And when a tv supporter says that he can imagine St. Paul as a guest on Nightline, one assumes that he has actually spent time pondering that very thing. Sound arguments against TV have been made by many others, and I do not intend to catalogue them. But here, in no particular order, are some reasons why Christians who care about redeeming American culture should do the initially difficult but ultimately satisfying thing and liberate themselves from television. Television is at the heart of consumerism, which is destructive of families, communities, churches, institutions of higher learning, and individuals. Christians who defend television, either explicitly or implicitly through patronage, are defending consumer culture.
Every check sent to the cable television company is a vote in favor of consumerism.
Television has done the Christian Gospel little demonstrable good and a great deal of harm. Most of the cliches hurled in the faces of believers are attached in some way to televised religion. Television trivializes God's creation. Animal sex and death shows have a lot to do with societal perversion and little to do with education. Television trivializes politics.