On the 21 April 2007 the Today programme was again forced to confront a long standing complaint regarding Thought for the Day. The producer was not brave enough to defend his policy sending instead a stooge to answer comments made on air by a listener. This is a summary of the complaint:
For all the issues that are examined on Thought for the Day there is a distinctive atheist moral perspective. One cannot help but come to the conclusion that the BBC considers that reflection on these matters is the sole purview of the devotees of the gods represented on the programme; this is very insulting to atheists and to the millions of Today programme listeners who profess no faith.
I know that this is a rather parochial subject, but for the benefit of those outside the UK this is the background. The Today programme on BBC Radio 4 is a daily news programme broadcast from 6-9am. It is generally regarded by politicians and others as a more important platform than TV for getting their message across to the “movers and shakers” and so has a large and intelligent audience. Every day there is a 3 minute slot called “Thought for the Day”, and although it could be seen as a throw back to a more paternalistic age, in the context of hard news it provides are rare moment of contemplation and reflection on current events set in a moral and ethical context.
The problem is that it provides an exclusively religious take on these subjects. For years many of us have complained to the BBC about the lack of an atheist voice but to no avail.
