Muslim appointed head of religion at BBC

Aaqil Ahmed, the innovative and interesting programmer responsible for Channel 4's recent Christianity: A History series, has been appointed the first Muslim head of religion at the BBC, as we report today.

The Church of England could have been a little warmer in its welcome. The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev Nigel McCulloch, said: 'The Church of England takes a close interest in the way Christianity, and other faiths, are portrayed by the BBC across all its programming. We are also interested in its specifically religious output, in light of this country's Judeo-Christian heritage. It is the quality and quantity of that output that matters. Changes to the structure and personnel of the Religion and Ethics department will clearly impact religious output across the Corporation and the BBC has assured us the effect will be to strengthen that output. We very much hope this is the case, and will be monitoring the situation closely.'

In contrast to the Anglican clergyman who heads religion over at The Daily Telegraph, I want to say publicly what a fantastic appointment this is. When I hear of a religious programme coming up on the BBC, this appointment means I will no longer reach immediately for the 'off' button on my television and wireles and switch to Classic FM.

For why, read Aaqil's own blog on his Christianity series.You can also watch his own response to criticisms on YouTube.

So why, apart from the fact that he is handsome, should we welcome him? Archbishop Cranmer has it about right:

'The marginalisation of the state religion has been systemic and inexorable. It is not only that ‘Jerry Springer - the Opera’ was broadcast on their watch, but a Sikh was appointed to produce ‘Songs of Praise’, minority faiths are treated more respectfully than that of the majority, an atheist has been appointed to the board which oversees religious output, and the Church of England has been sidelined to the point of irrelevance.

'The corporation has been guilty of religious cleansing on a scale comparable with that of the Balkans. The BBC’s spiritual war machine has reduced Christianity to a harmless and toothless myth which can do nothing but suck at the pervasive ecumenical pantheism which genuflects ever so slightly to Islam. Under ‘Christian’ leadership, the BBC has become a secular humanist organisation which now propagates its own objective worldview through its own biased history and its own version of truth. It has a self-styled mission to inculcate the ignorant masses with the Gaia spirituality of the New Age, and it has embraced the pseudo-gospel of environmentalism to that end.

'If religious broadcasting under ‘Christians’ has become such a secular joke, why should a Muslim not be given a chance to redeem the situation? He might even prove to be more respectful of Christianity, the Bible and Jesus than the ‘Christians’ have hitherto been. He might feel compelled to make some hard-hitting programmes about the Islamic world – the treatment of Muslim women, the persecution of non-Muslims, the human rights breaches, the destruction of churches, the cleansing of Christians from Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Israel...'

A while ago I blogged the programme he made with Howard Jacobson. Another one in the Christianity series was presented by Cherie Blair. On Cherie's own blog he writes: 'Two examples of Christianity's impact on our modern world are the Reformation and the Crusades. Without the Reformation we may not have become a Protestant nation with many of the characteristics, language and structures we take for granted today. And the Crusades? One of our presenters, Rageh Omar, argues in his film that we've forgotten its importance in the west, but that in the Muslim world, the brutality of the Crusades still resonates in the hearts of many Muslims and in the rhetoric of Al Qaeda.

'So, Christianity: A History is not just another television series - for me it's more important than that, it's a lesson about today's world and an attempt to shed light on the history of a faith that continues to shape the destiny of all of us in some way or other. We hope it does that and that it makes just a few of us think about how we got to where we are today.'

He also commissioned a well-received series on the Koran.

Good for the BBC in having the courage to go against decades of broadcast tradition and give us all something stimulatin to think about. We can rely on Aaqil Ahmed to do the same.

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Comments

[Dr. Irene Lancaster]

Hi from Tel Aviv, where I'm staying at the moment in the same hotel as Tony Blair (he's here for an award; we're here because we got a very good deal).

It's our daughter's wedding in a kibbutz up north on Thursday.

Yes, if I bump into him, I will invite him!

I mentioned that Muslims were humorous in the Middle Ages, because that is a period I know about.

The ability to laugh at oneself can be of great help and the more that people who claim to be religious employ humour, the better all round.

[Edward I]

"Jew appointed head of religion at BBC".
I wonder Ruth, had it been the case, if your bald headline would have read like the one above.
I doubt it.

[peter wood]

I assume Irene Lancaster's reference to medieval Islamic humour doesn't mean this was the last time Muslims laughed. M Robinson and Paul Halsall found Christanity: A History seriously flawed. Much of the otherwise superbly presented piece by Howard Jacobson - presented as radical - could be found in Chadwick's History of the Early Church. Portillo's piece was merely a rant and Mr Halsall expresses a professional view on the Omah absurdities on the Crusades. James really needs to get a grip on academic standards and integrity. Perhaps Aaquil Ahmed will do better running his bit of the BBC?

[Peter Palladas]

Handsome is seriously balding with a goatee is it?

Delighted then to learn that I'm in with a shout! Pics in the post...:)

[Iftikhar Ali]

I thought Aaqil Ahmed did a good job as Channel 4's commissioning editor for religion. I think he will be a superb head of religious programming at the BBC. Ahmed is also a trustee of the Runnymede Trust, a body devoted to research and advocacy on issues surrounding ethnicity and cultural diversity. I think his experience at the trust will be of value him in his new job.

[Dr. Irene Lancaster]

I was invited to be a member of the audience for last Sunday's BBC 1, The Big Questions, with Nicky Campbell.

I've blogged on it here, as well as on the Pope's visit to Israel:

http://irenelancaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/interfaith-relations-in-the-modern-age.html

It was quite obvious to all who watched the show that the the three religions which matter in today's Britain are Christianity, Islam and secularism/humanism.

For instance, I was seated between two humanists who were surprised at how reasonable I was.

To diffuse a particularly fraught question on bias in the media against religions and religious leaders (in which Judaism was conspicuously ignored) I made a point about Jewish humour, which got a laugh, and also pointed out that there was Muslim humour, particularly in the mediaeval period.

Afterwards, I was thanked by a number of Muslims in the audience for having stated this fact.

On a general basis, we need to broaden the trinitarian debate between Christianity, Islam and secularism to include Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism - all of which have valid, and sometimes different, points to make.

If the new guy in charge can manage this, it doesn't matter one iota what colour, religion or ethnic group he comes from.

By the way, quite a few Muslims are prominent in Israeli programme-making. Just thought I'd mention that.

[M.Robinson]

James at 14.54. I am not a historian of any kind, but I am a Christian, and I have to say that every one of the programmes in the series 'Christianity:A History' was seriously factually flawed. They presented a version of Christianity which I barely recognised; so much so that I could not bring myself to watch the final episode, which was presented by Cherie Blair, whom I find it hard to believe has a true understanding of the subject herself.

[Recusant]

Rageh Omah's comments on the 'brutality' of the Crusades and that that that is allowed to be taken as fact, is part of the problem: were (and are) Christians the only ones who were not allowed to defend themselves? For, whatever re-writings might currently be indulged, the Holy Land and Andalucia were Christian lands before the Muslim invasions.

The 'Christianity: A History' series was just appalling; ahistorical and highly personalised rants from people whose view we are all to familiar with, but who add not one jot or tittle to our understanding of Christianity as a theology, culture and structure for living.

[JHN]

The time has come for the BBC to be privatised and sold off.

I will be campaigning for an end to the ridiculous tax which they call a "television licence".

[James]

Dear mr. professional Medievalist and Byzantinist! who feel obliged to try demonstrate some level of authority that should have been consulted and received permision first.....
That is exactly why Christianity: A History... was so interesting and you could sit through the entire program without falling asleep! Becuause it was devoid of the usual political garbage that tries to hide true history and facts for the sake of "being correct and balance" and further ignores the life long lasting consequences "because it is not history!"
Well done to the BBC (for once) and I am sure that Aaqil Ahmed was selected for his ability and not for his religion!
As long as you produce inteligent, well informed programs like that, you have my vote!

[Stephen Marsden]

'. . . apart from the fact that he is handsome . . .'

Sexist abuse, Ruth! You'd be the first to object - I hope! - if a male journalist wrote in similar terms about you, or Riazat, or Victoria!

[Kate Corwyn]

I would have little interest in the doings of the BBCs religion department were it not for the fact that they are the Department of Religion AND MORALITY, as if they held a monopoly on that.

[Paul Halsall]

I am a professional Medievalist and Byzantinist. I watched the _Christianity: A History_ with increasing horror. I shared synopses with other professional medievalist on the Mediev-l list (an old bitnet list which is still the best place for academic medieval), and many others were equally horrified.

The entire project of allowing non-historians to present a "history" was flawed to begin with; the practice was a series of horrifically misleading programmes.

The series did not look beyond traditional views, amassed massive amounts of simply misinformation, and was not as advertised.

It's as if Aaqil Ahmed did not consider even sending out the scripts for academic review.