Exodus at Quest

Church vs. Shnayerson

Since it first appeared four years ago, Quest magazine (circ. 330,000) has skittered along the fine edge of an ominous contradiction. Published by California Preacher Herbert Armstrong, 88, whose Worldwide Church of God holds that the world will end soon, the magazine was nonetheless thoroughly secular. Armstrong gave editorial control to Robert Shnayerson, 55, a former TIME senior editor and Harper's editor in chief, who dedicated the magazine to what he called "the pursuit of excellence" in fields as diverse as mountain climbing and genetic research. The magazine, which appears ten times a year, has never been profitable--it lost more than $2 million dollars in 1980--but advertising revenues have been rising along with circulation.

Last week church and Shnayerson collided. Calling together his staff of 18 in the magazine's Manhattan offices, the editor announced that he and five top lieutenants were resigning. Shnayerson had been ordered to publish, virtually unedited, a cover story on Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's proposed ecumenical center near Mount Sinai, a favorite project of Armstrong's. The article was written by the church leader himself. Shnayerson refused to print it. Then, last week, Armstrong took out a Wall Street Journal advertisement announcing that the piece would appear in Quest. Shnayerson resigned. Says he: "Quest is simply not the proper forum for religious preachments. We talked ourselves blue in the face, trying to convince them that we will lose readers and advertisers, but they said they were not concerned about that."

Nor, apparently, were they concerned about the exodus. Said a church spokesman last week at W.C.G. headquarters in Pasadena, Calif.: "We have always had the prerogative to interfere with the magazine. It doesn't matter to us if people have resigned." Says Shnayerson: "I feel very sad about the loss of some good work. It is sort of like walking up to a painting and putting your foot through it." qed

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