The BBC has become less anti-Catholic under a Muslim head of
religious programming, according to former Conservative Minister Ann
Widdecombe.
Miss Widdecombe said that since Aquil Ahmed was appointed two years ago the BBC’s religious coverage had “improved vastly”.
Speaking to the Irish Catholic, she said: “He isn’t a Christian but he understands faith, he understands religion. I’ve
recently done a few programmes for the BBC, which I’ve been allowed to
do absolutely straight – no agenda at all, … not slanted or sarcastic or
anything. I think it’s helpful we’ve got somebody there who understands
what faith is about.”
But she said it was “undeniable” that the BBC had a Leftwing bias.
“Yes,
it caters for Christians – and that is undeniable – it’s got its
religious programming, it’s got ‘Songs of Praise’ … but in commentary
and debate it is weighted the other way,” she said.
Miss
Widdecombe said that over the last decade or so Britain’s attitude
towards Christianity had changed “from indifference to active
marginalisation” – and that persecution was not too strong a word to
describe the way Christians were being treated.
“When you’ve got
an airline which can seriously say that a Muslim can wear a hijab, a
Sikh can wear a friendship bangle or indeed a turban (in the case of
men) but a Christian may not wear a cross, then you have got something
that is very difficult to say is not persecution,” she said.
“These
days [a doctor or nurse] can’t even say to a patient, ‘I’ll pray for
you.’ There was a time when the response would have been ‘thank you,’
because that is the polite response. Now, it’s to put in a complaint and
get the worker sacked.”
Miss Widdecombe retired from politics
last year and spent 10 weeks as a contestant in the BBC’s Strictly Come
Dancing.
She turned down the chance to become Britain’s ambassador to
the Holy See because she had to have emergency surgery to her eye.
In
her interview, Miss Widdecombe also praised the Catholic Voices
initiative during the papal visit, and said the Church was “useless” at
PR.
During the abuse crisis, she said, the Church “never stood up for
itself”.
“It didn’t point out that the biggest abuse actually
happens within families; it happens in scout groups, choirs, anywhere
you care to look – the teaching profession – there is nothing unique
about it to the Catholic Church,” she said.