Sunday

Humanists UK has paid tribute to its long-standing patron Sir Patrick Stewart OBE, who has died aged 86. Beyond his celebrated acting career, Stewart was one of Britain's most prominent public humanists and a leading advocate for assisted dying reform. Andrew Copson joins us to reflect on the values that shaped his life beyond the stage and screen. How is Christianity showing up in the US midterms...

On Tuesday Israelis go to the polls, in the first general election since the Hamas attacks of October 7th 2023 and the war in Gaza that followed. It's looking like a tight race between Benjamin Netanyahu and the former army chief Gadi Eisenkot. There’s no postal voting, so many living abroad are flying home to take part, in what some see as the most pivotal vote in the country’s history. Issues of...

Catholics around the world will be waiting to see Pope Leo this lunchtime, after he left hospital just yesterday following his operation to treat lung cancer. He's due to make his usual midday address and pray the Angelus from his window overlooking St Peter's Square in Rome - just seven days since he made the announcement which shocked the world that he was to have surgery. His return to public l...

A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week with Emily Buchanan.

On Friday Chris Brain, former leader of a Church group aimed at young people, was found guilty of one count of rape and four charges of sexual assault. It follows a separate trial last year. The verdicts mean Brain has now been convicted of a total of 22 sexual offences against 13 women. Julie Etchingham speaks to Andrew Graystone, theologian and advocate for survivors of abuse in the church This...

For decades Jehovah's Witnesses have refused blood transfusions on religious grounds. That policy has now changed. Members may now decide for themselves whether to accept or donate red or white blood cells, plasma and platelets, although the ban on whole blood transfusions remains. Supporters say the move reflects a refined understanding of scripture, while critics argue it raises difficult questi...

The Archbishop of Canterbury has withdrawn an interfaith award from a Pakistani cleric, days after presenting it on the 25 anniversary of 9/11. Comments from 2007 resurfaced in which Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi said he would give Osama bin Laden the title "Sword of God". He told the BBC his comments have been taken out of context. William Crawley speaks to Dr Edward Kessler, President of the Woolf Institu...

What a week it has been for Doomsday warnings around AI. A researcher resigned from the AI company Anthropic saying colleagues across the industry believe artificial intelligence could kill us all by the end of the decade. Then the boss of Anthropic called for the pace of development of AI models to slow down and to be closely monitored. It's prompted calls for action towards an international trea...

Over a week since the catastrophic floods in Nepal and Tibet, and hundreds of foreign citizens are believed to be among the more than 5,000 people still missing. Among them, a group of 16 Hindu pilgrims who had set off from a small temple in south London, the Sanatan Mandir and Community Centre. Emily Buchanan visits the community to find out how those left behind are coping. Prayer rooms are ofte...

Sunday hears the latest from China, on the region devastated by flooding, the attempts to get aid to remote areas and the religious landscape of this region, which features in Hindu scripture and is dotted with sacred lakes and sites of pilgrimage US theology scholar L. Patrick Burrows on Dolly Parton and the influence her theme park, Dollywood had on him as a young gay Christian. A BBC investigat...

The Chosen is the most successful crowdfunded drama in television history. It tells the story of Jesus of Nazareth through the eyes of his disciples, followers and opponents. Five series are now on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video, alongside a new spin off called The Chosen in the Wild. It's hosted by TV adventurer Bear Grylls and features the cast and crew taking on outdoor challenges. Fa...

William Crawley and guests reflect on the death of Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor who had been the subject of an investigation into his qualifications amid intense media scrutiny over claims of plagiarism and misrepresentation. The Catholic theologian and philosopher Dr Carmody Grey explains why she turned down an opportunity to discuss ethics with Anthropic, the AI gian...

A follower of the Bahá'í faith who is being held by the Iranian regime has published a vivid and shocking memoir of her time in prison. Mahvash Sabet is an award-winning educator and poet. She has been in and out of detention since 2010, suffering solitary confinement and psychological torture. Bahá'ís are Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority and are regarded as a threat to the state. Alon...

US President Donald Trump says an agreement has been reached for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. The deal faces big obstacles, and behind the negotiations lies a deeper question - for a movement that has long-framed armed resistance as a religious duty, can Hamas actually disarm and survive ideologically intact? The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, has...

There have been many tributes this week to our dear colleague Edward Stourton, who died last weekend at the age of 68. They've come from across the media, from the churches and faith communities he covered for so long, and from listeners who simply trusted his voice on a Sunday morning. William Crawley looks back at his extraordinary contribution to religious broadcasting. Also in the programme, A...

As Andy Burnham prepares to become the UK's new Prime Minister we look at how his Catholic upbringing shaped the values behind his politics. William Crawley discusses the interplay of faith and politics with Nick Spencer, senior fellow with the think tank Theos, and Francis Davis, visiting fellow Kellogg college, Oxford, who has written widely on Catholic social teaching and the role of faith in p...

This week marks 90 years since the start of the Spanish Civil War. In July 1936, a rebel general, Francisco Franco, led a military coup against Spain’s Republican government. It triggered a conflict that tore the country apart, drew in fighters and writers from across the world and claimed half a million lives. William Crawley explores how Spain remembers, and how it still argues about, its bloodi...

As mourners gather in Iran to pay their respects to the country's former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, we hear from Tehran about the significance of the six-day funeral. His body is currently lying in state at the Grand Mosalla mosque and will travel to several religiously significant cities before a burial in his hometown of Mashhad. Authorities expect 15-20 million people to attend the...

With the number of people known to have died following earthquakes in Venezuela rising, rescue teams are racing to find those who are still missing. Operations Manager of the Lutheran World Federation based in Caracas, Maria Caraballo, speaks about the work her organisation has been doing. The United States of American will mark 250 years since its independence this week. The separation of Church...

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, this week apologised for the Church of England's role in the forced adoption of children in the decades after the Second World War. We hear from former Labour MP Ann Keen, a trustee of the Movement for an Adoption Apology, on her experience and reaction to the apology, and Joanne Grenfell, the Bishop of Suffolk, who chaired the Church of England's...

Thousands of people gathered at an anti-racism protest in Belfast on Saturday, after violence across the city this past week saw people's homes, businesses and vehicles targeted. The disorder was sparked after footage of a knife attack in north Belfast on Monday night was shared widely on social media, which left the victim with serious injuries. Religious leaders have joined calls for calm and Em...

On Friday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, told a House of Lords debate that current AI regulation is “wholly inadequate”, saying the technology raises fundamental questions about what it means to be human, what we’re here for, and how we discern truth. William speaks to the Bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, who also spoke in that Lords debate. Also on the programme, the murder...

This week Pope Leo XIV launched the first encyclical of his pontificate. He broke with tradition and presented it himself and addressed the following challenges: how humanity should respond to the AI revolution, the church's historic complicity in slavery, and whether the church's teaching on Just War Theory is still fit for purpose in an age of drone strikes and AI targeting. William Crawley talk...

As the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues, the World Health Organisation has classified the regional risk as “very high”, while maintaining that the global risk remains low. Aid agencies say faith leaders are playing an important role in helping communities respond to the virus and challenge misinformation. William Crawley speaks to Poppy Anguandia, Country Director in th...

The build up to the by-election in Makerfield is likely to be the only political story in town in the coming weeks. Reform UK is pledging to throw everything at the race to stop Andy Burnham's ambitions to be Prime Minister. Another potential contender in any contest, Wes Streeting, has spoken openly about his Anglican Christian faith. Angela Rayner has described herself as not being religious. We...