Things Unseen

Why is the Russian Orthodox Church supporting Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? Are the Russian President’s alleged religious motives genuine, and has the church’s endorsement of the war tarnished Russian Orthodoxy beyond redemption? Lucy Ash discusses with guests Fr Cyril Hovorun and Lord Harries, former Bishop of Oxford.

When Christ’s bloodied body was taken down from the cross, his followers took very good care of it. Looking after the dead body of a loved one was normal then. So why is it, Mark Dowd asks in this Holy Week and Easter podcast, that we’ve become so squeamish about it?

Is there a clash between the generous hospitality that’s customary during Ramadan, and the self-restraint and solidarity with the poor also expected during the Islamic holy month? Remona Aly hears from Muslims who are trying to have a greener and simpler Ramadan.

The writer and broadcaster Mark Dowd throws fresh light on a question which has troubled people of faith down the ages and remains ever topical in times of Covid, wars and natural disasters: why does a loving God allow good people to suffer?

The Gospels tell us little about the actual birth of Jesus. What would it have been like for a young woman, probably a teenager, to give birth for the first time far from home, with no medical help, in a stable or cave? Rae Duke and two midwives discuss. With Tina Beattie.

Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang in China face serious restrictions during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, including a ban on fasting. Here, Uyghurs in exile in the UK recall what Ramadan was like back home and how the Uyghur Ramadan customs of their childhood form a bridge to loved ones.

The Easter story is perhaps the ultimate rollercoaster narrative. And it has its fair share of heroes and villains, praised or condemned down the ages. But what about the behind-the-scenes Easter? Could that make us think again? Moving between the present day and the 1st century, Patient 13 fills in the gaps of the Gospels in an intriguing look at the events of Holy Week.

Nearly one in five women in the UK are now childless at 40, many involuntarily. Among them was the writer and teacher Blanche Girouard, and she desperately wanted a baby. In this audio diary, she charts her journey from the decision to have a child from an anonymous donor, via IVF treatment in December 2019 and her pregnancy during the Covid-19 lockdown, to holding her miracle baby in her arms for...

Sarah Niyazi was pleased to get her husband, Arif, home from hospital in February, following treatment for a severe autoimmune condition. Within days they were both ill, but her husband was worse. Struggling to breathe he went back into hospital, one of the earliest UK cases of COVID-19. Mark Dowd hears from Sarah about how the following days played out, and from Muslim hospital chaplain Rehanah S...

Journalist Remona Aly speaks to Islam scholar Abdal Hakim Murad, also known as Dr Tim Winter, about how to navigate the very different kind of Ramadan experience that Covid-19 brings – including how to cope with having to abandon traditional rituals and customs, and how to find spiritual meaning in a global pandemic.

In self-isolation at her new home in Virginia, former BBC religious affairs correspondent Jane Little reflects on whether the coronavirus pandemic could be a portal to a new world: one in which the poor and marginalized will finally get their fair share.

With churches closed and the coronavirus lockdown firmly in place, the UK faces a very different Easter this year. More and more people each day experience the sudden loss of a friend or family member. Others fear deeply for loved ones who are elderly or vulnerable. So how does the Easter story of death and resurrection help at this traumatic time, indeed does it help at all? Emily Buchanan talks...

Among the saddest stories to come out of the coronavirus crisis so far is that of 13-year-old Ismail, who died without seeing the loving faces of his family around him. In this short reflection, Mark Dowd, a Catholic, considers the importance of seeing a loving face when you are close to death. Even Jesus on the cross saw his mother Mary standing and gazing up to him in his agony. So what hope is...

Former BBC correspondent Mike Wooldridge has reported first hand on many of the world’s worst disasters of the last few decades, from the famine in Ethiopia to the AIDS epidemic in Uganda. In this short reflection, Mike draws his own lessons for the coronavirus pandemic: we should place the African concept of Ubuntu – a strong sense of our common humanity - at the centre of our response.

It’s there on almost every Christmas card featuring the scene of Christ’s birth, and in almost every school Nativity play: the donkey, or ass. But look at the gospel accounts of Christ’s birth, and you may be surprised: there is no donkey! So how has this much-loved seasonal character entered Christmas lore, and why has the donkey remained a Christmas favourite ever since? Jane Little goes in sear...

“Mindfulness” seems to be everywhere these days. It’s often promoted as a way dealing with some mental health issues and reducing burnout. But with origins in Buddhism, how well does it sit with other faiths? And what caused Tim Stead to leave his calling as a Church of England priest to pursue a career in mindfulness teaching? To find out, Mike Wooldridge visits Tim’s “meditation barn” at the bac...

For two weeks in October, members of the Extinction Rebellion movement are attempting to disrupt life in London and elsewhere to draw attention to what they say is an impending climate catastrophe. Among them are Christians of all ages who are camping out in the rain and risking arrest to make their point: that it’s their God-given responsibility to take care of the earth. Rosie Dawson meets some...

Concern over the environmental and welfare aspects of the meat and dairy industries is on the rise, but what about the world of fish farming? For those who want to protect the world’s oceans from deep sea trawling and over fishing, farmed fish seem like the ethical solution. But this may not be the case...

Former Lord Mayor of Sheffield Magid Magid is joined by a team of fasting veterans to answer your burning questions on Ramadan – including the fasting rules, spiritual highs, spiritual lows, veganism and moon-wars.

In the midst of a ferocious thunderstorm, Joe and Nick, two no-nonsense Irishmen, are carrying a body into a cave for burial. But their relief at getting out of the rain is short lived, when an earthquake traps them inside. Father Ted star Jim Norton stars in new Irish playwright Brendan Devitt’s drama from CTVC.

Not long after Christmas last year, Abbi Banks died of leukaemia. With the grief still so raw, how can parents Tim and Liz and sister Debbie hang on to the Christmas message of hope as the festive season comes round once again?

Shaunaka Rishi Das, an Irish-born Hindu priest reflects on his wife’s suicide and its aftermath. In her mid-50s and suffering from depression, Shaunaka’s wife Keshava took her own life, with questions over the medical response leading to a traumatic two-day inquest. Shaunaka tells the story publically for the first time, reflecting eloquently on death, mourning and letting go from a Hindu perspect...

After years of mental illness Guy Stagg embarked on a walk from Canterbury to Jerusalem, spending ten months on a 5,500 km medieval pilgrim route, a journey to the centre of the three Abrahamic faiths. And all this despite having no faith or belief in God. He joins Mark Dowd in Canterbury, retracing the footsteps of where it all began, to discuss why as a non-believer, he hoped the extraordinary a...

Mango cake and chocolate brownies might seem a world away from politics and rising levels of anti-Muslim feeling. But Great British Bake Off contestant Ali Imdad is on a mission to counter negative stereotypes with desserts from the Muslim world. All with the aim of bringing people together through a love of food.

Things Unseen travels through space and time for a close encounter between science fiction and faith. Steering the ship will be the writer and broadcaster Natalie Haynes, with crewmates Beth Singler, research associate with the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, and Robert Shearman, a writer whose work has often focused on the fantastical, and the man who brought the Daleks into the 21st...