Thought for the Day protest ends

The National Secular Society has dropped a legal challenge against BBC Radio 4's decision not to allow atheists to deliver Thought For the Day.

The society claimed the ban on non-religious contributors amounted to a breach of human rights.

The fact that we haven't won in court doesn't, from our perspective, mean that we're wrong Keith Porteous Wood National Secular Society

But they dropped the case for financial reasons because they believed it would have been a lengthy case and not value for money even if they won.

Thought For the Day is a three-minute segment about a topical subject delivered by a religious figure during an interval in the Today programme.

The society's executive director Keith Porteous Wood told BBC News Online: "It would go through quite a few courts to the end and we don't reckon that what we're going to get out of this is very good value.

"The fact that we haven't won in court doesn't, from our perspective, mean that we're wrong."

Balance

More than 100 leading figures signed a letter in 2002 urging the BBC to allow non-religious contributors to speak in the slot.

But on Tuesday, BBC governors turned down an appeal against the slot's policy, saying "balance was provided through other programming on Radio 4".

The BBC has said: "Thought for the Day provides an opportunity to reflect on current affairs from a perspective of religious faith.

"As such it is inappropriate to include non-religious contributions."