British Ban Independent Religious Broadcasts

May 1, 2001

     Thousands of Christians this week are calling on the British government to lift a ban on national religious broadcasting, in response to news that a government forum on the future of religious broadcasting is set to exclude independent religious broadcasters.

The government forum, to be held at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on May 3, was originally proposed in connection with United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) Europe. However, UCB Europe has learned that the meeting now excludes independent religious broadcasters, and is misrepresentative of the 6,500 responses made in a white paper consultation requesting the lifting of the ban.

The response of Christians forms part of a growing movement of strong concern about freedom of speech by 300,000 supporters of UCB Europe (a Christian radio station that has been banned from applying for a national license in the UK for the past 10 years but broadcasts via satellite). The response also unites Christians from a wide range of denominations and organizations who are concerned that the ban is both unjust and undemocratic.

The ban on religious broadcasters has been in place since the 1990 Broadcasting Act, and the UK is one of only four countries to have such a ban, alongside Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Iran.

--Used by permission of Religion Today

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