A former BBC Radio 2 presenter claimed that the corporation is biased against churches and has embarked on a wider secularist campaign to get rid of Christianity.
Don Maclean, 66, who hosted Good Morning Sunday for 16 years, said the BBC is 'keen' on programmes that attack the Christian church. He said BBC programmes about the Catholic Church always discuss paedophiles and programmes about Anglicanism always refer to homosexual clergy.
Mr Maclean said: ‘I think there's a secularist movement in this country to get rid of Christianity. Something must be done.’
He added: ‘They’re keen on Islam, they're keen on programmes that attack the Christian church.
‘I know there are things that need to be brought forward, but you don't see any programmes on Anglicanism that don't talk about homosexual clergy and you don't see anything on Roman Catholicism that don't talk about paedophiles.
‘They seem to take the negative angle every time. They don't do that if they're doing programmes on Islam. Programmes on Islam are always supportive.
‘I'm not against anybody's right to practise their religion and I think we need to talk sensibly to people who practise the Islamic religion.’
He also suggested that ‘the last thing we want is war on the streets' adding that 'we need all the moderate Muslims to stand up and be counted’.
'They're all in private telling you how dreadful they think Islamic terrorism is, but they're not forming together in a group and standing up against it. But it's as big a threat as Nazism was in the 1930s when Germans stood back and didn't stand up against that, and if they had maybe the Second World War wouldn't have started,’ he said.
In addition, Mr Maclean claimed the person that was replaced as BBC religious broadcasting chief, Michael Wakelin, was a very devout Christian and the 'man for the job', but 'presumably he was too ardent in his Christianity and they wanted to get rid of him.’
In October 2008, the BBC Director General Mark Thompson said that Islam should be treated more sensitively than Christianity. He was responding to criticism from comedian Ben Elton, who accused the corporation of being scared to make jokes about Islam. Mr Thompson, who spoke at a lecture for think-tank Theos, said shows critical of Islam would be shown if they were of high quality.
(See the Daily Mail report)
On Monday, the Church of England has published a document saying that the appointment of a Muslim as the BBC new head of religious broadcasting was a 'worrying' development that could undermine corporation’s coverage of Christianity. The document accompanies a proposed motion to the General Synod of the Church of England. Members will have an opportunity to sign up to the motion in July.
(See the Daily Telegraph report)
From 1990 to 2006, Mr Maclean presented 'Good Morning Sunday', a religious programme on BBC Radio 2, but he has now been replaced on that show by Aled Jones. He also hosted the panel games The Clever Dick-Athlon (1988-90), First Letter First (1993) and Are You Sitting Comfortably (1993-6), all for Radio 2. In the 1970s, he presented BBC children’s show Crackerjack.
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