The only god allowed to advertise is Mammon

From November 6th, you will be able to hear Sr Stanislaus Kennedy's voice on radio advertising her new book, Stillness, Through My Prayers. No big deal, you might think, but RTÉ apparently did not think so.

It refused twice to sanction the advertisement, on the grounds that it breached regulations that forbid the promotion of religion through advertising. The first, rejected script read as follows, accompanied by meditative music.

"Do you ever feel afraid, unsure or anxious? In Stillness Through My Prayers, Sr Stan shares the short calming prayers she uses to help achieve stillness, a deep silence, a quiet calm, peace, contentment, serenity. Male or female? Anxious or unsure? If you pray or if you don't, Stan's stunning new book will help you."

RTÉ turned that down, and suggested instead the following: "Sr Stan shares her experience of dealing with life in her new book Stillness, Through My Prayers. Learn her lessons and share her wisdom by getting your copy of the insightful Stillness, Through My Prayers by the inimitable Sr Stan."

If the aim is to prevent the promotion of religion, how is advising people to learn her lessons, and share her wisdom, any different to promoting her beliefs? Undaunted, the publishers, TownHouse, submitted a second draft very similar to their original text, this time to be read by Sr Stan herself.

RTÉ rejected the second version, adding that having Sr Stan speak was also not acceptable as it was another way in which the commercial could be judged to be "directed to a religious end".

A Sunday newspaper got wind of the dispute, contacted the broadcaster, and suddenly, RTÉ found that it was able to air the advertisement after all.

When contacted later by this writer, the only explanation that the channel could come up with was that it "reversed its initial view in light of the 2001 Act which allows the advertisement of a publication of this nature, even though the content may be of a religious nature. In the interest of not restricting the promotion of the book it was felt that the latter piece of legislation should apply in this instance".

No explanation was forthcoming as to why the latter piece of legislation suddenly came to apply to this situation, given that a very short time earlier the commercial apparently did not comply with regulations. Several other questions by this writer were either not answered or answered so vaguely as to be useless.

For example, a query as to who are the members of the Copy Clearance Committee who get to decide whether an advertisement meets regulations or not, received the reply that the members are from the "major output areas of RTÉ and represent different age groups and sexes".

Well, bully for them, but who are they? The national broadcaster regularly lectures others about their lack of transparency, but does not appear to think that transparency is necessary for the it.

Until the call by a reporter, RTÉ appeared to think banning the advertisement was justified under the 1988 Radio and Television Act, which directs that "no advertisement shall be broadcast which is directed towards any religious or political end or which has any relation to an industrial dispute".

In 1999, the Independent Radio and Television Commission, citing the same legislation, banned a completely innocuous advertisement on behalf of the Irish Catholic newspaper.

The ban was extensively debated in the Dáil and the Seanad. For example, Senator Brendan Ryan, who freely admitted that he had been on the opposite side to the Catholic Church on every major social issue for the previous 20 years, found it ludicrous that a national newspaper could not advertise.

As a result of the debate, the Broadcasting Act, 2001, Section 65, allows for advertising of "religious newspapers, magazines and periodicals", provided that the "contents of the notice do not address the issue of the merits or otherwise of adhering to any religious faith or belief, or of becoming a member of any religion or religious organisation."

This Act was invoked by RTÉ to allow the broadcasting of Sr Stan's advertisement, although it patently has nothing to do with books.

It could be said that the broadcaster compensates for the lack of political advertising by providing party political broadcasts, and industrial disputes are covered exhaustively by current affairs. In contrast, religious broadcasting, which treats religion not as it relates to politics, but as a serious area in itself, has been scaled back to the point of invisibility.

You know what is the most annoying thing about the whole incident? RTÉ never asked for a copy of the book. Far from being religiously evangelical, one could imagine Stillness, Through My Prayers being criticised because of its lack of overt Catholicism. The book is all about finding that elusive physical - and by extension mental - state, stillness.

Given the state of religious knowledge today, one reference to the God of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, is as likely to be taken as a mention of Stan's neighbours, as a reference to the Judaeo-Christian tradition. She draws inspiration from the Buddhist tradition of being mindful and the colours of stained glass in a Dublin church, from the wild flowers in the cracks of a pavement and children playing in the pools of a bog.

Oddly, the same Sr Stan originally deemed too subversive to be allowed to advertise, then had a compelling half-hour conversation with Gerry Ryan on his radio show, where he managed to show that he is completely aware of the longing for spirituality among this harassed, overworked, commuting generation. Stan's own journey is a kind of parable in itself, in that she has moved from being a frantically busy activist who suffered near-burnout, to living and helping others to live a gentler, more contemplative way of life.

What are we afraid of when it comes to religious advertising? Certainly, I would prefer not to be bombarded by advertisements for religious sects, but I am already bombarded by advertisements that are patronising, consumerist, and sexist. At the moment, there is an advert which urges us: "Don't put it off, put it on" - telling us to put everything we want for Christmas on a credit card.

Irresponsible? Crass? Sure, but it is deemed fit for broadcast. Apparently, in Ireland, the only god allowed to advertise is Mammon.