Beyond Belief

What should be the purpose and scope of Religious Education in an increasingly pluralist and multi-faith society? An independent commission has been set up by the Religious Education Council of England and Wales to make "wide-ranging recommendations for change" within religious education in schools. It follows a report last year from Goldsmiths, University of London, which argued that RE in Englan...

A person's hair is one of the few visible indicators we might have about their religion. A long beard, for example, can be a powerful symbol of devotion for many Muslims, Jews and Christians. In Orthodox Jewish communities, married women wear a wig or hat rather than expose their hair in public. Sikhs consider hair to be so special that it can't ever be cut. Some of these practices are based on ru...

The government has launched an inquiry into the role of sharia councils in the UK. The councils are able to provide advice to Muslims who voluntarily choose to use them to resolve civil and family disputes. But human rights campaigners have become increasingly concerned about the rights of women who access the councils. The Home Office said it would examine claims that sharia councils may be worki...

50 years ago, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution to rid the Communist Party of his rivals. He ended up destroying much of China's social fabric, calling on young, radical "Red Guards" to take party leaders to task for their embrace of bourgeois values and lack of revolutionary spirit. He ordered them to destroy the "four olds" - old ideas, customs, habits and culture. Religion was a prime...

The Battle of the Somme, fought in northern France between 1st July and 18th November 1916, was one of the bloodiest of World War One. The British and French armies engaged the Germans in a brutal battle of attrition on a 15-mile front. In total, there were over one million dead and wounded on all sides. The slaughter was on an unprecedented scale. How did individuals and society grieve? How did f...

Despite the constitutional barrier between church and state in America, politicians hardly ever give a major speech without invoking religion. In particular, the political relationship between Christian evangelicals and the Republican Party has existed for decades. But is the expected announcement of Donald Trump as the Republican nominee next month about to shake things up? He is very different t...

50 years ago this week, the Vatican's list of banned books was finally abolished by Pope Paul VI. The aim of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum was to protect the faith and morals of Catholics by preventing the reading of what the Church deemed to be heretical and immoral books. The final list reads as a who's who of some the greatest writers, philosophers and thinkers in Western culture. But religio...

Belgium is steeped in Catholic history, having been part of the French Empire until 1815 and eventually gaining independence from the largely Protestant Netherlands in 1830. The State subsidises all officially-recognised religions, paying the salaries of teachers of religion in state schools, stipends and pensions for Catholic clergy and for the renovation of church buildings. Yet it's thought Bel...

Saint Benedict is often regarded as the founder of Western monasticism. He wrote his Rule for monks in the 6th century, which is still followed by monks and nuns of the Benedictine order today. It sets out the spiritual and practical code for life in a religious community. Compared with earlier monastic writers, Benedict is much more moderate in the demands he makes on people. He was also aware th...

The Catholic Church still affirms the doctrine of original sin. For more than 1,500 years the Church has maintained that the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden was passed on to every subsequent human being. This meant that every baby was born bad, with its inherent human nature corrupted and attracted to sin. This was not a marginal teaching; it has underpinned Christianity. Ernie Rea and guests di...

In the virtual world of social media, religious communities are now global. But is this at the expense of local relationships? Does lively discussion on social media translate into to social action? And does social media genuinely have the power to reform religious institutions, challenge extreme views or change someone's personal religious experience? Ernie Rea discusses the relationship between...

Since 2010 a Vatican commission has been investigating the alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina. An announcement is expected soon, amid concerns that the supernatural claims of six visionaries are getting out of the Vatican's control. Beginning in 1981, the apparitions purportedly continue daily, and thousands of pilgrims from all over the world travel to the...

The Archbishop of Canterbury is working with other Christian churches to agree on a fixed date for Easter, which he hopes would happen "in between five and 10 years time". The first attempt to make such a change was in the 10th Century. The date, which is different in the Eastern and Western Christian traditions, is also intrinsically linked to the Jewish celebration of Passover and Christian chur...

Pope Francis has declared 2016 a "Holy Year of Mercy" and described it as "a privileged moment, so that the church may learn to choose only that which pleases God most"; that is forgiveness and mercy. What exactly do we mean by mercy? Why has the Pope singled it out as the virtue we need the most to build a better society? If it is a central theme in the great religious traditions, how are we to a...

In a special programme recorded at the the Bloxham Literary Festival, William Crawley and guests explore the rich history of Judeo-Christian storytelling. How old are some of the most popular and familiar biblical stories and where did they come from? How important has the telling, re-telling and adaptation of stories been throughout the history of Christianity? What challenges do they pose to peo...

The UK's ties with Saudi Arabia have come under growing strain in recent months over how to balance human rights concerns with the government's desire to promote a crucial trade and investment relationship. The Arab state sits on more than a quarter of the world's known oil reserves, making it one of the richest countries in the Middle East and a vital strategic partner to many Western nations. It...

From the Charlie Hebdo shootings a year ago to the November terrorist atrocities in Paris, a string of Islamist attacks has left French society reeling in the face of home-grown terror. The events raise many issues, including the nature of religious and cultural integration in France. Secularism is a defining principle of the State. Faith is practiced in private and not in public. However, the way...

There is a long Christian history of exploring the self. Some of the greatest Christian theologians wrote about the importance of the inner life; and in times of distress and suffering it was the Church people turned to for both confession and counsel. Things began to change in the 20th century with the emergence of psychoanalysis and the writings of Sigmund Freud. No longer were ideas about the i...

The question of what happens after we die is central to the world's faith traditions. How has the belief in an afterlife developed across the religions? And what does Heaven mean to people of faith today? Ernie Rea discusses the concept of the afterlife with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies; Dr Shuruq Naguib, lecturer in Islamic Studies at Lancaster University; a...

December 21st - the shortest day in the year - is the day pagans across Europe are marking the Winter Solstice; an ancient festival, connected to the lowest position of the sun in the sky. It has been celebrated for millennia, and yet, its relationship to the relatively recent Christian celebration of Christmas is inseparable. It is no coincidence that a festival marking the 'rebirth' of the new s...

Birth rates in Western Europe have been dropping steadily. In the 1970s, one in ten British women reached the menopause without having children. Today it is one in five. Earlier this year Pope Francis told an audience in St Peter's Square that, "The choice not to have children is selfish. Life rejuvenates and acquires energy when it multiplies; it is enriched, not impoverished." Is he right? Does...

It is 50 years since the publication of the Vatican document 'Nostra Aetate' which transformed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and other religions, most notably Judaism. At only a few paragraphs in length, this short text has been widely seen as one of the most remarkable moments in the turbulent history of interfaith relations. How did it come about? What can we say it has really achi...

There are big challenges faced by interfaith couples today; where to get married, how to bring up the children and where to be laid to rest. They are the concern of all faiths. As British society becomes more multicultural, are these challenges becoming greater for those who chose to marry someone of a different faith? Ernie Rea discusses the pros and cons of interfaith marriage with Asad Zaman, a...

In claiming responsibility for the Paris atrocities, the so-called Islamic State described the attacks as "a blessed battle whose causes of success were enabled by Allah". Last year, when the group's self-imposed Caliphate was declared, hundreds of Muslim leaders and scholars from across the world wrote an open letter to the self-professed Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, accusing him of heinous war...

This week the Catholic Church began its second Synod on the Family. After a year of reflection and discussion, there has been much speculation as to what might emerge. The model for what constitutes a family has posed difficulties for Christianity down through the centuries. The greatly increased divorce rate, the movement for gay and lesbian equality; the possibility for surrogate children, all p...