Talk:Paul Harvey

Seventh Day Adventist?
At 22:09 on 9 June 2007, someone from 71.32.57.221 added a note to the Family section identifying the religion of some of Paul Harvey's relatives. How is this relevant? And why is this article part of the Seventh Day Adventist church project? A person's religion might be slightly relevant if it played a role in their notable lifetime achievements, and if the claim had a source to cite, but as it currently stands I think the sentence should be removed. Otherwise are we going to go through all of Wikipedia and identify the religion of everyone mentioned? No -- not just their religion, but their relatives religion? What's the point? 72.208.56.148 02:12, 30 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I found a mention of Harvey as a Seventh Day Adventist here but note that his wife, according to all her obits in May 2008, was buried from a Presbyterian church. Maybe they had two different faiths.  Since Harvey's not primarily known as a religious figure, I don't think it's vital to the article unless we are sure.  If sure, it's a nice piece of standard biographical data and should be included.  The NNDB data might be accurate, but I'd be more comfortable with additional sourcing. -- LisaSmall T/ C  18:13, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't think Paul Harvey is a Seventh-day Adventists, given that he has long had a Saturday broadcast, when SDAs observe the Sabbath. He's been a friend of, or at least acquainted with, Billy Graham, who I believe is a Southern Baptist. The only church I've heard him mention favorably in one of his commentaries is The Salvation Army, though I'm sure he has talked favorably of others. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.234.222.23 (talk) 14:08, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

MaynardClark (talk) 06:37, 1 March 2009 (UTC) (Maynard Clark): We vegetarians have been told for more than 20 years that Paul Harvey was vegetarian. Reference to his (presumed?) SDA roots helps us make historical sense of a socially conservative vegetarian, of which there are many, but usually vegetarian folks who fade into the woodwork and don't emerge or talk about their being vegetarian because of more outspoken folks like Peter Singer, Bill Maher, Feminists for Animal Rights (FAR), and PETA, who tie to vegetarianism issues other than animal rights that are NOT inherent in being vegetarian.

Given that the majority of vegetarians (according to The New Vegetarians, 1990, by then-UCLA psychology professors Sonja Partridge and Paul Amato) are vegetarians for health reasons, as was Paul Harvey - a lacto-vegetarian (according to the recipe for the Paul Harvey rice (and cheese and milk and cream and butter) soup.

I'd like to see this issue explored in greater depth (even in private e-mails). //www.chat11.com/Paul_Harvey_Praises_Ellen_G._White_Nutritional_Advice

I know that this is not an encyclopedic quality source, or even guaranteed accurate, but the following email message purports to be from the pastor of the SDA church that Paul Harvey lived near, in Phoenix Arizona:

We have received many inquiries. Paul Harvey and his wife Angel have attended Camelback church for nearly 20 yrs. during the winter. They have a home in the Biltmore District a few miles from Camelback church. When we arrived here 9 yrs. ago we became acquainted with them and have given them pastoral care. They were wonderful people and very supportive. Neither Paul or Angel (Lynne) were members of the SDA church. They considered my wife and I their pastoral team and confided in us quite regularly. When Angel died in May of 2008  I was invited back to Chicago to do her funeral service in the Fourth Presbyterian Church in downtown Chicago. We will also be flying back to  Chicago tomorrow to attend Paul’s service and the preside at the  graveside on  Monday. We have considered it a wonderful privilege to minister to these dear people. Their connection with the SDA church has been long-time. Paul was personal friends with George Vandeman and many other Adventist pastors and laypersons. Their connection to the church was through Angel’s sister who was a baptized SDA member. I understand that a couple of aunts were also SDA. The rumor that he was Adventist got started on the web with erroneous information that has been passed on and perpetuated. Doug Bachelor stated it on one of his telecasts and that also gave it further believability. I spoke with him a few days ago and he said he read it on the web. Please do all you can to clarify this error. Thank you for your interest. Most sincerely, Charles White, senior pastor Camelback Unless someone finds strong evidence supporting a closer SDA connection, I think it is silly to dwell on Paul Harvey's wife's sister's religion unless we also go through and list the religion of every other member of Paul Harvey's family, and that of every family member of every other notable person in Wikipedia. 68.110.107.158 (talk) 01:44, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

That should settle it! Not only is there Charles White's testimony, but look, also, at the Paul Harvey tribute made by the daughter of George Vandeman (prominent SDA evangelist) here: http://link.biggytv.com/media/265/Paul_Harvey_Tribute/ She says Harvey was a "friend" of SDAs. If he'd been an SDA himself, it is clear from the context that she would have said so. Just as individuals are proud to know famous persons, and might be tempted to exaggerate the extent of the acquaintance, it seems churches can feel and behave the same; you'll find on the web a list of "Famous Seventh-day Adventists," and everybody's on there but the kitchen sink, so to speak, including many who never had anything but a tangential connection with the church; most weren't really lasting, actual members of the church. Paul Harvey is on that list too, and methinks this SDA connection is considerably overblown. Even when you view the letters Vandeman's daughter holds up to the camera as her best examples in support of this (close??) friendship her father and Harvey shared, the letters are only two or three sentences long—evidence more of friendly acquaintances than great friends. (Writing couldn't have been a chore—a millionaire needs only speak the words, a secretary does the rest.) Nor did Harvey and Vandeman remain in close touch. As for attendance at Camelback, did the Harveys attend an acceptable church conveniently near their vacation home—which just happened to be SDA—or did they specifically and necessarily seek out an SDA church to attend while at their summer home? I don't think we should read more into it, either way.

The phrase, "Although he never formally became an Adventist," in this article is misleading and should be stricken, as it implies Harvey was for all practical purposes SDA, merely not technically so. And where's the source for the assertion that Harvey "often" quoted the SDA prophetess, Ellen White, in his broadcasts? Not only should this be stricken for lack of evidence, but unless he quoted her significantly more frequently than others, then how is it important or relevant to this article? The article should be about Harvey, not about feathers in a church hat.

Harvey's friendship with Billy Graham was substantial and merits inclusion, but if you drop it down a notch to include acquaintances such as the one Harvey had with Vandeman and the SDA church, then there must be hundreds of other acquaintances on the same level that would merit equal space. Was he not "a friend" to other denominations and organizations? Did he not have countless speaking engagements, not just the one at an SDA high school in Colorado? All references to SDA should be removed. ChicagoLarry (talk) 07:41, 14 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The phrase seemingly describing Harvey as never baptized but almost an Adventist has been removed. The Batura source describes Harvey as a Christian who mingled easily with congregations of various faiths. If he attended Camelback SDA Church week by week over the winter months, that relationship has significance. Can it be sourced reliably is the question. drs (talk) 12:15, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

Pastor White: Regarding this concern, I heard Paul Harvey on the Decision Magazine website (of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) give his testimony of being a Christian. He spoke of his baptism and going to church on a real player format (I believe). Since he and Rev. Graham were very close personal friends, Billy Graham's website instantly put up a video and an article about Paul Harvey that you can currently read. To answer your questions, Paul was actually a member of the Reformed Church You may watch Billy Graham's interview with Paul Harvey here http://www.billygraham.org/News_Article.asp?ArticleID=484 and read the article. Just a clip from it says:

"The Washington Post reported that Harvey descended from five generations of Reformed Church ministers. He once wondered if he perhaps inherited "an overdose of righteousness." The pulpit "is a responsibility infinitely higher than any I aspire to," he told the Post. But his church heritage had a strong impact on Harvey's journalism: "I can't separate goodness and badness from any day's news and make sense of it."

This is what I found for you. I hope it helps.--Jim Line (talk) 13:33, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Well, I'm for objectivity. The concern, of course, was for a possible 'social source' for his being vegetarian. Instead, if he came to vegetarianism autonomously rather than as a result of a cultural contribution (conditioning), it may be fully reasonable to suspect that Paul Harvey found vegetarianism all by himself, rationally, independently, through good sense and reasonable judgment. MaynardClark (talk)


 * MaynardClark I have done an in depth search, I cannot find any sources that verify that Harvey was a vegetarian. I find it unlikely that he was one, if he was, I think there would be more sourcing about it. He never came out and promoted it. Psychologist Guy (talk) 17:43, 17 April 2023 (UTC)