Knock not, lest ye be knocked

Press, 14 July 1980, Page 14

Knock not, lest ye be knocked

Review

John Collins

Canon Bob Lowe came to the defence of his trade in "The Mainland Touch" (One) on Friday in an interesting discussion with David McPhail of the now-no-torious ‘‘.McPhail and Gadsby on Religion.” Using the patronise-them-intb-submission techniques he has honed over years of

"Open Pulpit,” Canon Lowe assured a wary McPhail that, comic genius or not, he should not go sniggering in the choirstalls at Our Lud. Not having seen “McPhail and Gadsby on Religion,” and therefore being in a position to judge it objectively, I tend towards the McPhail view that, religion is as legitimate a target for satire'as any other topic; if a faith is strong and justified it should withstand the assault of doubters. and its holder might even pick up a bit of extra grace along the way by being appropriately dismayed yet understanding towards the mocker who knows not what he does. Television gives so many free plugs to one religion, Christianity, in a supposedly secular system that it was good to hear of a bit of noisy traffic going the other way. Only the non-Christian, and there are plenty about, can be truly aware of the irritating drip-drip-drip of Christian propaganda, overt and covert, the condescending, assumption that it is legitimate for a State broadcasting network to he used to push one of many religious barrows. "Death of a Princess” is rejected allegedly on the ground that it would upset 3000 or so Muslims in New Zealand, yet no account seems to be taken of Islam and other non-< stian beliefs — humanism, atheism, whatever — when time is doled out for propaganda programmes.

As well as the icing-sugar piety of “Stars on Sunday,”

there is Canon Lowe’s own show “Open Pulpit,” in which an interview is used as a pretext to attempt to score a few points on behalf of the Establishment religion. Occasionally, and worse, religious plugs pop up in disguise, in programmes that are represented as being something quite different.

As an example, “Contact” (Two) last Monday; purported to be, and was heavily advertised as, a study of dying, of how a dying Wellington lecturer came to terms with his condition and his imminent demise. In fact, it turned. out to be a pure advertisement for Christianity, the man’s death a vehicle for, among- other plugs tasteless rentings in a graveyard by a Bible-college lecturer and sententious quotes from the Book itself.

The growing suspicion that one was in the middle of a hard sell was confirmed by the final credits, “. . .

made by the Christian Broadcasting Association.”

If it is all right for that sort of thing to be constantly beamed at non-belie-vers, it seems only fair to have the balance redressed by a bit of healthy ridicule now and then.

“The Mainland Touch,” a good, hardworking magazine programme, also had a nice, low-key piece by Michael Brown on the re- of the three cavers near Inangahua. Brown, who looks like an extra in “War and Peace,” has a relaxed style that showed up well in his talk with the unperturbed potI holers.