Documentaries, both on Christianity and other faiths are often shown. These give people an insight into the religion and often help them to understand other people more, this is especially important as Britain is a multi-faith society. Also leading up to Christmas and Easter more Christian programmes are shown, this is because both these occasions are to be celebrated by many. Often cartoons are made for children, telling them stories from the Bible.
This quite clearly shows that religious programmes aren’t given a fair distribution, as most of them are shown on Sundays. The viewing times are also in the morning or early evening, probably so they do not clash with peak viewing times, when programmes such as Coronation Street are shown. I don’t think other faiths are given enough recognition through television programmes. Documentaries on them are shown very rarely and are usually aired on Channel 4 or BBC 2; neither of these channels are considered particularly popular compared with ITV and BBC 1. Showing programmes on religion is important to teach people about it, as this will help bring tolerance into society. I think enough religious programmes are shown each week, but they need to be more evenly distributed throughout the week rather than them all just being on a Sunday.
Analyse and explain the way in which a religious or moral issue of concern to Christians has been dealt with in the national daily press:
Legalising euthanasia has been raised as a concern in recent news. Diane Pretty, who had Motor Neurone disease, which is an incurable illness, wanted the right for her husband to help her commit suicide. Her condition had reached the point where she could no longer do anything for herself as she was paralysed from the neck down. In June 2001 she wrote to Tony Blair asking for the laws on euthanasia to be changed, her plea was rejected, which meant under present laws her husband would face up to fifteen years in prison if he assisted her death. She decided to take her appeal to the court but again failed. In March Mrs Pretty travelled to Strasbourg to present her case to the European Court of Human Rights, yet again she was turned down. One of the reasons for this was people’s morals on the subject.
‘The Daily Telegraph’ showed the view of being against legalising euthanasia. They used a lot of quotes from experts who were against legalising euthanasia, for example Dr Richard Lamerton said
‘‘Mr Pretty is in fact asking for permission to kill his suffering wife.’’
This represents the view of many people who are against legalising euthanasia, as they see it as murdering the person who wants to die. Christians might take this view as one of the Ten Commandments is ‘’Thou shalt not kill’’ and so if euthanasia was legalised Christians would have to view t as being wrong in God’s eyes even if it is legal. Also Christians believe that God is the only one who should make the decision about death, so even the person who wants to commit suicide is seen as being wrong.
This article differed from more socialist papers like ‘The Guardian’, which took a less biased attitude towards the situation. They use actual quotes from Diane Pretty like "I just want my rights." And “grant me this last wish and allow me a say in how I die.” They put points forward which argued for both sides, but tended to agree with Mrs Pretty’s views. After she had died they wrote “Diane Pretty has died after suffering the very breathing difficulties she had fought to be spared.”
This is very much showing sympathy for Mrs Pretty and shows a lot of compassion for her. This is probably because ‘The Guardian’ has a wider range of readers and is a less formal newspaper. ‘The Telegraph’ is a more conservative newspaper, some of whom maybe Christians so the article has to be written in such a way that appeals to them. Although some Christians who believe in ‘the lesser of two evils’ will agree with euthanasia and will find ‘The Guardian’s’ articles more favourable.
Analyse and explain the way in which a religious theme of concern to Christians has been dealt with in a film:
Britain is a multi-faith society, which means lots of people from different religions and cultures live in communities. This can cause disagreements over which beliefs and practices are right and which are wrong. Arranged marriages are a controversial matter as many Christians disagree with them. They believe that people should fall in love and not be forced into anything.
‘East is East’ is a comedy about a Muslim family. The father, George, moved from Pakistan when he was younger and had very strong religious beliefs. He wanted his children to have arranged marriages and when his eldest son, Nazir, refuses to marry the girl who has been chosen for him George cuts him off from the family. This contrasts with the Christian point of view, which is that two people fall in love and then choose to get married when they are ready. George sees him as being dead and when being told he is lucky to have ‘six’ sons the Mullah says ‘five, one dead’. This shows how important religion was to George. Again this contrasts with the Christian idea of forgiveness as George will not forgive his son and maybe even sees religion as being more important than family. George represents most first generation Muslims in Britain and Nazir and George’s other children represent the Muslims who have been born and brought up in Britain. When George tries to organise more arranged marriages for his next two eldest sons they again refuse. This shows Britain and Christianity, where arranged marriages are not normal practice, have influenced them. Ironically George’s wife is British, who he married so he could stay in the country. She also disagrees with the arranged marriages as she can see how much it upsets the child. ‘East is East’ highlights the situation in Britain and shows how different religions and cultures are being slightly changed so they adapt to ‘the British way of life’.
‘Television always presents religious people as out of touch with the modern world.’
Do you agree? Give reasons for your opinion, showing you have considered another point of view. Your answer should refer to specific television programmes:
As the older generation is often seen as being out of date I do agree with this statement as not many young religious people are shown on television today, but as many of the older generation are not out of date this statement could be seen as being false. For example Geraldine, the vicar out of ‘The Vicar of Dibly’ is a religious woman who is clever and has a good sense of humour, after all it is a comedy. It shows her as being able to get herself out of all the problems she gets into, but still maintaining her religious beliefs. She is always there for her friends when they need her, ready with good advice. Soaps often have vicars in them, but they don’t usually make regular appearances. Ashley from ‘Emerdale’ is one of the main characters though and even after going through a divorce and being a single parent he is still respected by all the other residents of the village. Television also broadcasts pop awards, when artists such as Britney Spears, N*Sync and Christina win. They always thank God for their talent and are all religious. These people are most definitely not seen as being out of touch with the modern world as they are idols to lots of children and teenagers.
However there are some exceptions such as Emily Bishop from ‘Coronation Street’ and Dot Cotton from ‘Eastenders’. Dot is seen as being old fashioned in the way she thinks and the way she dresses. An example of this is when Sonia and Gus decide to redecorate the house for her while she is on holiday. When Gus’s brother buys the wrong furniture Sonia describes it as being ‘1950’s shelter style’ but Dot loves it. Despite this she still has very good advice for people using her religion and life experiences to help her. Emily is also seen as being very old fashioned and people often like to take advantage of her kindness.
When documentaries are shown about religion they are usually show a range of Christians. This is so viewers are not shown the stereotypical Christian, who is old, wears knitted jumpers and never has any fun! So overall television programmes do not show Christians as being out of date, which is important so people don’t get the wrong idea about religion and Christianity.
