he cannot be pigeon-holed. He believes in the “unity in the essentials, diversity in non-essentials and charity in all things.”

01:49:26Copy video clip URL Bradshaw talks about his personal history. “I believe the ’90s should go down as the decade of networking.” Bradshaw shows us his newsletter, and tells us what his radio program will center on. He mentions the redemption to the media and education. Bradshaw is ambivalent on the subject of public television; it is important to understand the constant existence of a bias, he says. Becker zooms in on a sign that lists things they predict for the 1990s.

01:59:26Copy video clip URL Cuts to the sign for the convention: NRB 91, National Religious Broadcasters. Becker enters the convention. and walks toward the CBN radio stand, and the tape cuts.

02:01:08Copy video clip URL End of tape.