Following Five Guys Named Mohammed, broadcast over 5 days at the start of the year, last night Radio 4 gave us Young, Muslim and Black:
Dotun Adebayo looks at why Islam is providing an attractive religious alternative to Christianity for Black Britons seeking answers.
Next Monday you can tune in for It’s My Story: The Imam of Peace:
Nadene Ghouri profiles the work of John Butt, an English Muslim convert who became an imam and is trying to spread a message of peace and tolerance across Pakistan and Afghanistan.
And Face the Facts on 27th Jan will be devoted to the issue of “whether sections of the British press are increasing tensions within communities by publishing negative stories about Muslims.”
Across the first four weeks of 2011, no programmes or series on BBC Radio 4 will have been wholly devoted to any of the other non-Christian religious communities of the U.K. Yes, Hindus, Jews, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists have all gone uncatered for by the allegedly diversity-loving BBC. Only Islam seems to interest the channel’s programme makers.
Though nowhere near as obsessive, even its regular religious affairs programme Beyond Belief is guilty of weighting its discussions with an excess of Muslims. Each programme has a trio of guests. There have been 27 programmes since the start of 2010. Here’s how the religious identity of the believing non-Christians breaks down in terms of number of guests:
Muslims – 15
Jews – 9
Hindus – 2
Sikhs – 2
Buddhists – 1
Jains – 1
Or
Muslims = 15
All the rest = 15
Is that fair, BBC?