Just as The Apprentice returns to our screens, the BBC is also running a parallel competition within its Knowledge division. This time, it's a fight to the death for the newly created post of commissioning editor for religion.
The Alan Sugar of the contest is George Entwistle, the controller of BBC Knowledge, ably assisted by the incoming head of knowledge commissioning, Emma Swain. The contest has come about due to a shake-up of BBC Religion, which will now report into BBC Knowledge in Birmingham. But who are the rising and falling stars? Photo: Coffee Lover
Many in newsrooms across the world see religion as a niche area of reporting. Increasing numbers, however, are waking up to the fact that God is at the heart of major news events in more ways than one. Here’s a whistle-stop tour of 5 of the top stories from the past 5 years – and how religion has been a key factor, visible or invisible, in each of them. Photo: Tony the Misfit
Electro-pop maestros The Pet Shop Boys have come out - but this time, it's in praise of the Bible. In an interview with The Observer, Neil Tennant spoke of the formative influence that the translators of the English Bible have had on the 'musical language' of the UK. In the past, the duo have composed several songs with biblical themes, such as It's a Sin, God Willing and most controversially, The Sodom and Gomorrah Show.
Given Tennant's troubled religious background and the almost iconic status the group now hold, it's perhaps a surprising observation. But they're not the only ones to make the link between the Bible and popular music. In fact, from Bob Marley to Dolly Parton, the Bible has influenced many a pop song.
If only this were true. In fact, in the Bible, shoe removal and throwing is usually a sign of a legal claim over property or land (Ruth 4:7; Psalm 60:8). Sometimes, shoe removal is connected with being insulted - but there are no examples of biblical hotheads who threw their shoes at unpopular politicians. Nevertheless, this hasn't stopped a multitude of programmers devising shoe-hurling games for those who want to join in the fun - without ending up behind bars.
Words fail me here, they really do. Andy Nyman - one of the co-creators of Derren Brown's TV show - talks us through this exemplary lesson in bad religious programming. Poor production values, scary puppets, comedy singing; it truly is an abomination before the Lord. Further episodes can be found on the aptly-named Youtube channel, Cringevision.
2005 was the year when the penny dropped for many journalists. Millions had flocked to Rome for the funeral of John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI. The huge crowds in St Peters Square took the press pack by surprise. Those who had written off the importance of Catholicism as a global phenomenon were forced to think again.
And yet, somehow, this dawning realisation didn’t always translate into more accurate reporting. In what has now become an infamous example, a BBC subtitler referred to a group of ‘Karma Light’ nuns present at the funeral of John Paul II. As if that wasn’t bad enough, noted the BBC broadcaster Libby Purves, he or she gave up entirely on the ‘Oremus’, subtitling it ‘Chanting in a foreign language’ instead.
Four years on, sadly things are still not that much better. As I blogged last week, just 45% of British people think that the media report religion accurately. 35%, on the other hand, think that there is definitely room for improvement. But what would improvement look like?
Over the weekend, I took part in a discussion on BBC Radio 4 about the appropriacy of translating the Bible into regional dialects. The subject had come up due to the launch of an updated version of the Bible in Cockney. There was the usual hullabaloo about 'dumbing down' the Bible, despite the fact that the New Testament was originally written in Koine (i.e. common) rather than literary Greek.
As it stands, the Greek grammar of the book of Revelation is pretty rough and ready. And as I pointed out in the interview, the words of Jesus were themselves accommodated to different cultural audiences.
Matthew, writing for Jews, refers to "the kingdom of heaven" to avoid using the word God (Jews of the time found that offensive). Mark, on the other hand, writing for the non-Jewish audience simply has Jesus refer to "the kingdom of God" (Compare Matthew 3:2 with Mark 1:15). So why do some people get all worked up about the Bible in dialect?
