Love's Redeeming Work

The Church of England, representing the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and his only begotten Son, the Saviour of all who accept His grace, and the Holy Spirit, having decided that, whatever God may think about gay people, His divine opinion upon their acceptance or anathematisation is rather less important than keeping up the size of Rowan Williams' congregation, has been occupying itself with further weighty matters at the general synod. Television programmes have been criticised for "lowering standards of behaviour and exploiting the humiliation of human beings" while remaining more interesting to most people than an evening at church. There were complaints about "BBC news bulletins undermining respect for the prime minister by referring to him only by his surname"; of course it is only natural that a religious organisation should find a form of words more significant in undermining respect than some lies, a swindle or two and the occasional mass murder.

Concern was also voiced about "11-year-olds from cathedral schools being allowed to watch films such as the latest James Bond, Casino Royale, with its torture scene". One Dana Delap of Durham, despite bearing a name worthy of the company of Pussy Galore and Rosa Klebb, complained that one of her sons had been spirited off to see Casino Royale and that God had inflicted upon the other an obsession with Power Rangers. "Tell me the things that my children should be watching," she pleaded, with that brave independence of mind so typical of the faithful; unfortunately, the synod's idea of healthy viewing does not appear to have been recorded. Someone else objected to the "melodramatic excess" whereby Strictly Come Dancing singles out losing contestants. "To me as a Christian, the ethos is to seek and save those who have been losers," he said. This is a potentially fruitful area; the standard of competition on almost any game show might be raised considerably if the threat of being sought out and saved by a member of the Church of England were among the losers' forfeits.

Unfortunately, the synod rejected both the call for a Government investigation of programme standards and the call for "an end to the exploitation of losing competitors"; although for those members whose lives of good works and contemplation have left them a little uncertain about the communications revolution, a former BBC executive had some good advice: "Broadcasters want to know what you think. If you think a programme is exploitative let them know, but try to avoid using the electronic equivalent of green ink." Meanwhile, the synod has voted to set up "a research project to investigate the influence of the media on behaviour", which may one day provide an answer as to why, despite such monuments to theological illumination as the BBC's Thought for the Day, church attendance continues to fall.