Thursday 30 December 2010

Elton, Christian "Voice", and the BBC

Pink News asks why the BBC got Stephen Green of Christian Voice to comment on the birth of Sir Elton John's baby.

The birth of a baby by surrogacy for a 62-year-old and a 48-year old does beg questions. But obviously in this case there's no real need to worry about whether either of Sir Elton or Mr Furnish would physically be able to bear the child at their age. And I don't want to dwell on the Mirror's interest in who was the "mother" and who the "father". That's really none of my business. I wonder whether, at 48 years of age the younger of the two, even Mr Furnish will suffer from the late nights - having relatives who didn't much enjoy the challenge of a loaded nappy at 2am when in their early 40s. But then he looks quite healthy for his age, and I'm sure they have "people" who can do the 2am calls if necessary.

But why did the BBC ask Stephen Green of Christian "Voice" to comment on this, when they wanted a "Christian" view? Surely not because there are hundreds of Anglican vicars who would have expressed joy that a child is born into this world - for surely all human life is a blessing, especially in its early years - and then muttered something about not being against gay people themselves?

The people commenting on the Pink News article seem to think that the BBC is showing itself to be anti-gay. The other possibility is that - showing  Stephen Green as the chosen Christian representative - the BBC are actually anti-Christian. For he doesn't do Christians any favour, and the BBC must know that Stephen Green will make anything else look more appealing than his own views.

Or maybe the BBC was choosing the most extreme person they could as a useful idiot, as that makes the
discussion easier. Human sexuality and reproduction are most complex and nuanced areas - so let's get in Christian "Voice" to give us the "Christian" view. We don't really understand religion anyway, so that should do.

It's a shame, being the holders of Dr Who's franchise as they are, that the BBC can't choose their representatives from all of time and space. Just imagine:

"And now to discuss the Pope's visit to Britain, we have Revd John Knox"
"Should the State subsidise the maintenance of listed religious buildings? We ask Stalin."
"Reform of Parliament? Guy Fawkes will be in our studio discussing the options."
"Over to Wallachia now, where Vlad the Impaler will be giving his views on immigration."
"A Europe of nations, or a super-state? We ask Julius Caesar where he stands."

3 comments :

  1. Only the gentlest of persuasion -
    Torquemada.

    Love Thy (Catholic) Neighbour - Ian Paisley.

    20/20 Vision - Horatio Nelson

    Uniquely qualified you must agree.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sadly the whole thing with a lot of Media output full stop (not just BBC) is now geared up to the fact that feedback is pretty much instantaneous - we are in the era of controversialism because that's what will get a reaction. The phrase "useful idiot" is spot on....

    ReplyDelete
  3. The next balanced, serious BBC debate: Should Jews be executed? We give both sides of the story.

    ReplyDelete

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