Ofcom (them again!) have conducted a 'public service review' which is a very long and very boring look at the state of television. It asked for the opinions of the future of broadcasting from various people. I wouldn't bother reading it if I were you... although, if you want to know what's in it, I advise looking here for a simpler overview. Anyway, in amongst all those words is some from The Church of England and Roman Catholic Church. They state: "Religious programmes suffer from a lack of investment, being scheduled at unpopular times and being given relatively little prominence". Quite right too! Why do I feel this way? Well...

I'm not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, you could say that I'm bordering on anti-religious. However, that's not to say religion doesn't have its place on the box. Despite my personal feelings, I think TV should cater for what is becoming something of a niche interest.

Niche? Well, I suppose that depends on what figures you look at. I mean, a lot of people I know would say, when asked what religion they are... "Church of England, I guess" or "Catholic" because that's the schooling they got. If you probed them further, they'd probably not realise that "I don't believe in anything" was an option. An Ipsos MORI poll a few years back saw only 18% of the public saying that they were "a practicing member of an organised religion." Despite that low figure, Christianity still holds a fair amount of sway in what we see, which shouldn't be the case (note the various uproars about homosexuality on TV).

That said, there's still a place for religion on TV. However, not in the way it's currently shown. Look at Sunday telly. Without fail, week-in, week-out, Songs of Praise extols the virtues of a Christian thinking... but where's the other religions? I see Songs of Praise as the religious equivalent of Grandstand, and thereby, should cast the net as wide as possible.

In Britain, we have Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, Buddhism, the Bahá'í Faith, Rastafarianism and Neopaganism... all of which get no air time in comparison to Christianity. From where I'm sitting (in front of the TV usually), trailers for Songs of Praise get more air time than shows about other faiths (the only time you hear of Islam is on the news, not often in a particularly kind light, which is a whole other article).

Sure, there are occasional looks at Muslim life, Jewish life or whatever, in hour long specials on Channel 4 or BBC Two, but where is the weekly coverage? The only time I can recall any broad religious discussion on the box was early on a Sunday with some hopeless show hosted by Nicky Campbell.

In our multicultural society, TV must reflect. Songs of Praise, as it is, feels archaic. I for one, feel that we'd all be a bit more interested if the show ventured into other religions which, shamefully, are still pretty much a mystery to White Britain, me included.

I know it's almost fashionable to knock Christianity at the moment, but this is not the crux of this article. Basically, regardless of my complete Godlessness, I'd like to see more harmony in TV's religious output. Rework Songs of Praise... include all the churches and temples in it. Naturally, there'll be a backlash against it... but how many people are really watching it anyway?