Sunday

A London Church is under investigation for alleged fraud and financial irregularities after church goers claimed they were persuaded to take out large loans. The Sunday programme reports on claims and puts the claims to a representative of the church. Sima Kotecha reports on how religious voting "banks" could influence this year’s general election. And we hear from the Bishop of Hertford, Michael...

Ahead of Remembrance Sunday, Paul Mason, the Roman Catholic Bishop for the Armed Forces met his Argentinian counterpart in Rome to return a statue of Our Lady of Lujan. The statue was left behind at the end of the Falklands War and brought back to Britain. In the exchange attended by Pope Francis, the Argentinians presented a replica for the military cathedral in Aldershot. She's been called the '...

The Archbishop of York has said that a slow "environmental genocide" is taking place in Nigeria’s Bayelsa State. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the BBC as part of a commission investigating oil spills in the Niger Delta, Dr John Sentamu said that oil companies needed to end a culture of double standards in Nigeria. The BBC’s Mayeni Jones travelled with the Archbishop to Nigeria earlier th...

From this weekend there’s a ban on climbing ‘Uluru’ in Australia’s Northern Territory. Anthropologist Professor Veronica Strang tells William Crawley why the site is so sacred to the aborigines. In the wake of the deaths of 39 people in a lorry William hears from the Salvation Army’s Kathy Betteridge about their work with victims human trafficking. Dr Carrie Pemberton Ford from the Cambridge Centr...

Edward Stourton visits Westminster Abbey with the historian William Whyte to talk about a new book commemorating the 750th anniversary of the consecration of the current Abbey Church building. Bake Off contestant and Sikh Rav Bansal came out as being gay publically earlier this year. Rav received a strongly worded homophobic letter from another Sikh who said he should dissociate himself from the f...

Cardinal John Newman, who converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism, will be the first English person born since the 17th century to be declared a saint by the Catholic church on Sunday. A delegation led by Prince Charles will join thousands of pilgrims in St Peter’s Square for the special Canonisation Mass led by Pope Francis. For Newman to be declared a saint, two miracles must be verified by th...

An interactive map that tracks more than 3,000 Scots, mostly women, who were accused of being witches in the 16th and 17th Century has been published for the first time. Sunday hears from Professor Julian Goodare from the University of Edinburgh whose research into witchcraft in Scotland was used to build the map. Catholic Bishop John Arnold explains why his Salford diocese will be holding a mass...

On Good Friday, on the 300th anniversary of its premiere, the Academy of Ancient Music realised a long-held ambition to perform a new version of Handel’s mighty Brockes Passion at the Barbican in London. It will be released on CD next week and Alexander Von Ingen, Chief Executive of the Academy explains why this version is so unique. In a week of divisions and tensions in Parliament with some MPs...

A family from Bristol are bringing up their baby as gender neutral. They say it's to help their baby avoid unconscious gender bias. We hear from the family and discuss the theological implications of such decisions. The deadline for responses to a report on the persecution of Christians, led by the Bishop of Truro, Philip Mounstephen, was this week. Some organisations have raised concerns about as...

In November 2017 a gunman walked into a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas and shot dead 26 parishioners. The pastor of that church, Frank Pomeroy, lost his 14 year old daughter in the attack. He tells William Crawley why he’s now running for political office and why he wears a gun in the pulpit. A crowdfunding page launched by a Muslim group opposed to LGBT relationships lessons has been r...

Should you make a promise you can’t keep? We reflect on the ethical issues thrown up by the week’s events in Parliament. Pope Francis has embarked on a 3 nation African tour. He’s visiting Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius. Martin Bashir, the BBC’s Religion Editor, has been travelling with the Pope. The historian Dan Jones has just written a new account of the era through the multiple perspecti...

Who is protecting the rights of indigenous people in the Amazon? We hear from Kawá, an Amazonian tribesman living in the UK about how his tribe has been affected by the fires and Adriana Ramos from the The Instituto Socioambiental in Brazil. A group of Church of England bishops has issued an open letter on the prospect of a 'no-deal' Brexit and the need for national reconciliation. Rt Rev Paul Bay...

In a special Sunday programme, Edward Stourton takes a look at the relationship between religion and music. He begins with Gospel music and talks to historian Viv Broughton, promoter Roy Francis and singer Dawn Thomas Wallace about music that has its roots in the black oral tradition and which has had a massive impact on the popular music scene. The Rev Dr Jonathan Arnold discusses why religious m...

Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham explains why some MPs want to close a legal loophole so that it is illegal for sports coaches and religious leaders to have sex with anyone in their care under the age of 18. Maji Peterx is a specialist in conflict resolution and has brought together former members and victims of Boko Haram in trauma awareness and peace-building workshops. He talks to Emily about h...

Sister Helen Prejean is known worldwide for campaigning against the death penalty in the US. She is the author of the bestselling ‘Dead Man Walking’ and joins Emily to talk about her latest book – a personal story of faith and spirituality. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the start of The Troubles and although the Good Friday Agreement saw an end to the violence twenty years ago, many in N...

A major clean-up is underway as homes were deluged, bridges destroyed, roads blocked and towns cut off as flash floods devastated parts of England. Reeth, in North Yorkshire, has been badly hit by the floods and the Bishop of Ripon, Helen-Ann Hartley has been one of those helping farmers and villagers as they try to get on top of the aftermath. The Salvation Army have been brought in by Coronation...

Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme presented by William Crawley.

Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme presented by Edward Stourton.

At the height of the English Civil War, the City of Chester was not only scarred by battle, it was also devastated by plague. One house, at 9, Watergate Street, was spared, it is still known as ‘God’s Providence House’. In 1652 a special oak relief carving was made to commemorate this building. Now, 367 years later, it has just turned up in a house-clearance sale in Shropshire and it goes to aucti...

Sir Stephen Cleobury – Director of Music at King’s College Cambridge – conducts his final Choral Evensong this Sunday. He talks to Emily about his 37 years at King's. The spotlight is once again on Ampleforth College over safeguarding as the Independent Schools Inspectorate published a Progress Monitoring Report highlighting failures at the school. Head teacher Deirdre Rowe will be leaving after j...

It's the biggest music festival in the world with more than 200,000 people expected to visit Worthy Farm in Somerset. It's renowned for its spectacular line up of musicians, but there is also a spiritual element to Glastonbury - and even a religious presence. The Reverend Chris North, has been volunteering for the past fifteen years in the Sanctuary Tent at the Festival. Senior Bishops in the Dioc...

Hindu spiritual leader BK Shivani described as “the very modern face of India's ancient Raja Yoga” this week she arrives in the UK to start a European Tour. Raja Yoga is known as the ‘yoga of the mind’ and BK Shivani’s has a vast following of almost 4 million on social media. She's expected to fill venues across the UK. Edward Stourton has been speaking to her ahead of her visit. Also in the progr...

Two years after Grenfell we hear about the role that faith plays in the lives of those still fighting for justice and overcoming the trauma of the worst UK residential fire since the Second World War. We hear why the Archbishop of Dublin has called for an end to gangland-style funerals and why some fear his statement could put local priests at risk. And as a new helpline for Jewish women suffering...

As the Cricket World Cup gets underway, Sarah Fane, founder and director of Afghan Connection a charity working to improve the lives of young Afghani's through cricket tells William about the extraordinary story of the rise of Afghanistan as a cricketing force. Commemorations are taking place for the 75th anniversary of D-Day on 6th June 2019. Of the countless sacrifices made on that day some of t...

Asia Bibi's lawyer, Saif-ul Malook, was named Secularist of the Year this week by the National Secular Society. This week he returns to Pakistan after forfeiting his asylum in the Netherlands in order to fight another blasphemy case. He tells us why. Diarmaid MacCulloch joins us to explain why is he so concerned at a British Academy report this week warning that Theology and Religions courses are...