The BBC's new
Head of Religion and Ethics is (gasp!) an agnostic.
Alan Bookbinder, the son of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, is
the first non-Christian to take the post.
Some religious groups are questioning the appointment ("Would the BBC appoint a head of sport who knows nothing about football?", a member of the Evangelical
Alliance asks), seemingly confusing not being in the thrall of a belief system
with ignorance of religion. If anything, Bookbinder's mixed religious
background and freedom from commitment to any one faith may make him a
more qualified candidate in a pluralist, no longer exclusively Christian,
Britain.