Thought for the Day explicitly excludes non-religious contributors.
The BBC should move away from biased religious programming. That should begin with a rethink of Thought for the Day.
The BBC has a long history of pro-religion bias in its output, which is typified by Thought for the Day.
Thought for the Day is a daily slot on BBC Radio 4's flagship news programme, Today. For nearly three minutes, religious leaders offer "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news". Nonreligious people and leaders of less popular religions, no matter how well-respected their views, are not allowed to contribute.
Despite being within such a prominent discussion slot, Thought for the Day is outside the programme's editorial control. This means there is no right to reply when the slot is used for political or religious proselytising.
- Fewer than one in five British people think BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day should exclusively feature religious content.
- Religious radio programmes are the least popular and least well received according to the BBC's own research.
Public apathy towards Thought for the Day is even shared by Today's former presenter, John Humphrys, who described the slot as "inappropriate" and "deeply, deeply boring" in 2017. His colleague Justin Webb has also criticised it.
Reforming Thought for the Day to include speakers of any religion or belief would improve overall quality, make it relevant to Today's audience and remove the unjustifiable discrimination. Contributors should be picked without reference to their religious or non-religious identity.
There is a place for high quality, critical religion and belief programming on the BBC – but not one-sided promotion of religion.
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Latest updates
BBC plan to ramp up the religion this Christmas
Posted: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:44
BBC Religious programming will go into overdrive this Christmas with the national broadcaster announcing copious amounts of "carols, festive music, contemplation, conversation and live worship across BBC Television and Radio."
In the week before Christmas the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales Vincent Nicholls and the former Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, will all be given a platform to proselytize on BBC Radio Two's Pause for Thought.
The outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury will also offer his Thought for the Day on Radio Four's flagship news programme on 22 December and give a special interview to BBC Two offering "an exclusive insight into his emotions after 10 years in one of the toughest jobs in Britain." On New Year's Day BBC One will also broadcast the Archbishop of Canterbury's annual New Year's Message.
In December, BBC Two presents a three-part series about Westminster Abbey featuring interviews with members of the 250 staff who oversee the Abbey's spiritual mission. Viewers will also be treated to four special editions of Songs of Praise and plenty of 'live worship' from churches up and down the country.
The full rundown of the BBC's religious programming can be found on the BBC's website.
Aaqil Ahmed, Commissioning Editor Religion and Head of Religion & Ethics, says: "As we prepare for Christmas, it is befitting that Westminster Abbey is at the heart of our celebrations given its unique stature at the centre of national worship in this country."
Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the National Secular Society, said: "Even by BBC standards, our national broadcaster appears to have gone a bit over the top this year.
"The BBC's duty as a taxpayer-funded public broadcaster is to serve the whole community and ensure all voices are heard, and that would include religious voices, but the disproportionate emphasis on the importance of religion in the life of the country is becoming something of a joke. Over the past fifty years there has been a dramatic drop in interest in religion – both in its influence and its practice – but the BBC's output remains as deferential and sycophantic as ever."
Meanwhile, the National Secular Society has given evidence to the BBC's impartiality review of its breadth of opinion. In a formal submission prepared by its president, the NSS accuses the BBC of a lack of impartiality when it comes to non-religious voices and of according religion a kind of fawning respect that no other section of society is granted.
BBC to review its coverage of religion as part of “impartiality review”
Posted: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:37
The BBC has announced that it is to review the way it covers religion as part of a wider inquiry into its adherence to impartiality guidelines.
Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, said this week that the review had been prompted by accusations that the BBC's coverage of world and religious events was not always impartial.
"It's an acceptance that these are areas where people are particularly concerned that we should get it right," Patten told a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch in London. "We've been criticised in those areas and we think it's very important to listen to that criticism, not necessarily because it's right but because it reflects real and interesting concerns."
The independent investigation into the Corporation's coverage of religion, immigration and Europe will be led by former ITV chief executive Stuart Prebble. He will probe whether the BBC gives due weight to opinions in controversial topics – including "Islamophobia" and the EU.
The inquiry will examine whether editorial decisions to include or omit certain perspectives from news coverage have been carefully reached and with consistent judgment across the corporation.
Prebble will investigate whether "due weight" has been given to a range of opinions, but the BBC Trust stressed that minority views should not necessarily be given equal prominence as the prevailing consensus.
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society – which has been highly critical of the BBC's deferential approach to religion – said: "It is not clear what aspects of religious coverage this review will tackle, but I think it may concentrate on the way the so-called Arab Spring was reported. We hope that this will not be the limit of what is examined."
Mr Sanderson said that the Thought for the Day controversy should be re-assessed as part of this review. He also called for the reporting of Robert Piggott, the BBC's religious affairs correspondent, to be looked at. Mr Piggotts's overly deferential approach to religious controversy brings many complaints to the NSS as well as the BBC
Mr Sanderson continued: "The BBC's coverage of the papal visit in 2010 was a prime example of how the corporation gets it wrong in its approach to religious issues. The coverage was disgracefully fawning and wholly disproportionate. Opinion polls showed overwhelming apathy for the visit, making the wall-to-wall coverage over TV and radio completely unjustifiable."
The Pope's arrival was preceded by a visit by the BBC's Director-General, Mark Thompson to the Vatican to plan this jamboree. Mr Thompson is a high profile Catholic, as is the chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, who acted as spokesman for the papal visit on Newsnight, a performance that can hardly be called impartial.
"Our fear is that the BBC is going to respond to pressure from the Church of England and others for more emphasis on religion on our national broadcaster ", continued Mr Sanderson. "But the corporation already has a dedicated "religion and ethics" department which costs more than £10 million a year to sustain. Its own research shows that the audiences for religious programmes are so small they often cannot even be measured.
"Let us hope that this inquiry will accept that religion is very much a minority interest in Britain and the BBC should let its coverage reflect that."
