The BBC has rejected requests from atheists that the Radio 4 Today programme's Thought for the Day slot be either abandoned or opened up to non-believers.
As a Christian I think the BBC has made the wrong decision.
What Thought for the Day represents isn't authentic belief but sanitised belief. Contributors to TftD tell me that the editors at the BBC heavily restrict what can be said. We're not getting the real voice of Christianity (or Judaism or Islam) but the BBC's definition of acceptable Christianity. What results is mawkish mush. There's endless handwringing about global warming, inequality and bankers. There's nothing on the Resurrection or other biblical teachings. It's a bit like asking a Conservative to give a political comment but banning them from talking about any of the party's core beliefs.
I'd much rather other voices - atheist included - could be heard at 7.50am every morning but that they be authentic and unedited. At the moment I tend to switch off when that day's contributor tells me that 'he's been driving up and down bendy country lanes and life's a bit like that, isn't it?'.
PS The Archbishop of Canterbury's latest intervention - in favour of the Tobin Tax and against economic-growth-at-any-cost (a straw man if ever there was one) - fits the Thought for the Day frame perfectly. Dr Williams' political beliefs are shared by many Christians but they are not intrinsically biblical.
