Dr Lois Lee, an expert on non-religion at the University, has responded to the call for Humanism to be included in the BBC’s Thought for the Day programme (T4TD) by saying ‘such programming will simply not survive if its content continues to be exclusively religion-based.
‘Compared to the BBC’s vast output, coverage on T4TD may seem a small concern. But it is actually symbolic of much wider issues about the role of religious and nonreligious worldviews in public life – an issue which goes far beyond the BBC.
‘The problem isn’t quite what it seems. It’s not that nonreligious perspectives like humanism are excluded from the BBC. In fact, they are woven through much of its output. Humanist ethics run through a lot of our big budget scientific programming, for example.
‘But they are excluded from certain areas, namely coverage of existential, ethical and spiritual worldviews. Underlying this is the idea that the religious have a monopoly when it comes to existential, ethical and spiritual expertise. It’s an idea with a long lineage, and it is one that we are, as an increasingly nonreligious society, right in the midst of rethinking.
‘We see this process of recognising that the nonreligious have existential, ethical and spiritual knowledge and experience to offer not only in the BBC’s recent review of religion and ethics programming, but in areas like religious education in schools, chaplaincy in hospitals and other public institutions, and in academic research.
‘At the moment though, there is no question that role of religious and nonreligious worldviews is unequal. Religious figures dominate areas of public life demarcated for existential and ethical thought and practice, whilst nonreligious figures are often powerful and sometimes dominant outside of those areas. (The high profile of many of the media figures who have signed this letter is an indication of this.)
‘And the situation is intrinsically divisive. Everyone wins and everyone loses. It’s no wonder that many contributions to the debate have a defensive tone.
‘But the only solution is to recognise that the nonreligious have spiritual, existential and ethical expertise to offer, as this letter demands. This should include T4TD, but go beyond it. It’s also about the media recognising and knowing how to access nonreligious forms of spiritual expertise more generally – so that they can turn to nonreligious thinkers as well as religious thinkers in times of national crisis; so that they can include nonreligious voices in public rituals.
‘For this to work, it needs to be done thoughtfully. In the past, there have been calls for figures like Richard Dawkins or other nonreligious campaigners to appear on T4TD. But what is actually needed is the inclusion of nonreligious (including Humanist) philosophers alongside religious ones, or secular leaders in ethical life – leading figures from the charitable sector, for example – not just religious ones.
‘This might sound like a victory for the nonreligious, but working out how best to include nonreligious perspectives is essential for the long-term survival of programmes like T4TD. In a country in which over 70% of young people identify as nonreligious, the majority of which are atheist or agnostic in their beliefs, worldview programming that deals with existential and ethical matters will simply not survive if it its content continues to be exclusively religion-based.’
Dr Lois Lee is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Kent and heads the Understanding Unbelief research programme in the School of European Culture and Languages. More information on her policy recommendations on nonreligion it the public sphere can be found here.
The University’s Press Office provides the media with expert comments in response to topical news events. Colleagues who would like to learn more about how to contribute their expertise or how the service works should contact the Press Office on 3985 or pressoffice@kent.ac.uk