BBC is too scared to allow jokes about Islam

Comedian Ben Elton has said the BBC is too "scared" to poke fun at Islam.

He accused the broadcasting company of allowing programmes to run jokes about Christianity and vicars.
However, he claimed bosses were too politically correct and worried about a negative backlash to do the same about imams.
In an interview, Mr Elton, 48, who admits he has little religious faith, said: "I think it all starts with people nodding whenever anyone says, 'As a person of faith...
"I believe part of that is due to the genuine fear that the authorities and the community have about provoking the radical elements of Islam."

Referring to comic programmes such as The Vicar Of Dibley, starring Dawn French, he said: "There's no doubt about it, the BBC will let vicar gags pass but they would not let imam gags pass."
He said that while the BBC might pretend the editing was based on moral sensibilities, he felt this was not the case.
"It's because they're scared," he said.

The best-selling author added that the fear of offending Muslims was prevalent even in every day use of language.
He said: "I wanted to use the phrase, 'Mohammed came to the mountain' and everybody said, 'Oh just don't! Just don't! Don't go there!'
"It was nothing to do with Islam, I was merely referring to the old proverb, 'If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain'.
"But people just said, 'Let's just not!'
"It's incredible."

Mr Elton, whose latest novel Blind Faith addresses the cult of the individual in post-modern society, said the fear-based attitude of programme makers and script writers needed to be changed.
He added: "I'm quite certain that the average Muslim does not want everybody going around thinking, "We can't mention you.
"We've got to pretend you don't exist because we're scared that somebody who claims to represent you will threaten to kill us."

Mr Elton's comments appeared in Third Way, a Christian culture magazine.
He also admitted believing in "almost nothing" even though he sends his children to a church school.
However he said he believed people should be taught the essentials of Christianity if only for cultural reasons. He added that "lack of faith" should also be taught in schools and that he felt too much deference was shown to people with strong faiths.
He said: "I think the concept that faith in itself is a good thing should be questioned from day one.

"There's a presumption that if you're religious leader you are in some way already halfway up to the moral high ground and that your opinion has more relevance than anyone else's."
Yesterday, in a different interview on religion, the leader of Britain's Catholics claimed that "Judaeo-Christian values" were the only thing binding British society together.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor hit out at "aggressive secularism" in the UK and argued that Christian leaders should hold a privileged position over the representatives of other faiths in society.