The Angelus on RTE

Arpa

Just saw someone mention the Angelus in the embarrassing TV moments thread. I was thinking about this yesterday as I heard it come on before the news and was wondering why do RTE have it on at all?

Surely a state broadcaster should not be promoting one religion over another, rather they should be unbiased and not have any religious prayer schedule. If they are going to have the Angelus why not the Muslim call to prayer or any other prayer schedule for that matter?

I think it's fine if they have religious affairs programming as long as they remain informative and are not preaching.

Whether one is religious or not surely the state broadcaster should not be aligning itself with any one particular faith especially since we currently don't have any ambassador in the Vatican State. I know people will think it's just tradition, but it's so dated now...a part of bygone times and I see no need for it to be forced on TV viewers or Radio listeners.

"What harm is it?", people might say. Well none in particular as in fact I find some source of comedy in all those people pausing and looking to the sky, which by the way nobody ever does. However it does represent an Ireland of the past and if we want to present ourselves as a modern, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-faith society then this should be removed from our broadcasting schedule.

What think ye AH?

Mickeroo

Bong.........

admiralofthefleet

being a non catholic i use it as a dinner gong

Grand Moff Tarkin

This can only end well.........

dodderangler

Anyone notice that when its on there's only one Irish person on it now
Always a farmer looking out to his land leaning on his gate

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Ah the Angelus. Nothin' makes an aul rural spinster catholic island dweller any hornier.

Seachmall

The state is preferential to Catholicism. It pops up in several places including the Constitution.

For all intents and purposes this is a secular country but we have remnants of our Catholic-tied past.

A lot of people don't see the issue with these symbolic shows of Catholic solidarity and only time will change that. We're becoming more multi-cultural and these things will eventually dissolve into memory.

admiralofthefleet

Grand Moff Tarkin wrote: »

This can only end well.........

usually ends with brian dobson saying good evening

Courtesy Flush

I preferred the old Angelus. Just a religious icon picture and a few bongs. None of this modern crap

SilverScreen

I completely agree. RTE in particular is far too biased towards Catholicism with the angelus and their coverage of religious affairs. You don't get this kind of crap on any of the English channels, or least not to a degree.

I dream of a day when religion completely disappears from our screens, our schools and our newspapers. Religion should only be a domestic matter and kept to peoples homes, not shoved down our throats each day.

Lelantos

Is there anything to be said for another angelus?

Maybe a dance beat & some hotpants clad dancers to entice the yoof back to the church

jimmynokia

Twink wrote the Angelus and gets €948 every time it's played on RTE.

Thats even more annoying.

padma

I don't see any harm in it really. As a religious thing, maybe they could add a few Muslim, Hindu, Protestant, jewish and atheist elements to it.

I do see it as a minute reflection for the day, to just stop, let go all the stress of daily life and have at least one minute of the day where we aren't being bombarded with busyness. As it is before the 6 o' clock news it's kind of nice to have that peaceful time before we hear about job losses, crooked politicians and war and suffering in the world. Maybe there should be another minute reflection, peace time at the end of the news too.

What harm is a minute a day?

Arpa

Just what I was thinking seachmall. I really don't want this to turn into a big religious debate as I respect peoples faith. I don't happen to be religious which is neither here nor there with this issue. I just don't think this short religious ident is representative of or appealing to the viewer demographic anymore.

I have a strong feeling it's just there as it would be too difficult to remove it now from the controversy it might cause and also because they'd have to change the name of Six One to Six. Though they could run another minute of ads before the news meaning approximately 6 hours worth of prime time advertising fees per year to fund better programming. I think my calculations are correct, sorry I'm crap at maths.

shopaholic01

The noise of the 'bongs' is really annoying, otherwise I don't think I would take any notice of the Angelus. As another poster said the 'modern' version is irritataing with people staring vacantly into space, but I don't find it offensive. I wonder do non-catholics? I'm not religious btw, but I think there are far more annoying things on RTE - Fairly Shitty for one.

Yamanoto

Zero1986 wrote: »

You don't get this kind of crap on any of the English channels, or least not to a degree.

Today on the Beeb....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/genres/religionandethics/schedules

mike65

Grand Moff Tarkin wrote: »

This can only end well.........

This can end in about a minute.

Does anyone know if the likes of Poland, Italy etc have state sponsored bongs?

Chuck Stone

I'm a disgusting heathen and holy water burns my skin like Alien acid blood.

Having said that I've become comfortable with the Angelus bell thing. I think it has crossed from being an Irish religious thing to a cultural/ethnic thing.

Leave it alone.

padd b1975

I like it.

I think for the sake of two minutes per day, everybody whether religious or not would probably be better off taking that time to take stock of themselves as a person.

Having said that, speaking as a Catholic, it would not bother me in the slightest if RTE stopped broadcasting it.

murpho999

padma wrote: »

I don't see any harm in it really. As a religious thing, maybe they could add a few Muslim, Hindu, Protestant, jewish and atheist elements to it.

I do see it as a minute reflection for the day, to just stop, let go all the stress of daily life and have at least one minute of the day where we aren't being bombarded with busyness. As it is before the 6 o' clock news it's kind of nice to have that peaceful time before we hear about job losses, crooked politicians and war and suffering in the world. Maybe there should be another minute reflection, peace time at the end of the news too.

What harm is a minute a day?

padd b1975 wrote: »

I like it.

I think for the sake of two minutes per day, everybody whether religious or not would probably be better off taking that time to take stock of themselves as a person.

Having said that, speaking as a Catholic, it would not bother me in the slightest if RTE stopped broadcasting it.

Seriously, who does this? Who actually pauses for the day to self-reflect?

Either, way if you do, that's your own business.

It should not be rammed down our throats by the state broadcaster.

Station has a very catholic agenda. Sending Bryan Dobson to Rome recently for new pope.
Giving air time to Desmond Connell, Brian Darcy and that pseudo priest David Quinn regulary and also interviewing priests when something bad happens in a vilage (which they often refer to as a parish).

It's a reflectoin of the old Ireland that we should leave behind.

Fr_Dougal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzRP7OKHcqQ

.

Stercus Accidit

Chuck Stone wrote: »

I'm a disgusting heathen and holy water burns my skin like Alien acid blood.

Having said that I've become comfortable with the Angelus bell thing. I think it has crossed from being an Irish religious thing to a cultural/ethnic thing.

Leave it alone.

No, RTE is paid for by the tax payer under force of law and should remain secular. The Angeles is not secular, we all know where it comes from and what it represents, the timing before the news too really hammers home the catholic message. Here's the news domestic and international, but first let's remind ourselves what's really important. It reminds me that there aren't enough secular schools, that people get children baptised to get preferential treatment over children of any other alignment. It reminds me that we have blasphemy laws, the state of our preamble to the constitution, and the lack of abortion services. Maybe that is a good thing in a way.

padma

murpho999 wrote: »

Seriously, who does this? Who actually pauses for the day to self-reflect?

Either, way if you do, that's your own business.

It should not be rammed down our throats by the state broadcaster.

Station has a very catholic agenda. Sending Bryan Dobson to Rome recently for new pope.
Giving air time to Desmond Connell, Brian Darcy and that pseudo priest David Quinn regulary and also interviewing priests when something bad happens in a vilage (which they often refer to as a parish).

It's a reflectoin of the old Ireland that we should leave behind.

Instead we should have coco pops, and kellogs frosties shoved down our throats. Come on man, it ain't bad and yes, you have the option of turning it off for one whole minute while being outraged at the loss of said minute.

As you quoted my post, you would have seen that I also advocated bringing in more groups in to the minute.

nlgbbbblth

Chuck Stone wrote: »

I'm a disgusting heathen and holy water burns my skin like Alien acid blood.

Having said that I've become comfortable with the Angelus bell thing. I think it has crossed from being an Irish religious thing to a cultural/ethnic thing.

Leave it alone.

Same here. The Angelus doesn't bother me at all. Some hipsters seem to have a particular problem with it.

pitkan

The issue of The Angelus reared it's head some years ago just after TV3 announced that it was to change its 5.30 pm news to 6.00 pm, and it made me wonder if the Angelus issue may have eminated from within RTE.

Otherwise, it does not bother me one way or another as I have not watched any TV in the past 5 years.

Stercus Accidit

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Same here. The Angelus doesn't bother me at all. Some hipsters seem to have a particular problem with it.

Apathy is not a quality.

Grayson

padma wrote: »

I don't see any harm in it really. As a religious thing, maybe they could add a few Muslim, Hindu, Protestant, jewish and atheist elements to it.

What? Someone sitting there saying "Cop the fcuk on!. It's just a load of myths and fables"

woodoo

Get rid of it. I emailed RTE to whinge about it but didn't get much response. I hate it. That awful banging around dinner time when you are waiting on the news.

Arpa

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Same here. The Angelus doesn't bother me at all. Some hipsters seem to have a particular problem with it.

What does being a hipster have to do with anything? You don't have to be a hipster to have an opinion.

Chuck Stone

Hi there.

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

No, RTE is paid for by the tax payer under force of law and should remain secular. The Angeles is not secular, we all know where it comes from and what it represents, the timing before the news too really hammers home the catholic message.

Remain secular? It never was secular. Even the BBC does religious ****. Absolute secularism is an ideal.

Here's the news domestic and international, but first let's remind ourselves what's really important.

I like this analysis but I don't think it holds any water these days.

It reminds me that there aren't enough secular schools,

I agree. In fact I think religious should be opt-in rather than how it is now.

that people get children baptised to get preferential treatment over children of any other alignment. It reminds me that we have blasphemy laws, the state of our preamble to the constitution, and the lack of abortion services. Maybe that is a good thing in a way

Again, I agree. I just think the Angelus bell thingy has crossed from being a religious thing to a cultural thing. It's a quirk that distinguishes us from the masses and I kinda like it for that.

Ken.

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

being a non catholic i use it as a dinner gong

I use it as a reminder that I've accidentally switched to the ****ty Irish stations and change the channel.

mikemac1

I remember when Network Two would play the National Anthem and then they'd shut down for the night

1ZRed

I read the title and thought this was going to be about Aengus' fuk up.

I am hungover and disappoint

Chuck Stone

mikemac1 wrote: »

I remember when Network Two would play the National Anthem and then they'd shut down for the night

Worse than that, they played 'A Prayer at Bedtime' I remember thinking 'don't tell me when it's bedtime ya bunch of pricks' as a youth.

Grand Moff Tarkin

mikemac1 wrote: »

I remember when Network Two would play the National Anthem and then they'd shut down for the night

RTE1 i think you are on about.

Grayson

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Worse than that, they played 'A Prayer at Bedtime' I remember thinking 'don't tell me when it's bedtime ya bunch of pricks' as a youth.

It pissed me off. First Shaka zulu was over, then they had to remind me that nothing else was on.

bb1234567

Arpa wrote: »

Just saw someone mention the Angelus in the embarrassing TV moments thread. I was thinking about this yesterday as I heard it come on before the news and was wondering why do RTE have it on at all?

Surely a state broadcaster should not be promoting one religion over another, rather they should be unbiased and not have any religious prayer schedule. If they are going to have the Angelus why not the Muslim call to prayer or any other prayer schedule for that matter?

I think it's fine if they have religious affairs programming as long as they remain informative and are not preaching.

Whether one is religious or not surely the state broadcaster should not be aligning itself with any one particular faith especially since we currently don't have any ambassador in the Vatican State. I know people will think it's just tradition, but it's so dated now...a part of bygone times and I see no need for it to be forced on TV viewers or Radio listeners.

"What harm is it?", people might say. Well none in particular as in fact I find some source of comedy in all those people pausing and looking to the sky, which by the way nobody ever does. However it does represent an Ireland of the past and if we want to present ourselves as a modern, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-faith society then this should be removed from our broadcasting schedule.

What think ye AH?

Because this is a catholic majority country. Majority muslim countries dont broadcast angelus's so why should we broadcast muslim prayer calls?

convoy

bb1234567 wrote: »

Because this is a catholic majority country. Majority muslim countries dont broadcast angelus's so why should we broadcast muslim prayer calls?

Just to add my bit, for all its worth, its still a majority catholic country, although some of them are less that idealistic, I use the angelus as a minute for myself to just take a minute out and " reflect". Religion is a personal thing"

mikom

Jungle drums.

tolosenc

bb1234567 wrote: »

Because this is a catholic majority country. Majority muslim countries dont broadcast angelus's so why should we broadcast muslim prayer calls?

Because two wrongs don't make a right?

Arpa

bb1234567 wrote: »

Because this is a catholic majority country. Majority muslim countries dont broadcast angelus's so why should we broadcast muslim prayer calls?

I guess more to the point is why do we have to Broadcast any prayer times? The state broadcaster should not be promoting a religion because it is the majority in the country. The state broadcaster should not be promoting religion full stop.

I don't know what they broadcast on stations in Muslim countries and to be honest I couldn't care. Obviously I don't want Muslim prayer calls broadcast on Irish TV, similarly I don't want Catholic prayer times. (I think they're called Canonical hours, or I stand to be corrected). Anyway, the majority religion of a state should have no impact on TV programming, governance of that state, law of the state etc. I know we have a lot of baggage with the Catholic church in Ireland and it would be hard to shake that off over night, but surely a first step would be to get rid of the shackles of traditionalism inherent in RTE by removing the Angelus.

RTE still seems to have a mandate that it is catering for Mary who lives in a small hamlet outside of Skiberydoo as she sits, knitting, waiting for that lovely Aengus fella to come on while the kettle heats on the stove.

We are a modern society now and moving forward does not mean neglecting our heritage but having a religious prayer time on everyday is ridiculous for any modern broadcaster. RTE do nostalgia very well in programs like 'Reeling In The Years', so if we want nostalgia we'll watch that. They also have a religious program department and anything religious should be kept within that remit. We should not be subjected to religion everyday at 6 because it's always been that way.

LordSutch

Outdated, outmoded, a relic from the past . . . .

Plus the fact that we are not all Roman Catholics.

kowloon

It's pretty outdated at this stage, needs to be brought up to date.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l71gaZnYgOU

A Neurotic

murpho999 wrote: »

...also interviewing priests when something bad happens in a vilage (which they often refer to as a parish).

It's a reflectoin of the old Ireland that we should leave behind.

In fairness, parish is probably much better unit to describe rural communities by, it being the dividing factor between GAA teams etc.

electrobanana

To be honest i think its one of the best shows on RTE these days pity its not on for longer. Maybe they should do a few hour long specials during the year..come on RTE make it happen.

OCorcrainn

Oh look at me I'm an atheist and I think religion is for stupid and narrowminded people.

Seriously who gives a flying f**k? If you don't like it and think it is embarassing to watch then don't f**King watch it. It is that simple.

My name is URL

The old one was better.. where people used to look up at the sky as if they were waiting for Jesus to cum all over their faces.

Meh.. it doesn't really bother me tbh. If you've no interest in it then don't tune in for it... simple enough I would have thought.

LordSutch wrote: »

Outdated, outmoded, a relic from the past . . . .

Plus the fact that we are not all Roman Catholics.

Are you speaking exclusively about the angelus, or religious broadcasting on state funded TV in general? As Yamanoto pointed out a few posts back, the BBC broadcast more religious programs than RTE.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/genres/religionandethics/schedules

Sergeant

Nothing outrages me more than a bell ringing for 60 seconds on a channel I don't watch that often. It impinges on me as a human. I haven't given much thought to how it does this, but I've been told that it does.

I'm apocalyptic with anger. I propose we burn down RTE.

Snake Plisken

If you don't like it switch to another channel that's what your remote control is for!

LordSutch

My name is URL wrote: »

Are you speaking exclusively about the angelus . . .

Yes, I am talking about the outdated, outmoded, relic from the past (from a bygone era) that is the RTE Angelus.

Time to drop it and move on.

Miss Lockhart

My name is URL wrote: »

Are you speaking exclusively about the angelus, or religious broadcasting on state funded TV in general? As Yamanoto pointed out a few posts back, the BBC broadcast more religious programs than RTE.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/genres/religionandethics/schedules

I hardly think a country where a church is directly represented in parliament and whose head of state must be part of that church is a place to look for comparison.

The angelus bothers me because it is representative of church interference in what should be secular matters and it acts as a reminder of just how far we still have to go towards achieving separation of church and state.

Of course I am free to switch it off. And I do. But that doesn't solve the problem that exists in the first place.