David Noebel
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David A. Noebel (born August 27, 1936) is an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
religious leader and writer. He is the former director of Summit Ministries, in
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in the
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. Since the 1960s, he has written widely on the relationship between religion and popular culture, and is an outspoken critic of
secular humanism Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system, or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basi ...
,Paul Kurtz, "Secular Humanism Faces a New Attack
", ''Free Inquiry'' 21:3, 2001
which he describes as unscientific and a religion. Noebel was a former Associate Evangelist of
Billy James Hargis Billy James Hargis (August 3, 1925 – November 27, 2004) was an American Christian evangelist. At the height of his popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, his ''Christian Crusade'' ministry was broadcast on over 500 radio stations and 250 televisi ...
's Christian Crusade.Member biographies
for the
Council for National Policy The Council for National Policy (CNP) is an umbrella organization and networking group that advocates for conservative and Republican Party initiatives in the United States. It was launched in 1981 during the Reagan administration by Tim LaHay ...
, accessed 2008-02-21
Noebel served as vice-president and president of American Christian College, which Hargis had founded in 1971 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It closed in 1977, three years after Hargis resigned following allegations of sexual misconduct against Hargis. He was a member of the
Council for National Policy The Council for National Policy (CNP) is an umbrella organization and networking group that advocates for conservative and Republican Party initiatives in the United States. It was launched in 1981 during the Reagan administration by Tim LaHay ...
beginning in 1984, and a candidate for Congress against Rep.
Robert Kastenmeier Robert William Kastenmeier (January 24, 1924March 20, 2015) was an American Democratic politician who represented central Wisconsin in the United States House of Representatives for 32 years, from 1959 until 1991. He was a key sponsor of the Cop ...
.


Life

Noebel was educated at the Milwaukee Bible College (now Grace Christian University),
Hope College Hope College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Holland, Michigan, United States. It was originally opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled. The first freshman coll ...
(
Holland, Michigan Holland is a city in Ottawa County, Michigan, Ottawa and Allegan County, Michigan, Allegan counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in the West Michigan, western region of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula, the city is si ...
, B.A.), and the
University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...
(M.A.). He studied philosophy in graduate school at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
. He was ordained a minister in 1961. He was pastor of Grace Bible Church, Madison, Wisconsin. In 1962, Noebel founded Summit Ministries, a Christian leadership training organization designed as an educational Christian ministry. It was founded on his belief that modern society is harmful to Christian youth and affects their worldview, potentially causing them to renounce their Christian faith. He directed Summit Ministries since 1964 until his retirement, when the board unanimously endorsed Jeff Myers to succeed his retirement. The ministry grew in size considerably after being mentioned on
James Dobson James Clayton Dobson Jr. (born April 21, 1936) is an American evangelicalism, evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family (FotF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s, he was ranked as one of the m ...
's radio show.Andy Presler. He is editor of their monthly journal, ''The Journal''. In 1965, Noebel wrote a pamphlet, "Communism, Hypnotism and The Beatles." It was followed in 1966 by ''Rhythm, Riots, and Revolution'', which added to the debate about the presence of Communism in music, especially
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...
and
folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
.D. Lankford, Jr., Ronald (2005). ''Folk Music USA: The Changing Voice of Protest'', New York: Schirmer Trade Books. . P. 129. He saw contemporary popular music as a
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
plot to brainwash American youth. Unlike some other religious critics of popular music, he defended his analysis with references outside the Bible, using scholarly footnotes and quotations. His work was widely adopted by later critics of rock music.Johnny Marr, "Christ, Communists, and Rock'n'Roll: Anti-Rock and Roll Books"
WFMU, 1997, Accessed 2007-02-21
From 1971–1977, Noebel served as vice-president and president, as well as professor of Biblical Studies at American Christian College, founded by the evangelist
Billy James Hargis Billy James Hargis (August 3, 1925 – November 27, 2004) was an American Christian evangelist. At the height of his popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, his ''Christian Crusade'' ministry was broadcast on over 500 radio stations and 250 televisi ...
in
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
. He also joined the
American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...
and the Southwestern Philosophical Society. He joined the
John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, right-wing populist, and ...
in the 1960s, but left in 1986. Over the next several years, Noebel wrote about the dangers he saw in popular music,
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
and
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. Christian Crusade Recordings of Tulsa released a
spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...
album, ''The Marxist Minstrels'' (1973). Its back cover promotes the book by the same name. Published in 1973, it expanded on Noebel's theories about Communist intentions in rock music. Noebel wrote ''The Homosexual Revolution'' (1977), dedicated to
Anita Bryant Anita Jane Bryant (March 25, 1940 – December 16, 2024) was an American singer and anti-gay rights activist. She had three top 20 hits in the United States in the early 1960s. She was the 1958 Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and a brand ...
. He says that "homosexuality rapidly is becoming one of America's most serious social problems."Jean Hardisty.
Constructing Homophobia: Colorado's Right-Wing Attack on Homosexuals"
''Public Eye'' magazine, March 1993
He later co-authored ''AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: A Special Report'' (1986), and contributed frequent articles against homosexuality to ''The Journal''. In 1991, he wrote ''Understanding the Times: The Religious Worldviews of Our Day and the Search for Truth'', a textbook interpreting current intellectual movements, including biblical Christianity, secular humanism, Marxism–Leninism, the New Age Movement, Islam, and postmodernism. It is widely used among Protestant schools, churches and colleges, either in its unabridged or abridged formats.
Ministry Watch MinistryWatch is an independent American evangelical Christian organization that evaluates protestant ministries for financial accountability and transparency, and to provide independent advice to individuals considering making donations to these ...
described it as his most notable book. The author D. J. Grothe cited it as changing his life, inadvertently, by introducing him to humanism.DJ Grothe.
Responding to the Religious Right"
, ''Free Inquiry'' 22:3, 2002.
In 2000, Noebel co-authored '' Mind Siege: The Battle for Truth in the New Millennium'' with Timothy LaHaye, a generalized attack on secular humanism. Paul Kurtz, editor-in-chief of ''Free Inquiry'', noted that the authors claim that
e secular humanist ideology dominates the major institutions of American life-including the
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, the
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, the
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, the National Association of Biology Teachers, the major television networks, the major foundations (Ford, Rockefeller, etc.), the
National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is a left-wing progressive activist group and the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partners ...
, the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, the
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,
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,
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,
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, and two thousand other colleges and universities!
Noebel has also created numerous educational materials, including textbooks (with teacher's guides) and video curricula.


Works


Books

*
Communism, Hypnotism and The Beatles
', 1965 * ''Rhythm, riots, and revolution;: An analysis of the Communist use of music, the Communist master music plan'', 1966 * ''Does the National Council of Churches speak for you?'', 1969 * ''The Beatles: A Study in Drugs, Sex, & Revolution'', 1969 (pamphlet) * ''The Marxist Minstrels: A Handbook on Communist Subversion of Music'', 1974 * ''The Homosexual Revolution: End Time Abomination'', 1977 * ''The Slaughter of the Innocent'', 1979 * ''The Legacy of John Lennon: Charming or Harming a Generation?'', 1982 * ''AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome'', 1986 (with Wayne C. Lutton and Paul Cameron) * ''Understanding the Times: The Religious Worldviews of our Day and the Search for Truth'' Harvest House, 1991; 2nd edition 2006 * '' Clergy in the Classroom: The Religion of Secular Humanism'', 1995 (with J. F. Baldwin and Kevin J. Bywater) * '' Mind Siege: The Battle for Truth in the New Millennium'', 2000 (with Timothy LaHaye) * '' The Battle for Truth'', 2001; republished as ''Worldviews in Collision'', Harvest House, 2008 * ''Thinking Like a Christian: Understanding and Living a Biblical Worldview'' (with Chuck Edwards) B&H, 2002 * ''Countering Culture: Arming Yourself to Confront Non-Biblical Worldviews'' (and Chuck Edwards) B&H, 2004 * ''You Can Still Trust the Communists...to Be Communists (Socialists and Progressives too)'' (and Fred Schwarz) Christian Anti-Communism Crusade, 2010


Sound recordings

* ''The Marxist Minstrels''. Tulsa: Christian Crusade Recordings, 1968.


Video recordings

* ''Mind Siege: The Battle for the Truth'' (with Tim LaHaye)


References


External links


Summit Ministries WebsitePage on the Christian Worldview Network
including biography and article index {{DEFAULTSORT:Noebel, David A. 1937 births American Protestant ministers and clergy University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Living people American religious writers New Right (United States) John Birch Society members People from Manitou Springs, Colorado American critics of atheism Hope College alumni Activists from Wisconsin American pamphleteers American male non-fiction writers Activists from Colorado Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Anti-LGBTQ Christian activists