‘Too Christian’ BBC planning to offer other religions greater share of broadcast time

THE BBC’s religious output is too Christian, an internal review by the corporation has said, opening the way for more programmes on other faiths.

A report by Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC’s head of religion and ethics, has suggested the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths should get more airtime. One Muslim leader suggested the review could lead to Friday prayers from a mosque being broadcast in the same way that Christian church services currently feature in the BBC’s schedules.

The report is being considered by Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the director general, who could make changes to make religious output less “dispropor- tionate”. Mr Ahmed told a Commons event on religious literacy he had written a report for Lord Hall that would answer criticisms from non-Christian faiths that they were underserved.

Mr Ahmed said: “Christianity remains the cornerstone of our output and there are more hours dedicated to it than there are to other faiths.

“Our output in this area is not static, though,” he added. “It has evolved over the years and we regularly assess it. We do look at the number of hours we produce, and measure that against the religious make-up of society.”

The number of Muslims in Britain has doubled in a decade to three million.

Mr Ahmed’s appointment in 2009 was controversial because of allega- tions he had shown a pro-Islam bias in his previous role at Channel 4.

Ibrahim Mogra, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the BBC could televise Friday prayers from a mosque and extend coverage of Eid.

But he added: “We would not wish Christians to have any less exposure.” The BBC’s religious output includes

Songs of Praise and Sunday Morning

Live. Asked if greater coverage of other faiths could lead to cuts in Christian coverage, a BBC spokesman said it was too early to say what was safe but added that Songs of Praise would be secure.

“We... are actually intending to do more programming around Christianity and more on other faiths as well, so there is absolutely no question of an ‘either or’ on our output,” he said.