Jesus is The Way, the Truth … and the Strife

LATEST lunacy from the world of broadcasting comes from Glasgow, where a CHRISTIAN on a CHRISTIAN radio show has been sacked because he said things that were … well … too damned CHRISTIAN!

The Rev Mahboob Masih

In presenting a weekly Christian radio show on the Glasgow-based Asian radio station AWAZ FM, the Rev Mahboob Masih enraged some Muslim listeners when he rebutted the view of the dotty Dr Zakir Naik that Jesus was not the only person who was “the way, the truth and the life” and that every “prophet” was, in his own manner, the way, the truth and the life.

AWAZ FM operates under a Community Radio licence issued to serve the Asian population of Glasgow. The station claims to be the voice of Glasgow’s ethnic communities and their respective faiths.

Rev Masih addressed Naik’s remarks in a phone-in programme after a number of callers asked him to comment on the views of the Muslim “academic”, whom we recently exposed as a Class A loony.

Mahboob Masih, according to this report:

Answered these questions in moderate and temporate terms, including quoting the claims of Jesus as stated in the Bible. Despite Rev Masih’s factual and honest answers to these questions, some Muslim listeners complained the radio station.

The good Rev was then ordered to APOLOGISE!

While we believe that ALL religious broadcasting is, at the very least, utter crap, we are astounded and outraged that the man has had to apologise for something he said in a slot set aside for the sole purpose of airing religious crap.

But after reading out a prepared apology on air the station bosses were still not satisfied and removed him from show.

Now Masih is taking the station to an Employment Tribunal, and a formal complaint will also be made to Ofcom that AWAZ FM had breached the terms of its broadcasting licence.

Which neatly brings us to an Ofcom ruling against a Christian TV channel, which has been reprimanded because a guest on one of its shows expressed the opinion that Islam was not a religion of peace.

Gasp!

According to Mediawatchwatch, Revelation TV, co-founded by a former drummer for the mighty Barron Knights:

Is as whacky as Christian broadcasting comes.

But Ofcom judged them to have overstepped the mark when “theologian, teacher and author” Dan Juster (”clearly a loon even by Christian fundie standards”, observed MWW) said on Visions for Israel that he believed:

Islam cannot be defined as a peaceful, loving religion … Islam enforces its own viewpoint through the power of the sword through death … And Islam believes that violence is a legitimate means to establish and extend Islam.

Ofcom concluded that Revelation TV was in breach of Rule 4.1 of the Code (Broadcasters must exercise the proper degree of responsibility with respect to the content of programmes which are religious programmes).

In its judgement, Ofcom made all the usual noises about “the right to freedom of expression”, but concluded that:

This Code Rule requires broadcasters to exercise the proper degree of responsibility when, for example, using hyperbole which may include more extreme views which could be deemed offensive to people in the audience who hold different views and beliefs.

Revelation TV, far from being outraged at the accusation (which, incidentally, stemmed from ONE complaint), are themselves grovelling apologetically at the very idea that they caused offence. In its defence to Ofcom, it said:

Having viewed the previous six editions of the series and found them to be compliant with the Code, it was lulled into a false sense of security with respect to this seventh episode and did not view it for compliance prior to transmission … if it had been aware of the programme’s content it would either not have shown it, or would have arranged a discussion/debate on the issues raised, since it was aware that as a religious television channel it had many viewers who were sympathetic to the Muslim faith.

We can only echo MWW’s sentiment:

What an appalling display from regulator and broadcaster alike.