Thought for the Day

The BBC policy of restricting contributors to Radio 4’s Thought for the Day to those who subscribe to a particular set of religious beliefs clearly breaches the Equality and Human Rights Act. Although the relevant legislation is set out at various government websites, it is most clearly presented at the Citizens advice site.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_rights/discrimination/discrimination_because_of_religion_or_belief.htm

To summarise (quoted verbatim from adviceguide)

1 What does religion or belief mean

You are protected by law from discrimination because of your religion or belief if you:

# Belong to an organised religion such as Christianity, Judaism or Islam
# Have a profound belief which affects your way of life or view of the world, such as humanism
# Take part in collective worship
# Belong to a smaller religion or sect, such as Scientology or Rastafarianism
# Have no religion, for example, if you are an atheist.


2 Religious discrimination by organisations providing goods or services

It's against the law for anyone providing goods or services directly to the public to discriminate because of religion or belief. The law applies to businesses, charities and public bodies such as government agencies, local authorities, education and health facilities.

Discrimination includes:

# Refusing to provide goods or services
# Discriminating in the way goods or services are provided.

The BBC is a public body and is clearly discriminating in the way goods or services are provided. The Act defines Humanism and Atheism as systems of belief. The BBC seeks to justify the status quo by saying that TftD is produced by the BBC Religious Affairs department. It is thereby promoting religious belief at the expense of any other system of belief like humanism. This is not an adequate defence any more than denying women access to hitherto men only club would have been.
The BBC should think again and reverse this indefensible policy or they will find themselves having to defend it before the Equality and Human Rights Commission.