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GUEST: Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator, formerly with the Black Commentator. He is now affiliated with ‘The Black Agenda Report.’

This week’s commentary is called:

Study Shows Uneven Faith-Based Initiative Penetration of Black Churches

There’s a mixture of good news, bad news, ironic news and just plain curious news, in the recent findings of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The Washington-based outfit, broadly considered the most influential Black-led research organization, found that only about two-and-a-half percent of Black churches are currently getting money from the Bush regime’s Faith-Based Initiative programs. That’s good news, since these funds are pure poison – political pollutants designed to bribe Black clergy into marching in George Bush’s parade. The Faith-based Initiative is a two-pronged corruption: First, it subverts the independence of important African American institutions, most notably, the church. Second, it was conceived as a wedge to weaken traditional Black support for public social programs. So it is good to hear that the number of Black churches that have succumbed to Bush’s Midas touch is in very low single digits.

The bad news is, among the two-and-a-half percent of Black churches that do take the money, are many of the biggest congregations in the nation – the so-called mega-churches. It is among these already rich congregations that the Republicans have made a disturbing number of conversions – thanks to the misleadership of charismatic but corrupt mega-preachers who will do or say anything for a buck and for face-time with those in power. Because of their sheer size, these mega-churches can give the impression that there has been a rightward sea-change in Black politics. It’s not true, but the Black mega-preachers are good performers. They are also superb salesmen and women, and what they sell – or sell out – is African American interests. These are the types who denied Harry Belafonte and most of the surviving Black Sixties leadership a microphone at the nationally televised memorial service for Coretta Scott King, this past winter. It was a mega-shame.

The Joint Center’s study surveyed 750 of the estimated 50,000 Black churches in the nation, and found that the average congregation has only about 100 members. In other words, the universe of the Black church is not mega, but mostly micro. These small gatherings of believers and their struggling ministers don’t have the sophistication or resources to apply for George Bush’s bribe money – and I suppose that is a good thing. And very few of these small churches have even been approached by Bush and his henchmen. That’s the curious news. The Republicans don’t really want to spread the money around – they just want to make a big media splash at the mega-churches. The truth is, Republican strategists understand clearly that the core of their party’s base doesn’t want too many Black folks at their political gatherings, where racial code words form the subtext of every conversation.

Mega-churches, mega-money, mega-media. It all adds up to mega-lies. We’re glad the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has brought some clarity to the situation. For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford.