Doing God's Work?

TV PREACHERS NORMALLY HAVE THEIR HANDS FULL trying to save human souls. So when televangelist Pat Robertson stepped forward last week to attempt to save the venerable soul of United Press International from bankruptcy, he prompted a flurry of questions. Just what does Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and a onetime presidential hopeful, see in the tottering wire service, which may soon be his for a paltry $6 million? Perhaps a good business deal. Or a chance to proselytize. Shortly after making his surprise bid, the savvy televangelist promised that he would not convert U.P.I. to a Christian news agency. But in a cbn appearance, Robertson said the purchase might be "a little opportunity" for God to touch American life.

Robertson started his empire in 1959 with wyah, a ramshackle station in Portsmouth, Va., whose call letters stand for Yahweh (God in Hebrew). Since then, he has masterfully mixed the 700 Club, a religious talk show, with the Family Channel, a 24-hour oasis of clean entertainment, to build a lucrative media operation, which U.P.I.'s newsgathering would neatly complement. Robertson has one month to review the agency's books, after which he can adjust his offer or drop it completely.