In a world shaped by religion, media must take it seriously says BBC chief
By Ruth Gledhill, Christian Today:
The head of religion and ethics at the BBC has called for the broadcaster to lead the fight against religious illiteracy.
Aaqil Ahmed calls on public service broadcasters such as the BBC to confront a world “defined by religion and conflict” but where most media fail to take religion seriously.
Few people know much about each other’s beliefs, values and customs, creating a climate where it is all too easy for prejudice to take root, he says.
Writing on the Open Democracy website, he describes himself as “a weird anomaly” at a time when many media organisations have “turned their backs” on the specialism.
“Europe may seemingly have moved on from traditional religion but the rest of the world hasn’t and right now across Britain and Europe people from across the world are living amongst us to whom religion is still important,” he writes.
In Britain there are more than 800,000 Hindus and, he says, five per cent of the population is Muslim. There are also nearly 300,000 Jewish people. And while some parts of the Christian population might be in decline, Catholic and Pentecostal churches are growing, many as a result of immigration. This is also increasing the proportion of the population with ethnic minority backgrounds.
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