Radio 4’s Now Show has been cleared of ‘bias against Christianity’ over a Lucy Porter stand-up routine.

The comic appeared on the topical comedy show in December and spoke about a steep decline in the number of British people saying they were Christian.

But one listener complained that the comedian was picking on the faith more than other religions – and took it to the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit that monitors impartiality.

Now they have rejected that charge, saying they ‘saw no reason to infer bias from Ms Porter’s choice of Christianity, rather than another religion, as her topic’.

The stand-up started her routine on December 2 last year by saying: ‘ Hello godless heathen. I'm not being insulting, just statistically accurate’

She said ‘things aren't looking rosy for Christianity compared to its medieval heyday’ after census statistics revealed only 46 per cent of the population of England and Wales described themselves as Christian in 2021, down from 59  per cent in 2011 and that ‘no religion’  was now the second most common response

‘Surely now "no religion" should be officially classified as a religion,’ she joked. ‘If only to see the look on Richard Dawkins face when he's appointed involuntary Archbishop of the Unbelievers.’

She added: ’I guess I'm just not someone who's inclined to take ancient mythological texts literally. Although I do remember reading that God created the world in six days and growing up in Croydon, I thought, yeah, you can really tell.’

‘The Church of England is clearly failing to appeal to the younger generation… Churches have become the location for the christenings of babies we don't know and the weddings of people we don't like who insist on making you drive all the way out to the one village in Norfolk that doesn't have a pub, just because they thought a particular pointy window would look good on Instagram.’

Porter  even took time to be positive about Christianity, saying: ‘Many of my friends and family find great contentment and comfort in their belief in Jesus…. Christianity is a great starter religion. The 613 laws of the Jewish source material are boiled down to a much more manageable 10 commandments.’

And she concluded by saying: ‘In the fractured political landscape of modern Britain, there's a version of Jesus to appeal to every different group. You can have a Labour Jesus because he wanted to help the poorest and most vulnerable while also managing to be quite annoying to a lot of people. You can have a Scottish Nationalist Jesus because he was an angry man in a skirt. You can have a Conservative Jesus because most of his influence relied on who his dad was.’

In their ruling, the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit said: ‘The premise for the routine was provided by the new census figures, which showed a steep decline in the profession of Christian belief over the preceding decade. 

‘ In view of this and the historical predominance of Christianity over other religions in the UK, the ECU saw no reason to infer bias from Ms Porter’s choice of Christianity, rather than another religion, as her topic.’