When we gather around the radio at Christmas the sense of nostalgia and seasonal rituals that we perform create a new form of sacred time, according to the University’s Dr Chris Deacy.
In his book Christmas as Religion: Rethinking Santa, The Secular and The Sacred, Dr Deacy suggests that when we gather around the radio at Christmas it garners such a sense of community that it turns celebrating the season into a secular religion.
Focusing on Christmas Junior Choice which returns to BBC Radio 2 on Christmas Day, 2017, for the first time since the death of veteran host Ed Stewart nearly two years ago, Dr Deacy examines how Christmas comprises as much of a commitment or ritual as devotion to established religious traditions through its impact on several generations of radio listeners.
Dr Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in Kent’s School of European Culture and Languages, says that the definition and contours of what religion is adapts to different cultural situations, and that the way in which virtual communities of radio listeners prioritize family, charity, acts of kindness and the need to strengthen bonds with friends and family, who may geographically be separated from us at Christmas time, suggest the important role that the sacred can play in our contemporary so-called ‘secular’ society.
Using his expert knowledge of radio programmes, he cites the example of the fandom and sense of community generated each year by Christmas Junior Choice. Dr Deacy argues this programme – which will be presented on Christmas morning for the first time by Anneka Rice – despite its ostensibly trivial and entertainment pedigree, might be as fertile when it comes to exploring matters of faith, identity, beliefs and values as those made within religious broadcasting.
So, when you hear ‘The Laughing Policeman’ or ‘Captain Beaky’ while you are opening your presents this Christmas you might just be taking part in one of the more remarkable and unexpected manifestations of religion that you are going to hear on the radio this year.