Jane Fallon Griffin | Staff Writer
A montage of images of middle-aged Irish people gazing pensively towards a streaming light source to the sound of church bells. This, for many Irish people, is what springs to mind when “RTÉ” and “religion” feature in the same sentence. Therefore my first line of enquiry into the world of Irish religious media was to identify and locate the person responsible for compiling these images.
The man behind the angelus is Roger Childs. He is the religious editor of RTÉ, and is responsible for spiritual features on both RTÉ radio and television. A Cambridge graduate in English and past pupil of the esteemed BBC production graduate scheme, Childs’ impact in religious media spans a variety of organisations, with his multiple awards reflecting this vast experience. Expecting a defensive response, I asked him what place the angelus, signifying the catholic call to prayer, had on the national channel of a modern society. Childs didn’t defend the presence of the angelus in national broadcasting instead he denied its existence. He maintained that RTÉ did not and never had broadcast the Catholic angelus but rather that the idea of such was public interpretation. Traditionally the angelus is not merely a ringing of a bell but rather the reciting of a prayer. This prayer has never accompanied the slideshow that is broadcast daily at six in the evening. “To the person of faith it’s a moment of prayer and to the person of no faith it’s a moment of peace,” Childs explained, drawing on the opening line of Max Ehrmann’s 1927 poem Desiderata (“Go placidly amid the noise and haste”) to illustrate his point. Childs claimed that this one minute segment out of the seeks to create a “meditative space” rather than a source of cultural isolationism, as it has been perceived by atheists and other religions alike. He also pointed out that in recent years efforts have been made to make this reflective space more inclusive with the intermittent images of church steeples and crucifixes being replaced by those of contemporary settings such as offices, homes and cityscapes.
He voiced the opinion that the idea of secularism is not in fact a neutral stance as it has been perceived and furthermore that those calling for it do not reflect the mass wish of a society
On closer inspection I did indeed find this to be the case, contrasting the 2002 version with that of 2009 and finding the latter to be more of a reflection of the rush of everyday life rather than an indication of a sacred hour. RTÉ Religious strive to create an all-inclusive selection of programmes of a religious nature by producing pieces representative of the variety of faiths within the country. Childs explained how the previous week had seen the production of a programme depicting the Shi’a Muslim day of Ashura indicating that other faiths also feature. Other programmes following this precedent for more inclusive coverage include iWitness and The God Slot, which hosts discussions between religious and atheists alike. Childs did mention however that while broadening the boundaries of Irish faith broadcasting was understandable that the call for secular broadcasting was less so. He voiced the opinion that the idea of secularism is not in fact a neutral stance as it has been perceived and furthermore that those calling for it do not reflect the mass wish of a society in which during the 2011 census only figures of 3,905 and 3,521 identified themselves as atheist and agnostic respectively. Childs therefore rejected the notion that secularists could claim to be representing the modern day Irish population. His desire to portray the views of the inhabitants of Ireland stretches into his hopes for the future of RTÉ Religious which he explains through the acronym RICE. Through his position as editor he hopes to reflect, interrogate, celebrate and explain the religious elements of Irish society.
In terms of religious radio, Spirit FM, which located in Bray’s radio centre, commands the greatest presence on Irish air. It spans several counties and music genres. Funded almost entirely by listener donations through their quarterly pledge drives the station’s future relies on their listenership and the small sum raised through advertising. Initially an online radio show with an average listenership of forty people, the station gradually expanded, studying the methods of the big players of Christian radio such as Premier in the U.K and K-love in the U.S. Their stance as a Christian radio station sees them emphasising the common denominators between their various Christian listeners, downplaying the dividing factors and emphasising the Trinity and Jesus. Crew member Áine Carvil says that “the message is in the music.” The station plays both Christian rock and secular music with positive messages performed by suitable role models. However, excluded from playlists are songs with themes of homosexuality such as Mackelmore’s “Same Love” as the message contained is contrary to church teaching. Carvil describes the secular music used as “crossover music” in that the song’s lyrics could be interpreted in a Christian context. This suitable secular music gets forty percent of the airtime, while Christian rock gets the other sixty. Artists such as Rihanna and Miley Cyrus are blacklisted regardless of lyrical content, as their conduct is not deemed acceptable by the station. They pride themselves on being “family friendly.” Carvil describes the station as “a gentle tool of evangelicalism” with a “drip feed bible message” – nothing too overwhelming and in line with their idea of living Christianity. The station is not intended to be explicitly Christian and this is most likely the reason why many non-religious people are surprised after listening to a number songs to discover an evangelical message indicating that they have been listening to a religious broadcast and not what seemed to them to be a selection of uplifting songs. Their range of interview guests and topics could also pass for secular broadcasting most of the time. For example, they recently had an on air discussion about diabetes. The idea that the station is portraying how “Christianity should be lived” extended beyond the recording studio and into the offices of Spirit FM. The team pray together daily seeking guidance for the future of the station and expressing their appreciation for its success so far. They kindly included me in their communal gathering and prayed for guidance for me in writing my article. In terms of the future of spirit, DJ Richie Gardner strives to do on location broadcasts from the annual Irish Christian Rock festival Summer Madness. While explaining the importance of the media in informing young people, CEO Rob Clarke referred to Jesus’ teaching on the suitability of wine skins to best serve the needs of the wine explaining that the method of religious engagement must change along with generational differences in society.
On the subject of atheism, he informed me that his most popular article had been entitled “Atheists are Losers and Hopeless”.
Finally I travelled to St. Mary’s Priory in Tallaght to interview the editor of the free Catholic paper Alive, which arrives through many letterboxes at the beginning of each month, and is also available in plenty of church porches. Unlike Spirit FM, there was no mistaking the religious backing of the paper. I stepped through the gate and was faced with a large church surrounded by the rest of the priory’s buildings set amid greenery and facing onto Tallaght village. The paper’s editor Fr. Brian McKevitt greeted me and our conversation began. On the subject of atheism, he informed me that his most popular article had been entitled “Atheists are Losers and Hopeless.” He explained this by saying that there can be no hope for their lives. If they are incapable of believing in an afterlife, they are in his opinion losing the opportunity for hope. Discussing the growing popularity of atheism among college students, Fr. McKevitt feels young people seem to emerge from university with a set of less intelligent ideas than those with which they entered. Alive was set up in 1996 on Fr. McKevitt’s initiative. He sought to issue a national catholic paper where one had not previously existed. The stated aim of Alive is to spread hope and assure the reader of God’s love for them. McKevitt says that funding for the project comes from a combination of donations and advertising profits. Fr. McKevitt feels that Irish media has been unfair at times in their treatment of Catholicism and he felt that Alive could offer another perspective, challenging ideas and offering alternatives. He attacked what he describes as the “tremendous group think” among western media. He believes there is an absence of thought and an infliction of a “culture of despair” on modern society. Despite having reservations about the paper’s ideology I respected that the 240,000 people who read alive on a monthly basis possibly share some of its views, although I hoped that the readership were more tolerant in society than that of the forceful tone of the paper.
Ireland’s religious media continues to grow in response to the demands of the market it serves, a market whose future all three organisations are optimistic about. It comfortably holds its own amid secular sources of information and entertainment entertainment, even though many question its place.
