Church matters

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Jan 14, 2006

Byline: By Francis Wood

Pause for thought

BBC's Thought for the Day is making news again. The atheists are keen to get their hands on it and Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, said this week that he hadn't closed his mind to people with other belief systems presenting it.

I can't see the idea doing much harm but strangely enough I hear criticism of Thought from all sides of the Church. At last year's meeting of BBC religious producers, one told me: "Thought for the Day feels like three minutes with a centipede up your nose." The late presenter of Today, Brian Redhead, once said: "If Today was presented in Chinese, you'd know when Thought for the Day began." He was referring to the parsonical nature of the piece.

It used to be called Lift Up Your Hearts but it often got so downbeat that in 1965 they changed it. But it remained part of the "God slot".

When 75% of people in the UK claim to believe in God, why shouldn't the BBC have a little something for them? It's not even three minutes long either. Five years ago they cut out 30 seconds. Anyway, you don't really need all that time to make a simple point. I once saw the late Spike Milligan give his Thought in a revue at Newcastle Theatre Royal. He said: "I thought I saw Jesus in a tram. I said: `Are you Jesus?' He said: `Yes, I am'." There's real food for thought in 10 seconds.

If atheists were given the slot, the next move would certainly be for there to be no mention of God at all. Even now he hardly gets a look-in and people like me listen because we like to have nice people talking to us. There may be some nice people among the atheists, of course. Why not get them to present Songs of Praise as well? Or would that be like asking a vegetarian to preview a new steakhouse?

JUST VISITING

A FORMER vicar of St Anthony of Egypt, Byker, is due to pay a return visit to his old parish. The Rev Brian Godsell was vicar from 1975 to 1990 and he hopes to renew old acquaintance when he preaches at the Patronal Festival Eucharist on Tuesday at 7.30pm.

Guests at the Service of Thanksgiving and Recommitment to Make Poverty History in Durham Cathedral next Saturday (11am) will include Margaret Sentamu, wife of the Archbishop of York. Preacher will be Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury.

ANYONE FOR UNITY?

UNITY Week begins on Thursday. For more than 80 years the mainstream churches have devoted a week to prayer that the Christian Church may be as one. That means Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox. Are we any further forward? Once we had mass rallies in the City Hall and united processions of witness on Good Friday. Now I find that in local church magazines for January, unity hardly gets a mention.

If churches don't start pulling together soon they could find themselves overtaken by the inter-faith movement. We know the next coronation is to be an inter-faith event. The sovereign will be known as Defender of Faith, instead of Defender of the Faith, a title borne by English monarchs since 1521. We could have a problem with our prayers too. No-one will know to which God we are praying. There may be troubles ahead.

DIARY DATES

MONDAY: St Nicholas' Cathedral. Organ recital, 1pm

TUESDAY: St Anthony of Egypt, Walker.

Patronal Festival Eucharist, Rev Brian Godsell, 7.30pm

St Mary's RC Cathedral. Poetry Evening on Gerard Manley Hopkins, 7.30pm

NEXT SATURDAY: Durham Cathedral. Make Poverty History Service, 11am

Shakespeare Hall, North Road, Durham. Illustrated Lecture on Thomas Cranmer, 2pm

NPlease send items for CHURCH MATTERS to Francis Wood, 52 Albemarle Avenue, Newcastle NE2 3NQ, or telephone (0191) 284 5338.