So, yesterday there was a story on the BBC about
how the Church of England was angry because a major cinema chain refused to
show an advert for prayer. They claimed
that it was an assault on free speech and another example of Christianity being
forced out of the public sphere.
I do not precisely agree with
them, but I do think that it’s symptomatic of a slightly different
problem. The cinema chain in question
has made it clear that this is not a question of discriminating against
Christianity; they have a firm rule against airing any political or religious
adverts of any persuasion at all. Well,
fair enough then. That’s their rule, and
as long as they continue to apply it equally, then I don’t really feel that
there is any space to argue.
Instead, I consider it another
example of what I refer to as aculturalism.
We are informed that we live in a multicultural society, and there are
those that approve of this, and those that do not. However, it seems that efforts are continually
being made to ensure that we live in a society without cultures at all, a grey,
claggy homogenous mass of human porridge, one spoonful indistinguishable from
any other. Partly it’s our own fault,
partly I feel that it’s being forced upon us, and has been for some time.
Surely in a multicultural
society, a cinema chain could happily show adverts for Christianity and Islam
and Hinduism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Conservative Party and the
Liberal Democrats and the Buckets for Shoes Party, and if we weren’t interested
in those things, we’d ignore them, as I tend to do for adverts for most things.
I’ve said that it’s partly our
own fault, because people seem incapable of ignoring them. Either we apply ourselves to taking offense
or leap upon our charger and go to battle ‘because other people might be
offended’, or we start hurling abuse and making ourselves offensive because we
happen not to like what’s being advertised.
For proof of this in action, I refer you to the comments section of the
story linked, or indeed the ‘Prayer Wall’ of the website being advertised, both
of which have swiftly filled up with vitriol from malicious atheists, furious that
religion has dared to raise its head above the parapet and bring itself to
their attention.
We obviously cannot be trusted
to experience difference without fighting and becoming offensive and spiteful,
and so it is withheld from us.
However, there is also a
deliberate policy of aculturalism. As
the old adage goes, ‘Don’t attribute anything to malice that can just as easily
be attributed to incompetence’, or in this case, laziness. After all, it would be a terrible nuisance
having to make sure that no on group was given more advertising time than
another, and a cinema is a commercial concern, not a public education centre.
On the other hand, the same
trend has been seen elsewhere. Some
years ago, there was a story about how a prison was ending Christian classes
for prisoners, because there was no equivalent for other religions. The idea of calling other religious leaders
in to run classes presumably sounded like far too much work, and much harder
than just cancelling the Christian one, so that’s what they did.
Hospitals stopped stocking
Bibles in rooms in case they caused offense.
The idea of inviting other groups (religious and secular) to place their
own literature was obviously too hard.
Admittedly in this case, you don’t want wards overflowing with books and
tracts, but surely each group could be restricted to a single pamphlet?
In every case, the path of
least resistance has been followed, and so gradually, rather than a
multicultural society, we are getting a society of the bland, of the lukewarm,
of the absence of anything rather than the presence of everything, of the grey
rather than the rainbow. Surely this
approach fosters ignorance over knowledge?
It’s the very opposite of what the government and numerous governments
before them, claim to want. It ensures
that everyone knows nothing about anyone else, and therefore remain suspicious,
afraid and hostile, where they should be knowledgeable, and understanding even
in their disagreement.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I
like porridge, I have it almost every day during the winter, but that doesn’t
mean I want to live in it. We don’t need
to learn to accept difference, we need to learn to discuss it in a civilised
and moderate manner, and agree to disagree in a courteous and respectful manner.
If (and it is an ‘if’) we’re
serious about multiculturalism, then we need to ensure a multitude of cultures,
and at the moment, that is not what we’re doing.
