Goodbye Songs of Praise? We need religious programming now more than ever

I’ll always think of Songs of Praise as the soundtrack to my hangovers. In my late teens and early twenties, I’d start the sensitive task of unsealing my puffy eyelids to a background of old white people singing hymns.

Somehow it was both tedious, mildly irritating and reassuring: a broadcasting equivalent of the old swing ball set at the back of the garage. It probably wasn’t that great to start with, but now nostalgia makes the idea of dispensing with it impossible, even though you haven’t set eyes on it for decades.

I’m sure I’m doing a disservice to the stalwart products of religious broadcasting but even the term “religious broadcasting” feels like a trigger to an eye roll. A Pavlovian response. The term “religious programming” makes me think of boring, old fashioned, Anglican devotional content with overly sincere former child stars and day-time telly presenters introducing yet another inspirational story of knowing or finding Jesus.

I can see, then, why the Media Bill – which could remove the requirement for public service broadcasters to include religion, arts and science programming and is currently making its way through parliament – has found some support. For those who think that programming about religion equates to Songs of Praise, Prayer for the Day, or the Sunday Service, the bill probably seems like common sense. As the last census data shows, Britain is becoming less religious. The proportion of those identifying as Christian is declining, while those identifying as “nones” – no religious affiliation or faith – are on the increase.

I was speaking to my fervently atheist uncle a couple of weeks ago. I mentioned the Media Bill and religious broadcasting and it produced the most astonishing shift in his demeanour. He went from casually chatty to full-on 1940s lecturer. His thumbs went behind his braces as he readied himself for his speech. I sat back in my seat to listen – I knew any kind of engagement was both unnecessary and unwanted – as he barked at me about religion being a social poison. Of course, religious programming shouldn’t be protected, he said. It’s out of date. It’s from a past era – and good riddance! Look at the wars it’s caused – the violence, the hatred! We don’t need more religion on the airwaves – we need less.

His rantings became background noise, like the Songs of Praise episodes of my youth. I didn’t want to listen actively, but the sounds were familiar and homely even if the content wasn’t up to much.

The thing is, I have some sympathies with the arguments of my dear, gobby uncle. The idea that the BBC should set aside a portion of its programming for mainly CofE devotional content is ludicrous and doesn’t serve the public interest.

I mean, these days there are so many sources of output that affirm a particular faith tradition or set of beliefs that a broadcasting requirement is unnecessary – and out of date.

No, we don’t need more Christian churches and CofE hymn-singing on TV.

What we’re desperately short of isn’t religious programming, but high-quality broadcasts about religion. What we’re missing on the programming schedules is engagement with the phenomenon of religion. For those slightly aggressive atheists like my uncle, I’m sure that sounds like a bloody awful idea but, with respect my friends, the idea of ignoring religion because you don’t much like it is a simplistic, parochial, short-sighted, and really quite dangerous perspective.

Like it or not, religion plays a central role in shaping the conditions of the 21st century. Our world is a terrifying place right now. The heartbreaking and febrile situation in the Middle East demands we understand the complexities of the differences in religions and not dismiss them. To do that, we need a far higher level of religious literacy – and we’re woefully, appallingly under-prepared.

Over in the US, Donald Trump continues to court Christian nationalists, promising US broadcasters that he’ll “make America pray again”, in the hope that appealing to right-wing Christians will get him back into the White House – and he could well be right. Here in the UK, our government doesn’t appear to know what Islamophobia is.

And that’s the thing – given the lack of respect religious studies gets in the educational curriculum, and now the potential lack of protection for content about religion in the media, we are far more likely to become an island of Lee Andersons: ignorant, ill-informed, and making an already dire situation so much worse.

Religion isn’t irrelevant and undeserving of media interest just because more people in England are turning away from organised forms of religion. Protecting broadcasting content about religion isn’t about placating Anglicans. We ignore, dismiss and undermine religion at our peril.

Without religious literacy and exposure to – and understanding of – all types of religious traditions and differences, we’ll be sleepwalking into a nightmare.