Simply Smith

It is a sad fact that the concentration span of many of our children is becoming increasingly small. This has been a relatively slow process and one that I feel has been exacerbated by the surfeit of soap operas bubbling onto our television screens in ever larger numbers.

There has been a great deal said and written concerning the benefits or otherwise of the domination of these trite and often fantastic tales of urban life in Manchester, London, Liverpool and Sydney (Australia).

It would be unwise, perhaps, for me to lambast the makers of these programmes. After all, they are merely doing their job to the best of their abilities.

I am also maybe asking for more than I can safely chew on to suggest that the content of such programmes simply panders to the nation's insatiable appetite for the mundane and the predictable. But then, when you've been writing for Page 10 of this admirable publication for a number of years the skin does tend to thicken somewhat.

However, these points have been highlighted in a recent article in one of the national dailies. Apparently, Church of England clergy are queuing up to attend a novel course on preaching. What has prompted these honourable gentlemen (and ladies, presumably) is the suggestion that Anglican congregations can no longer concentrate for more than a couple of minutes at a time. They are taking pointers from the soaps: quick changes of viewpoints, the soundbite, visual aids of ever increasing diversity, the use of multi-media, and so on.

It is as if the spoken word (and perhaps even the written word) no longer of itself, carries any meaning for the ordinary person.

The well-known adage that a picture is worth a thousand words is being taken to its logical conclusion. The ultimate destiny for the spoken and written English word would appear to be the same as the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: the dustheap of history.

I am a Christian. That the Church of England is travelling down this particular road is maybe symptomatic of the airy-fairy, mealy-mouthed direction in which the highest leadership seems to be taking its flock.

Where is the call to arms, the evangelical fervour and the Bible-bashing that so characterised the likes of John Wesley & Co? Love it or hate it the message of Christianity these days appears to be cast in so many shades of grey: pandering to the lowest common denominator, all in the cause of getting bums on pews.

The message of Jesus Christ is today as important and dynamic as it has always been. It cannot be reduced to the triteness and commonplace that is typical of the soap opera.

So, prove me wrong all you literary people. I throw down the gauntlet.

Show the folk of Keighley that, in its midst, live letter writers capable of imagination and insight.

Scribes who require the soundbite like a hole in the head, who can argue a point without recourse to meaningless cliche (even though I've just used one). There are hundreds of topics lying in between the pages of our local newspaper. Simply pick up a pen and write - it's easy.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.