The Pope is dominating the news and it looks like mainstream faith is being mentioned rather than than the usual presentation of Catholic minority views. I have even written previously about Sunday religious programmes being dominated by non-religious views, but the general view of the way that Roman Catholic beliefs are presented in the media is to place a token Catholic into some stories on television. Think of Ivy Tilsley on Coronation Street, Father Ted or any of the Fathers on this show or the hocus pocus of Dan Brown's books. However much you may like or dislike the Simpsons, at least they are a family that are practising Christians and Homer and Marge have stayed together through thick and thick. There is a lot to criticise in the Simpsons but at the end of the episode they all live happily together.
At Westminster Hall yesterday, the Pope said that religion is 'marginalised'. It may be that many in the media turn to celebrities or scientists to explain what we do not understand. Yesterday the Pope said: "My question for you is this: What are the qualities you see in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of person would you really like to be?' This seems to me to be an answer not just to religious questions but also to so many political questions. What is our immigration policy? How do we treat the unemployed or those suffering from ill health? How do we want our vote to count at election times?
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