Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Monday, February 27, 2012

BBC Admits Bias Against Christianity

BBC Director-General Mark Thompson
says Christianity can be handled with
 less sensitivity as other religions

http://global.christianpost.com/news/bbc-head-admits-network-treats-christianity-with-less-sensitivity-70412/

BBC director-general Mark Thompson, speaking in an interview for an Oxford University research program on free speech, has admitted that Christianity is treated with less sensitivity on air than other religions.

According to the Daily Mail, in his interview with Timothy Garton Ash for Oxford's "The Free Speech Debate," Thompson said that television programs do not have to be as sensitive with satire, jokes, or comments about Christianity because the religion is "an established part of our cultural-built landscape" and "pretty broad shouldered."

Thompson went on to differentiate that other religions closely "identify with ethnic minorities," and thus warrant special regard when being dealt with on broadcast television. "The point is that for a Muslim, a depiction, particularly a comic or demeaning depiction, of the Prophet Mohammed might have the emotional force of a piece of grotesque child pornography," he said.

Thompson noted that insulting or disrespecting other religions could carry more emotional baggage and thus a backlash that is more volatile and violent. He told Ash, "Without question, 'I complain in the strongest possible terms,' is different from, 'I complain in the strongest possible terms and I am loading my AK47 as I write."

Speaking with less exaggeration, Thompson said that he and the network "think quite carefully about whether something done, in quotes, in the name of freedom of expression, might to the Jew, or the Sikh, or the Hindu, or the Muslim who receives it, feel threatening, isolating and so forth." The BBC director-general added that he believes "those are meaningful considerations"

In 2005, BBC2 aired the controversial show "Jerry Springer: The Opera," which offended many Christians with things like depictions of Jesus in a diaper. According to the Daily Mail, hundreds of Christians protested "Jerry Springer: The Opera."

Thompson had no problem with deciding to air that show and even said that he enjoyed watching it. However, Ash asked Thompson if the BBC would completely avoid airing something akin to "Jerry Springer: The Opera" about the prophet Muhammad, Thompson replied, "Essentially the answer to that question is yes."

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