MORALS WITHOUT RELIGION SIR, — Commenting on my BBC talks
last January on Morals without Religion, Strix gives the impression that the reaction of press and public was overwhelmingly hostile. This was far from being the case.
So far as the national press was concerned, the so-called 'outcry' was confined to three papers—the Sunday Graphic, the Daily Tele- graph and the Daily Sketch; and even the Telegraph, when its first fury had subsided, published articles favourable to the broadcasts by Dean Matthews and Sir Kenneth Grubb. The Times and the Sunday Times were critical but restrained; the Daily Express, the Sunday Express and the News Chronicle non-com- mittal; while the Observer, the Manchester Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Herald, Reynolds News and the People were outspoken in their approval, if not of my views, at least of the BBC's policy in allowing them to be broadcast.
The Church of England Newspaper, more tolerant than Strix, wrote as follows: 'The suggestion that the BBC erred in allowing Mrs. Knight to broadcast only plays into the hands of Christianity's critics by implying that the Church is a vested interest with power of cen- sorship. Big Brother is no less sinister for wearing a dog-collar. . . . Those who share Mrs. Knight's doubts about Christianity prob- ably outnumber those who do not at the present time, and include large numbers of our most highly respected and highly respon- sible citizens.'
After the broadcasts, the BBC received some 1,500 letters, divided in the proportion of about three to two against. I myself have had over 1,900 letters, and a few are still coming in; they divide about three to two in favour. Reading the hundreds of appreciative and en- couraging letters was a delightful task; and I got a good deal of quiet enjoyment from some of the stinkers.
A detailed analysis of the first 1,200 letters that came in, together with numerous quota- tions, is given in the chapter, 'The Reaction,' in my book, Morals without Religion and other Essays. I have sent Strix a copy; if he will do me the honour of reading it, he will perhaps revise his impression of an outraged public rising as one man.—Yours faithfully, MARGARET KNIGHT Hope House, Bucksburn, Aberdeenshire [Strix writes: It is clear that I misrepre- sented the reaction to Mrs. Knight's broadcasts. I am sorry about this.'—Editor, Spectator.]
Previous page
