Calls by MPs for the media to improve their “religious literacy” must not lead to the “stifling” of free speech, humanists have said.
A report by the all-party parliamentary group on religion in the media said that many religious people believed that journalists were “indifferent towards religion and belief at best and actively biased against people of faith at worst”.
It proposed that groups should be able to make joint complaints to media regulators on grounds of discrimination, that religious literacy training should be made part of journalism qualifications and that journalists should focus more on the “lived experience” of people of faith, rather than just the doctrines and rituals.
Humanists UK expressed concern about the consequences of the report’s recommendations. “It is essential that
