''Thought for the Day'' is a daily scripted slot on the ''Today'' programme on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7:45 each Monday to Saturday morning. Nowadays lasting 2 minutes and 45 seconds, it is a successor to the five-minute religious sequence ''Ten to Eight'' (1965–1970) and, before that, ''Lift Up Your Hearts'', which was first broadcast five mornings a week on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

from December 1939, initially at 7:30, though soon moved to 7:47. The feature is mainly delivered by those involved in religious practice; often, these are

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

thinkers, but there have been numerous occasions where representatives of other faiths, including

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

Sikhism Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...

and

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...

, have presented ''Thought for the Day''. Notable contributors to the slot have included major religious figures, including

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...

(former

archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

) and Popes

Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

and

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

. British

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

s who have contributed include

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi ( he, רב ראשי ''Rav Rashi'') is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a ...

Jonathan Lord Sacks of the

United Synagogue The United Synagogue (US) is a union of British Orthodox Jewish synagogues, representing the central Orthodox movement in Judaism. With 62 congregations (including 7 affiliates and 1 associate, ), comprising 40,000 members, it is the largest ...

movement and

Lionel Blue Lionel Blue (6 February 1930 – 19 December 2016) was a British Reform rabbi, journalist and broadcaster, described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the most respected religious figures in the UK". He was best known for his longstanding work wit ...

of the

World Union for Progressive Judaism The World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) is the international umbrella organization for the various branches of Reform, Liberal and Progressive Judaism, as well as the separate Reconstructionist Judaism. The WUPJ is based in 40 countries ...

. Other contributors include

Anne Atkins Anne Atkins is an English novelist, writer and broadcaster. The author of four novels – ''The Lost Child'', ''On Our Own,'' ''A Fine and Private Place'', and ''An Elegant Solution'' – as well as three books of non-fiction, she is a regular c ...

, John L. Bell (

Iona Community The Iona Community, founded in 1938 by George MacLeod, is an ecumenical Christian community of men and women from different walks of life and different traditions within Christianity. It and its publishing house, Wild Goose Publications, are hea ...

Rhidian Brook Rhidian Brook (born 1964) is a Welsh novelist, screenwriter and broadcaster. Biography Brook was born in Tenby in 1964. He attended Churcher's College in Hampshire, leaving in 1982. His first novel, ''The Testimony Of Taliesin Jones'' (HarperCol ...

, Tom Butler (former Bishop of Southwark), Dr

Elaine Storkey Elaine Storkey (''née'' Lively; born 1944) is an English philosopher, sociologist, and theologian. She is known for her lecturing, writing and broadcasting. Early years and education Born Elaine Lively on 1 October 1944, Storkey is the eldest of ...

(Philosopher and theologian), Canon

Giles Fraser Giles Anthony Fraser (born 27 November 1964)Inclusive Church founder), Richard Lord Harries of Pentregarth, James Jones (former

Bishop of Liverpool The Bishop of Liverpool is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool in the Province of York.''Crockford's Clerical Directory'', 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. . The diocese stretches from Southport in the n ...

Mona Siddiqui Mona Siddiqui (born 3 May 1963) is a British academic. She is Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the University of Edinburgh, a member of the Commission on Scottish Devolution and a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. ...

(Muslim professor), Michael Banner (ethicist), Indarjit Lord Singh of Wimbledon (Sikh parliamentarian), Jasvir Singh and Canon

Angela Tilby Angela Clare Wyatt Tilby (born 6 March 1950) is British Anglican priest, author and former producer. She began her career working as a producer within the BBC's Religious Department. She was then ordained in the Church of England, and was a parish ...

Format

''Thought for the Day'' contributions often follow a similar format: starting with a contemporary issue of public interest or concern, possibly drawn from the news, or from sport, the arts, science or some other area of public life as a lead-in to a spiritual or religious reflection. A report by the Christian think tank Ekklesia described the link between the topical lead-in and the spiritual reflection as usually taking one of the following forms: # Directional link: the contributor uses the theological content to comment on the issue in question. # Meditatory link: the contributor moves from the contemporary topical issue to the theological issue in a way that inspires reflection but does not try to give a moral or message about the original issue. # No link: this is usually done when the contributor picks a topic that is already directly spiritual or religious in nature. Some ''Thought for the Day'' contributions can be more explicitly evangelistic while others are more personal, and others have been positively inter-religious with contributors praising faiths different from their own. Leslie Griffiths, a Christian contributor to the programme described his view of the role of faith in contributing to ''Thought for the Day'' as follows: "I'm a Christian and the essence of my Christianity gives me the angle from which I want to reflect, but it is the lens rather than the subject itself. I don’t want to talk about Christianity, I want as a Christian to talk about the news".

Controversial broadcasts

''Thought for the Day'' has included both traditionalist and more radical voices, and at times those selected to present in the slot have gone beyond providing spiritual instruction into directly criticising government policy and other social issues. In 1971, the Methodist minister Colin Morris attacked an immigration bill put forward by the government of

Ted Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...

, arguing that the bill would have denied entry into Britain for not only Saints David, Andrew and George, but Jesus. This led politicians into a public debate about the advisability of the broadcast, and questions were asked in the House of Lords. The BBC dropped Morris from the list of contributors for a few months following the debate. In 1979, a broadcast by Labour MP

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...

was delayed. Benn attacked the BBC for delaying the broadcast and told the press that he had been censored. It later turns out that the Conservative MP

Rhodes Boyson Sir Rhodes Boyson (11 May 192528 August 2012) was an English educator, author and Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Brent North. He was knighted and made a member of the Privy Council in 1987. Early life B ...

had also been asked to prepare a script for ''Thought for the Day'' but was unable to do so. Fearing an accusation of bias in broadcasting Benn and not Boyson, they delayed Benn's broadcast until after the political conference season. During the 1980s, increasing social problems in the inner cities led the Church of England to produce a report, '' Faith in the City''. This laid a large portion of the blame for the social issues on the policies of the Conservative government of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

. A number of Anglican bishops appeared on ''Thought for the Day'' speaking out against Thatcher's social policies including Tom Butler, Jim Thompson and

Richard Harries Richard Douglas Harries, Baron Harries of Pentregarth, (born 2 June 1936) is a retired bishop of the Church of England and former British Army officer. He was the Bishop of Oxford from 1987 to 2006. From 2008 until 2012 he was the Gresham Profes ...

. To protect against accusations of bias in the run-up to the 1987 General Election,

David Hatch Sir David Edwin Hatch, (7 May 1939 – 13 June 2007)
"''Just a Minute''" site wa ...

told producers: "I don't want some lefty bishop on ''Thought for the Day'' queering our pitch". In 1990, Canon Eric James had planned to use a ''Thought for the Day'' slot to defend those protesting the poll tax, and planned to speak in positive tones of "the spiritual value of revolt". The segment was set to be broadcast on the first day of the Labour Party conference, but James resigned from the programme and told the ''Church Times'' that he had faced censorship. In 1992, Dr Elaine Storkey in her ''Thought for the Day'' took the Saudi Arabian judiciary to task after a brief

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

report that Saudi Arabia planned to hang a Christian Filipino preacher on Christmas Day. Pastor Wally Magdangal had allegedly been flogged and tortured for preaching Christianity. The item became featured on news throughout the day, and was taken up by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

and other international groups. The pastor was later released. In 1996, the writer

used her slot to argue that while "

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

is reprehensible", the Church of England was altogether too tolerant of homosexuals, condemning a service in Southwark Cathedral commemorating twenty years of the

Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement OneBodyOneFaith, formerly the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM), describes itself as "UK-based international Charity which challenges homophobia and transphobia, especially within the Church and faith based organisations". History The Gay ...

as a commemoration of "20 years of gay sex", and arguing that Church was failing in its "duty to condemn sin... no doubt, we will have an adulterers' Christian Fellowship". The Church of England expressed disapproval of Atkins' views, specifically the suggestion that increasing tolerance of homosexuality in the church was the cause of a declining number of people seeking to become ordained. The BBC said that they had received a "substantial number of complaints from listeners".

List of presenters

Presenters of the segment have included: *

* Reverend Dr Michael Banner *

Jonathan Bartley Jonathan Charles Bartley (born 16 October 1971) is a British politician and was Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, a position he shared with Caroline Lucas and then, from 4 September 2018, with Siân Berry. He was the Green Pa ...

(Ekklesia founder) *

Vicky Beeching Victoria Louise "Vicky" Beeching (born 17 July 1979) is an English musician and religious commentator. She is best known for her work in the American contemporary worship music genre, and has been described by ''The Guardian'' as "arguably the ...

* Reverend John L. Bell of the

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Dr Alan Billings * Rabbi

* Vishvapani Blomfield *

* Bishop Tom Butler * Akhandadhi Das (

ISKCON The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktiv ...

) * Reverend Joel Edwards *

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

* Reverend Dr

Giles Fraser Giles Anthony Fraser (born 27 November 1964)Richard Harries, Baron Harries of Pentregarth Richard Douglas Harries, Baron Harries of Pentregarth, (born 2 June 1936) is a retired bishop of the Church of England and former British Army officer. He was the Bishop of Oxford from 1987 to 2006. From 2008 until 2012 he was the Gresham Prof ...

* The Right Reverend Graham James * The Right Reverend James Jones *

Hardeep Singh Kohli Hardeep Singh Kohli (born 21 January 1969) is a Scottish presenter of Sikh heritage who has appeared on various radio and television programmes. Background Kohli was born in London and moved to Glasgow, Scotland, when he was four. His parents ...

Satish Kumar Satish Kumar (born 9 August 1936) is an Indian British activist and speaker. He has been a Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate and pacifist.'' ''Now living in England, Kumar is founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher College ...

* Colin Morris * Abdal Hakim Murad * Cardinal

Cormac Murphy-O'Connor Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (24 August 1932 – 1 September 2017) was a British cardinal, the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He was made cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001. He s ...

* Reverend Dr John Polkinghorne *

Brian Protheroe Brian Protheroe (born 16 June 1944) is an English musician, actor and narrator. He is best known for his first single, "Pinball", which was released in August 1974, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. ...

* The Chief Rabbi Rt. Hon

Lord Sacks Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks ( he, יונתן הנרי זקס, translit=Yona'tan Henry Zaks; 8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United He ...

* Professor

Indarjit Singh, Baron Singh of Wimbledon Indarjit Singh, Baron Singh of Wimbledon (born 17 September 1932), sometimes transliterated Inderjit Singh, is a British journalist and broadcaster, a prominent British Indian active in Sikh and interfaith activities, and a member of the Hou ...

* Professor

Russell Stannard Russell Stannard, (December 24.5 1931 – 4 July 2022) was a British high-energy particle physicist. Stannard was born in London, England, on December 24.5 1931. He held the position of Professor Emeritus of Physics at the Open University. I ...

* Dr

* Canon

* Reverend Dr Sam Wells * Reverend Professor David Wilkinson * The Right Reverend Dr

* Reverend Lucy Winkett * The

Most Reverend The Most Reverend is a style applied to certain religious figures, primarily within the historic denominations of Christianity, but occasionally in some more modern traditions also. It is a variant of the more common style "The Reverend". Anglic ...

Justin Welby Justin Portal Welby (born 6 January 1956) is a British bishop who is the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. He has served in that role since 2013. Welby was previously the vicar of Southam, Warwickshire, and then Bishop of Durham, serving for jus ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury * Professor

Linda Woodhead Linda Jane Pauline Woodhead (born 15 February 1964) is a British academic specialising in the religious studies and sociology of religion at King's College London Faculty of Arts and Humanities. She is best known for her work on religious chan ...

* Jasvir Singh

Pope Benedict XVI

After months of negotiation between the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

and the BBC,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

recorded a 'Christmas message especially for the UK', which was broadcast as the ''Thought for the Day'' on 24 December 2010. The broadcast followed the Pope's visit to the United Kingdom earlier in the year. In the message, he claimed to be fond of Britain and asked listeners to consider Jesus's birth. The

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...

had criticised the BBC for giving the Pope a chance to "

whitewash Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes used ...

" the Catholic Church's record on Catholic child sexual abuse. The message was a "damp, faltering squib", commented biologist and atheist Professor

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...

on the Comment is Free webpages of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' newspaper.

Other versions and adaptations

The Radio 4 ''Thought for the Day'' format has been copied onto some other BBC channels, notably local radio. An example is

BBC Radio Suffolk BBC Radio Suffolk is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Suffolk. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on St Matthews Street in Ipswich. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience ...

's morning show that hosts a Thought for the Day at approximately 7:30. Suffolk's programme differs from the national broadcast in that it is only 1 minute and 45 seconds long. Another difference is that it draws from a more diverse religious base, even including a regular

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

speaker, possibly reflecting the strong interfaith movement in the station's home town of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

. (Se
Suffolk Interfaith Resource
)

BBC Radio Leicester BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at St Nicholas Place in Leicester. According to RAJAR, the station ...

, too, has a daily Thought for the Day (Se

Suffolk Daily thought for the day). slot, now pre-recorded and broadcast at 6:45. There is a "pick of the week" re-broadcast on Sunday morning. Speakers are drawn from a wide spectrum of Christian churches, and there is substantial representation from the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

, humanist and occasionally,

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

, communities. But here, contributors are restricted to a mere 90 seconds of broadcast time, which many feel is too short.

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

broadcasts a similar spot on weekday mornings called "Pause for Thought".

Criticism

In 2002, 102 people put their names to a letter to the

BBC Governors The Board of Governors of the BBC was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It consisted of twelve people who together regulated the BBC and represented the interests of the public. It existed from 1927 until it was replaced ...

, drawn up by the

British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

, the

, and the

Rationalist Press Association The Rationalist Association, originally the Rationalist Press Association, is an organization in the United Kingdom, founded in 1885 by a group of freethinkers who were unhappy with the increasingly political and decreasingly intellectual tenor ...

. This protested that the slot was available only to religious views. As a consequence, Professor

from Oxford University was given a two-and-a-half minute slot to deliver a reflection from an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

viewpoint, although this was not broadcast in the ''Thought for the Day'' slot itself. The Editors of the BBC World Service's version of the same strand ''Pause for Thought'', were not so dogmatic about secular contributions and between 1997–2002, 26 x 5 minute secular thought pieces were recorded at Bush House with Christopher Templeton,

Nicolas Walter Nicolas Hardy Walter (22 November 1934 – 7 March 2000) was a British anarchist and atheist writer, speaker and activist. He was a member of the Committee of 100 and Spies for Peace, and wrote on topics of anarchism and humanism. Background ...

and

Anthony Grey Anthony Grey (born 5 July 1938) is a British journalist and author. While working for Reuters, he was imprisoned by the Chinese government for 27 months from 1967 to 1969. He has written a series of historical novels and non-fiction books, ...

. However, the BBC commented that it wanted to keep ''Thought for the Day'' a unique offering of a

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

perspective within an otherwise entirely secular news programme. The last secular ''Pause for Thought'' was recorded for BBC World Service in 2002. An "Alternative Thought for the Day" was offered by Unitarian minister

Andrew Pakula Andrew Pakula (born 18 December 1957 in New York, United States) is an atheist Unitarian minister. He was elected in 2009 to serve on the executive committee of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella body for ...

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

2013, at the request of guest editor Sir

Tim Berners-Lee Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He is a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a profess ...

, inventor of the World Wide Web and a Unitarian himself. Berners-Lee had wished Pakula to present his thoughts within ''Thought for the Day'', but the BBC hierarchy claimed this was not appropriate, since Pakula describes himself as an atheist. Instead he was allowed to deliver his message an hour earlier, with a theistic Unitarian minister appearing in the actual ''Thought for the Day'' slot. Pakula used his message to reflect on the underlying meaning of Christmas. In a brief discussion with ''Today'' host

Mishal Husain Mishal Husain (born 11 February 1973) is a British newsreader and journalist for BBC Television and BBC Radio. She is the main Sunday presenter of the ''BBC News at Ten'' and ''BBC Weekend News'' and one of the main presenters of BBC Radio 4's ' ...

, Pakula said, "The BBC talks about not allowing people of 'no faith' to present ''Thought for the Day'', well, what does 'no faith' mean? Here I am, I'm a minister of religion, leading a congregation talking about peace and love, and I'm considered a person of no faith because I say I'm an atheist." The controversy was covered in Britain's main broadsheets such as ''

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' and ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' and as far afield as Australia. Since 2007, the website Platitude of the Day has offered a daily humorous, critical counter to ''Thought for the Day''.

References

External links

Thought for the day

Thought for the day
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thought For The Day British religious radio programmes BBC Radio 4 programmes