There are few things that borrow from my study time devoted to the bible – coal mining and the unions that protect those miners is one of them.
The relationship between miners, their familes and the church will be examined in a special series on BBC Local Radio to mark the 25th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike.
Starting on March 8, Pits and Pulpits will be a series of four special features made by award-winning journalist Kate Linderholm and broadcast on the BBC’s new podcast Faith in England presented by Diane Louise Jordan.
It will also be broadcast by most of the BBC’s 40 local radio stations on their Sunday breakfast shows. The podcast will go live on the Tuesday after the Sunday radio broadcast.
The series aims to cover topics ranging from examining how churches became involved in fundraising, supported miners, or helped families suffering stress after weeks without money coming in. It will also look at the legacy of the relationship between the miners and the church during the strike. And finally, the series will reflect the fact that not everyone in the church approved of the stance taken by some clergy in support of the miners.
Ashley Peatfield, editor of BBC English Regions Religion and Ethics, said: “Anyone who lived during the miners’ strike will have strong and vivid memories of the events which sprang from it. The names and characters at the heart of the dispute – on all sides – remain faimilar and can still provoke strong reactions after a quarter of a century.
“Clergy and congregations in mining communities found they had to decide where they stood and how to respond. What they decided then may still define their place in those same communities today.
“This special series attempts to tell that story and will provoke discussion about the decisions that were made and still have to be made about the future.”
BBC series explores Miners’ Strike and church.
Joel Landon Watts is a Masters of Theological Studies student with a focus in Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific ideals of the past century. Currently, he is a TA for Old Testament at United Theological Seminary under Dr. Vivian Johnson, Associate Professor of Old Testament. His first book, Rhetorical Strategies of the Evangelist: Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark, is expected to be published by Wipf and Stock early next year. He is currently co-editing a book on moving from Fear to Faith (Energion, 2013).
