Dispatches: In God’s Name provoked quite a reaction from Channel 4 viewers this week, with 100 people contacting viewer enquiries to pass on their opinion and several lively debates across the C4 forums and beyond. 
On the forums, reaction was quite positive – many viewers admitted they had learnt something new about Christian fundamentalism and discussed broader issues of religious influence. Comments that came in through viewer enquiries were more critical, with people complaining that the programme had failed to distinguish between the views of Christians in general and those of the much smaller body of fundamental Christians. Others felt the reporter had not been open minded and that the programme had set out to portray fundamental Christians in a bad light.
I managed to catch up with the Deputy Head of News and Current Affairs, Kevin Sutcliffe, between serious-looking meetings (that’s journalism for you) and discuss the reactions to the programme with him. Kevin explained that In God’s Name had been commissioned to report on the largely unknown influence that some fundamental Christians appeared to exert in political circles, and that he had been particularly interested to find out how this influence had been bought to bear on senior politicians involved in this week’s debate in parliament on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
Kevin was delighted to hear that the programme had sparked debate online – which is an important measure of success for any Channel 4 programme – and robustly denied that it had been one-sided or had made any generalisations about Christianity. He said he thought the programme had been in-depth and fair minded, adding that everyone involved had participated willingly and had been given a chance to air their views. I asked Kevin about the warning that had been given before the programme, and he explained this was part of a very careful approach he took when broadcasting opinions expressed by participants which could be very offensive to some viewers, but which were important to include in order to be able to tell the whole story.
It would be very interesting to hear from anyone who watched the programme – did it reveal something that you had not previously known? Where you shocked by what you saw and heard? we would love to hear your views.
