London, England - Thought for the Day, one of the bastions of religious broadcasting, could be open to secular contributors in the future, the BBC's director general Mark Thompson has said.
The three-minute slot, a religious reflection on topical events, has been a daily feature of the Today programme on Radio 4 for 36 years.
Mr Thompson, a practising Roman Catholic, said he would not rule out the possibility of using non-religious contributors.
The National Secular Society has campaigned for many years to end the religious requirement of the slot, and has threatened the BBC with legal action.
The secularists argue that as a quarter of Britons have no religious belief, Thought for the Day does not adequately reflect society.
In an interview with the Tablet Catholic newspaper, Mr Thompson, 47, promised to improve the creativity of religious broadcasting. But when asked about Thought for the Day, he said: "You can make a case for opening it up to people with other heartfelt belief systems. I would not close my mind to it."
A BBC spokesman said there were no immediate plans to change the content.
Thought for the Day began in 1970 and had its first non-Christian contributor, a Muslim, in 1992. It now has regular contributors from all major faiths and has featured the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi.