Posted on 08/18/2019 4:15:17 PM PDT by Ennis85
Songs of Praise has screened the show's first ever gay wedding as part of a drive to modernise the programme.
Presenters of the BBC One show have vowed that they are not afraid of controversy as they broadcast a wedding which is currently banned in the Church of England.
The Sunday afternoon show, which has been running since 1961, was traditionally a sort of hymn sandwich, presenter of more than three decades Pam Rhodes said.
But now, which a magazine format an on screen cast which includes soprano Katherine Jenkins and JB Gill, the former frontman of boy-band JLS, the show is appealing to a new audience.
Last month grime star Stormzy even allowed his Glastonbury headline performance of Blinded By Your Grace to be rebroadcast on Songs of Praise.
Sundays episode on faith and marriage featured the wedding of Jamie Wallace and Ian McDowall at the Rutherglen United Reformed Church in Glasgow, one of the few religious denominations in the UK to welcome same sex marriage.
Since 2016 individual congregations have been able to vote on whether or not their church should hold the weddings.
The show will be followed next week by an episode in which presenter Claire McCollum travels around the Yorkshire Dales on a motorbike.
The traditional format of filming a single service was dropped in favour of a magazine format in 2014.
Ms Jenkins, 39, told the Mail on Sunday: Today we do have our congregational moments but we show the different ways people worship. If you do that walking over mountains rather than in a cathedral, it doesn't make you any less of a Christian.
It's about adapting, making faith personal. Loads of my friends watch, most of them on iPlayer. I have one who enjoys it in the gym.'
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“Modernize”
Sure. Shtt on the sidewalk, too. That’s modern.
And not a bit less offensive to decent people.
Amen!!!! I almost don’t want to say, “Wonder what they will come up with next?”....because things have gotten so stupid.
The Church of England hasn’t accepted same-sex marriage? I thought they already had lesbian bishops.
And the C of E wonders why their churches are deserted?
Always just 5 steps behind the culture.
This would have seemed preposterous 15-20 years ago.... no more.
Oh, bollox! Then present at a show depicting Christian values concerning marriage. We'll see just how "brave" you really are.
Always amazed how leftists constantly set themselves up as heroes in of own stagecraft and then declare to the world how brave they are. Pffft
Nothing more than crowd following pansies.
Yes, but I wonder if the British cops have arrested anyone yet, for voicing any opposition to it? 👎
Where’s the “barf alert?”
The C of E doesnt put on this show. The BBC does.
Sick and blasphemous.
Archie was right, “England is a fag country.”
The same BBC that protected Jimmy Saville all those years.
Down the tube...
“Religious” should be in skeptical quotes.
Actually, Clive Staples Lewis was writing about religious people in Britain like this - apostates, heretics, reprobates - seventy years ago:
The Great Divorce
That Hideous Strength
A Sunday evening favorite for so many years....what a shame !
Back in the late 1960’s I was the organist for one of the weekly BBC ‘Songs of Praise’ broadcasts. At that time the show toured the country broadcasting live from local churches and cathedrals.
Long time BBC religious program Is no longer religious.
The presence of the gay rainbow at churches is to signify they are under the control of Satan.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.