The Big Questions (series 4, episode 2) is broadcast live from Samworth Enterprise Academy, Leicester, at 1000 this morning. Harry and I crane our necks to spot the BBC Outside Broadcast trucks at the back of the school, as we go past on the way to St Thomas the Apostle Church, just before 0930.
I'm no fan of this kind of show. I wouldn't fancy going on one and I don’t like watching or listening to them either. I've seen a few, of course, enough to know they're not my cup of tea. I’m all in favour of open, honest discussion, but I favour the statement attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, that “if two people quarrel over some religious subjects, both of them are wrong.” No good ever comes from arguing about religion.
I make an exception for today’s broadcast, because Leicester Council of Faiths has been asked to put forward someone who can make a contribution to the programme, speaking about how the religion they follow is a guide for daily living. I’ve had several phone calls to and from the production office for the show, asking if we could provide someone to fill that role. We were asked if that person could be an evangelical Christian, but I sought to persuade them that such a person wouldn’t rally represent the religious diversity of Leicester and that it would be better to have a Hindu or Sikh. So that person is our own Resham Singh Sandhu. In the event, though, he's not called on to speak. That's disappointing. The show could have done with a voice of reasonable, calm authority at that point. What we get instead is a spokesman for Messianic Judaism, probably in the interest of stirring things up a bit more.
Nicky Campbell hosts the programme. I like Nicky Campbell and think he's good at this sort of thing, both on TV and on radio (though he doesn't need me to tell him that). Special guests are DameAnn Leslie, journalist and broadcaster; Jonathan Bartley, Director of the Christian think tank Ekklesia; and Myriam Francois Cerrah, Oxford UniversityIslamic Society.
I count 68 people in the studio audience (not including the host and the three special guests out front). Apart from Resham, I recognise Allan Hayes, Mike Burden and Richard Hopper (all three of Leicester Secular Society) and ... well, that's all actually. When Nicky Campbell names one of those making a number of contributions as David Jennings, I can add another to the list (Rev. Canon David Jennings, Vicar of St Catherine's Church, Burbage; I knew the name but not the face until today).
Three "big questions" are discussed today:
- Will bankers go to heaven?
- Would pre-nups undermine marriage?
- Is Islam a better guide for life?
In connection with that first question (which many of those involved seem to take literally rather than metaphorically), one contributor states that, "There are 2,350 verses in the Bible about misuse of wealth and property and only 500 on prayer and faith." The segment addressing the third question gets a bit testy and shouty. That part pretty much exemplifies the things I don't really care for in this type of show. When I speak to Allan Hayes the next day and ask him his impression of having been there, he says it was like "observing a family row".
I'm unhappy how the show gives the impression that these people are from Leicester, that these are the topics exercising us and that this is how we conduct our relations here. Most of them are not from round here, we're not knocking ourselves out over these issue and we don't go about our business like this. I'm not sure that giving such an impression is good for Leicester or its image nationwide.
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