3. Dont Include Religion Unnecessarily
Following on from the previous point, religion is another difficult subject to cover. I think that like political bias, religion is something that very few people can contemplate rationally, so any attempt to challenge peoples beliefs will be controversial. So you really wouldnt want to be caught slagging off a god for the hell of it. There are occasions when religion should be challenged. However, if religious connotations are not absolutely relevant to the story then they should not be there. Did the analogy of an absent god in the dead civilisation above the motorway accelerate the narrative in Gridlock? I would argue not enough to really warrant its inclusion. On that subject, Im actually surprised that The Rings of Akhaten did not prompt complaints. Regardless what you thought of it, the episode featured the Doctor dismissing the central belief of the planet in question, even rejecting its god as a parasite living off fear. Given that Christian Voice got cross when the Doctor was lifted through the air by angels in a Christ-like image in Voyage of the Damned, surely calling God a parasite would have been more worthy of fuss? I dont know.