The Sunday sermons on TV3

The people in charge of TV3 must not watch their own television on Sunday mornings. It is a time slot that has remained as a religious stronghold where some content causes astonishment. Every last Sunday of the month they broadcast Néixer de nou, a space from the Evangelical Council that explains what the country's Protestant community does. It has an initial part that is more informative and can be interesting, but, in the end, every week a different pastor appears who addresses the viewer while looking at the camera. After quoting a biblical passage, the pastor gives a sermon. These are some literal fragments of last Sunday's little sermon: “There are situations in our life, perhaps diagnoses of illness, perhaps situations in our house, our marriages, our friendships..., that can make us fall. But what is the promise that the Lord gives us? It is that, as many times as we fall, the Lord will raise us up again”. With an exhortative attitude he continues: “How do we find this strength to get back up? The answer is not in the actions that we take but in what Jesus has done for us. When you find the name of Jesus, when you open your heart to him, he fills you with hope and your base, your foundation, is completely different before knowing him”. And he continues with a messianic tone and raising his index finger: “We depend on the work of Jesus in our heart. What fills your heart? Because if what fills your heart are temporary things, things that pass, things that today you have and tomorrow you don't, when you fall maybe you don't have the strength to get up. But if you let the name of Jesus enter your heart, that his hope be your foundation, it doesn't matter how many times you fall. In the name of Jesus you will be able to get back up and you will be able to declare ‘The Lord has been my help’”. And finally he concludes: “This is my prayer for you, that in the name of Jesus you find the strength to stand tall”.

The style guide of the public television provides for the presence of religious content and that different denominations are represented there. However, their plurality and focus should be supervised, because the Sunday morning programs seem neglected by the content managers. But the most questionable thing is that television is used as an instrument of proselytism. The pastor addresses the viewer directly, looks straight into the camera, and proposes an adherence to Jesus. He takes advantage of the mechanisms of television to persuade the viewer and establish a spiritual relationship with them. The screen is used as an altar. The style guide also warns that TV3 cannot make an uncritical transfer of its space, and that is what it is doing right now, leaving these programs in God's hands. It is obvious that the internal agreements that support these spaces at TV3 must be reviewed, because these sermons are very difficult to justify on a public television station of a non-denominational country that has the duty to maintain principles of neutrality and pluralism.