The RE Podcast

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! I'm fascinated with the idea of angels so was so excited to have this chat with Stephen Miller, author of 'The book of Angels: Seen and Unseen.' What does the word 'angel' actually mean? What actually are angels? Are they all the same? Where did belief in angels come from?  What is the best film to watch about them plus much much...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In this weeks episode we take our attention to religion and art with Dr. Siobhan Jolley, curator of art and religion at the National Gallery. We discover her route on this path, what opportunities there are to use art in the classroom, her favourite piece of art, and why art in the British museum is White, European and Christian. We also discuss two excit...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! I have a #patreon page. If you are able to support #TheREPodcast financially, then you will get access to  extra parts of the recording that get edited out, like this (edited out of this Friday's episode on #Religion and #art wtih  @siobhan_jolley https://patreon.com/therepodcast?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=crea...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Do you teach 'Animal Rights' as part of your religion and life syllabus? I have an informative and frank chat with David Clough from CEFAW (The Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare) challenging Christians to rethink their attitudes to eating animals in light of the farming techniques currently used and the climate crisis. We look at the bib...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Happy New Year 2023 to you all and welcome back to Season 8 of The RE Podcast. If you teach Science and Religion then you are not going to want to miss this episode.  Following the success of Nobody Stands Nowhere, Emily Downe has once again teamed up with Theos Think Tank to create another AMAZING short animation to help faciliate an understanding of the...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! On June 28th 2021, Britain completed a census.  On 29th November, some of the data was released. And this data was of particular interest to RE teachers, leaders and educators because it revealed the religious and ethnic make up of Britain.  For the first time since the dark ages, we are no longer a majority Christian country. But what does this mean for...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Hajj is a once in a lifetime experience for some Muslims, but my guest today has done it twice.  So I talk to her about her experience so we can have an authentic voice in our lessons!   Shazia Nazlee Khan is Head of RE and Citizenship in Bradford, as well as director of learning for Humanities. We disucss what Hajj is and the story behind it,  the prepar...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In this incredible chat with Dr. Wendy Dossett we dive into the last of our decolonisation episodes and this time we turn to Buddhism.  This episodes has really challenged my own bias' when teaching Buddhism.  Do I sometimes focus on the more rational, popular aspects of Buddhism to appeal to a post-enightenment world?  Do I use the colonial word of...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! As this week is Interfaith week, I have a chat with Dr David Lundie about what interfaith RE looks like.  We discuss the concept of God, religion and Jesus from different points of view, the contrasts and connections between religions depending on where you are standing.  a few anecdotes for your classroom and the important of teaching interfaith RE for o...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Would you like to come with me to a trip to the Holy Land next year?  See the roads Jesus walked on, make the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, as Mary did, experience Tiberius - Blackpool with Hasidic Jews, see the caves where the Isaiah scrolls were discovered, look over Bethlehem, stand at the western wall?  I thought so.  Listen to this episode with Ke...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Goodness I learnt so much from this episode!  Was there a Jesus, is the Bible talking about different people,  when were the gospels written, what is the historical context and worldview at the time these things were written down, was Jesus the Messiah? In this episode, I talk to the skeptical heathen. His podcast by the Skeptical Ghost Heathen covers, th...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! As we approach Halloween we bring our attention to things that go bump in the night, and I bring you a  real life exorcist.  To protect him and the identities of those he mentions, we will call him, Tim. If you had told 25 year old Tim he would be a Christian, an Anglican vicar and an exorcist, he may not have believed you. But he has been led down a path...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In the next installment of decolonising the curriculum, Ash Kundi and I have an amazing chat with Shabnam Khaliq about decolonising Islam. Sabnam is passionate about all things RS and Equality, Diversity and Decolonisation. We discuss authentic language, how we can more effectively teach about Islam, the impact of Prevent on Muslim children, the impact of...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! f you teach Crime and Punishment, or have an interest in how schools can revolutionise discipline in their own schools, if you are interested in a restorative basis of dealing with children displaying poor behaviour, or what Jesus teachings of love look like in the 21st century then this is the episode for you. The Rev. Steve Chalke, a previous guest of T...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! To celebrate two years of The RE Podcast on 1st Oct 2022, here are clips from each episode in season 6 I covered Biblical prohecy, Church on the Streets, the future of humanity, Sunday Assembly, humanism, the Bible, philosophy, intersex, Prison, women in Islam and end with a very special guest! My thanks to my guests, Jeff Cuozzo, Rev. Michael Flemming, E...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! To celebrate two year of The RE Podcast on 1st Oct 2022, here are clips from each episode in season 5 I covered RE ECTs, Antisemitism, extremism, Identical twins with different faiths, interpretting Genesis, Peace and Conflict, reconciliation, love, the future of RE, The RE Leadership programme and Ashura My thanks to my guests, Joe Gallagher, Micheala Mc...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! To celebrate two years of The RE Podcast on 1st Oct 2022, here are clips from each episode in season 4 I covered the history of religion, messianic Judaism, Narssicism, types of knowledge, the beatitudes, the history of Christianity, horror and religion, Diwali, Ancient religions, decolonising Judaism and Christianity, women in the Bible and interviewed A...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Following on from last weeks episode on sacraments, it seems logical to do one on marriage.  This comes under the Themes sections of the exam syllabus rather than the Christian practices so I wanted to keep it separate as people do different specs. I look at the etymology and history of marriage, the meaning of the symbols in the wedding ceremony and the...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In most GCSE RE syllabus' in the Christian practices sections you have to learn about sacraments.  In most syllabus' this specifically mentions Baptism and Holy Communion.  This can be really hard to make engaging for the children.  So in this episode I explore what sacraments are, and then focus on Baptism and Holy Communion with an exam focus...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! As we completed a time of national mouring for our Queen, Elizabeth II, many of us will be triggered by our own personal loss.  This can be the loss of a loved one, a relationship.  But what is grief, what is grief literacy, how can we cope with grief, what do we say to people who are grieving, does religion provide support when we lose someone, how do ge...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! I simply cannot believe how much awesome stuff Religion Media Center does!  And when I discovered this fact, I just had to share it with you!  Fact sheets, open press briefings, daily and weekly email updates, podacsts, festivals, conferences,... just so many things that will be invaluable to people all over the world - RE Teachers and students, journalis...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Welcome to Season 7 of the RE Podcast and welcome to a new school year!  Over the last few years we have heard the terms 'worldviews' and 'lenses' being used more and more frequently in terms of RE.  But what do these words mean?  Why is everyone talking about them and what does it mean for the future of RE?  To answer these questions...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Every year RE Online host a competition for students of RE https://www.reonline.org.uk/news/pupil-blog-competition-2022/ This year it was all about lessons that make a difference. This week I had the priviledge of interviewing one of the winners - Amelie - a link to her blog is below.  You will see from her interview and her entry why she is a deserving w...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! In this weeks episode I chat to Rumena Aktar and Anjum Peerbacos about women in Islam.  We discuss the misconceptions of treatment of women in Islam,  differences between men and woman in Islam, the  treatment of women by Muhammad, polygamy, wearing Hijab, confusion between Islamic teachings and social norms and culture in Islamic countries, Jummah prayer...

Please send The RE Podcast a Text Message! Do you teach Crime and Punishment to your GCSE students? Or maybe you are a sociology teacher who teaches crime and deviance,, or maybe you are a teacher who understands the importance of education in keeping people out of prison. In this episode I have the unique priviledge of talking to David Shipley who was sentenced to 45 months in prison for fraud. D...