Christians' Hour

...with Giles Fraser

If you've not read it yet, there's a thought-provoking piece by Theo Hobson at the Spectator making the case against the BBC that the corporation's heavy (left-liberal) secular bias makes it consign Christian voices "to the margins". 

The BBC, Theo argues, gives us evangelical feminism (Woman's Hour) and evangelical science (The Infinite Monkey Cage) - plus plenty of evangelical arts programmes too - but goes all 'anxious' and 'nervous' when dealing with religion. 

He wants the BBC to balance Woman's Hour (an hour for feminists) with, maybe, a Christians' Hour, where Christians can discuss things "in an intelligent, accessible way".

I can see his point. Programmes like Beyond Belief do approach religion in that way and Woman's Hour is, when you come to think about it, a remarkably ideologically-rooted programme for the 'impartial' BBC to broadcast every weekday, every week. 

Plus, a Woman's Hour-style programme where Christians discuss things might well be interesting to listen to - even for non-believers like me who might otherwise echo Béla Bartók and say 'If I were to cross myself I would say, “In the name of Nature, Art and Science”'.

However, as commenters below the line at Theo's piece point out, this is the BBC we're talking about and such a Christians' Hour would pretty much inevitably be stuffed with 'BBC Christians' (in the manner of Sunday): Tabletista liberal Catholics, Giles Fraser, the rest of the Thought For The Day crowd, that Evangelical who changed his mind to support gay marriage and who keeps appearing on Sunday as a result, Ed Stourton, various feminist Christians, Christian socialists, Marxist Christians, SJW Christians, etc, etc...

To quote The Masked Marvel (whoever it may be behind that mask!), "Be careful what you wish for, Theo."