British children ‘do not know the meaning of Christmas’

BRITISH CHILDREN do not know what Christmas is about, radio producer and former Sunday programme presenter Roger Bolton has claimed, writes Liz Dodd.

In a column for the Radio Times this week Mr Bolton, who presented the BBC’s religious affairs programme for more than a decade, said that schools do not teach Christianity properly.

“I can’t help thinking that if the target audience [for the new Band Aid charity single, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’] were confined to British schoolchildren, a better song title would be ‘Do They Know What Christmas Is?’”

Religious illiteracy could mean children grow up unable to appreciate literature and drama, he said; meanwhile, politicians should be better grounded in religion before they debated whether or not to intervene “in parts of the world where [it] is still a matter of life and death”.

Mr Bolton revealed that because of these concerns, the Sandford St Martin Trust, of which he is a trustee, is to award a new annual prize for the best religious broadcasting aimed at children.

The  award will be presented to the programme which “best improves young people’s understanding of religion”.