John Humphrys favours Atheist Thought for the Day

BBC heavy-weight John Humphrys had added his support to a campaign for non-believers to have a say on the Today Programme's Thought For the Day on BBC Radio 4.

Humphrys has previously written a book, In God We Doubt, which discusses his life an agnostic.

A History of Christianity

The BBC has been showing this series, A History of Christianity, for a few weeks. As most of you lot know I have an interest in the history of Christianity, and this is the first series on the subject I have enjoyed. Here is what the BBC have to say:

"When he was a small boy, Diarmaid MacCulloch's parents used to drive him round historic churches. Little did they know that they had created a monster, with the history of the Christian Church becoming his life's work."

UK residents can get all four episodes to date on the iPlayer here. If not you will have to find somebody who has mastered the use of iplayer-dl to send it to you by other means.

Creation gets A Distributor

yI've just noticed that Derren Brown has posted about the BBC Film/Ocean Pictures latest offerring, Creation, a film about Charles Darwin. In his post Brown says the film has yet to get a US distribution deal (because of the religious nature of its citizens), however I have heard on the grapevine that the independant outfit Newmarket Films will be distributing the film for my friends across the pond. Good news indeed.

Here's a preview.

David Attenborough Interview

Interview with David Attenborough by Nature in the lead up to his BBC show this Sunday.

(Yet) More on the Atheist Bus Campaign

Apparently the Advertising Standards Authority has received a few complaints about the atheist bus adverts. I kind of expected the Christian right to have a bit of a fit, but was not prepared for this:

"Stephen Green said: "It is given as a statement of fact and that means it must be capable of substantiation if it is not to break the rules.

"There is plenty of evidence for God, from people's personal experience, to the complexity, interdependence, beauty and design of the natural world."

Green comes from the organisation Christian Voice, who are about as extreme as mainstream Christianity gets in this country.

Hopefully the ASA will do the right thing. Next time I see a Christian advert anywhere though I am going to change a few words around and send it to the ASA, and I encourage you to do the same!

The BBc also covered the launch of the campaign, and has a video here.

Athiest Quote of The Day

Following on from some earlier controversy Ariane Sherine has read the first atheist thought for the day on Radio 4. Good move BBC!

Athiest "Thought For The Day"?

I get particularly annoyed when religious people claim a monopoly on morality. The fact that atheists can be as moral, or more moral, than believers doesn't really need to be justified any longer.

So why does BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day remain only for the faithful? At least some people are taking a stand.