We don't want to work with the secular world or anything that's not built around Christ," Carl Thompson, LifeLine's vice president, says emphatically into the phone.
LifeLine, a program of AmeriVision, an Oklahoma City-based long distance company, donates 10 percent of its clients' monthly home phone bills to conservative Christian causes such as Randall Terry's Operation Rescue and Pat Robertson's American Center of Law and Justice. By creating the first fully wired kingdom of God, Thompson dreams that his company can save America from the perils of moral turpitude. "Our goal is to change the world for Christ with every call," Thompson says.
Companies like LifeLine are among a growing number that have infused simple consumer transactions with political power and the promise of social change. Although such companies make up less than 5 percent of the long distance market, LifeLine has grown to more than 600,000 customers since its founding in 1991. Thompson claims that 40,000 to 50,000 customers sign up each month. By 1998, he hopes to serve 3.5 million customers enough to donate US$84 million a year to causes that "will turn America into a church-ruled nation."
A former atheist, Thompson says he "encountered the fear of God" after his daughter took him to church a few years ago. He says he took a job at LifeLine because it was what God wanted him to do. Now he leads Bible study at the company and derides homosexuals for "bringing destruction to millions of people." In its marketing efforts, LifeLine tries to draw customers from AT&T and MCI by bashing the telcos for supporting gays and lesbians through diversity training seminars and domestic partner benefits.
LifeLine's moral autonomy is so sacred that it decided to stop renting lines from long distance carrier Wiltel and bought its own switch for more than $1 million. Thompson thinks it's worth it. "We want to use our own switches and our own networks, so we don't have to rely on the secular world," he boasts. "We're not here to make people like us. We're here to take over in the name of Jesus."
Rachel Lehmann-Haupt
SCANS
Calling for Christ
