Researchers at the University of Birmingham have conducted a wide-ranging survey on perceptions of religion and science, which suggests that half the UK population believes that religion does more harm than good. 50% of respondents said religion 'has more negative societal consequences than positive', 30% said it 'has more positive societal consequences' and 20% didn’t know. We discuss the findings and weigh up the religious ‘balance sheet’ with Professor Alice Roberts, anatomist, broadcaster and Vice President of Humanists UK; and Dr Musharraf Hussain, Imam, scientist and charity worker in Nottingham.
Also in the programme:
This week saw the UK cinema release of ‘One Life’ – a film about the British man Nicholas Winton who, in the months leading up to World War II, rescued 669 mostly Jewish Czechoslovakian children from the Nazis. One of those children, Milena Grenfell-Baines, tells her story.
The Church of Scotland is on a five-year mission to close places of worship made unviable by a lack of ministers, falling income and dwindling congregations. Reporter Moira Hickey visits Birnie Kirk, near Elgin in Moray, which recently held its last service after nearly 900 uninterrupted years of Christian worship.
Producers: Dan Tierney and Catherine Murray Production co-ordinator: David Baguley Editor: Helen Grady
The history of 'defrocking' and the story behind a 400-year-old missal
Islamophobia in Ireland; Executed Carmelite nuns; Church closures
Church of England safeguarding; Catholic synod; Vicar's pay
Hexham and Newcastle safeguarding review; conversion therapy; Franco and the Benedictines
Hajj bookings, Ukraine army chaplains, Jewish divorce
Chinese Muslims; Aid for Uganda, Northern Ireland schools
Child abuse, Ron DeSantis, Celebration Day
Church yard allotments, Myanmar cyclone, New caritas boss
Turkey election; Established church; St Francis of Assisi
Coronation Order of Service, Sudan Archbishop, God & Government report
Sri Lanka Easter Bombings; University Term Names; Windermere Children
16/04/2023
Muslim Hikers; Good Friday Agreement; Music in Church
Ramadan Recipes; Christian Nudists; Paul O'Grady and The Salvation Army
A decade of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury, Ramadan rules, Jewish housing
19/03/2023
Live from Rome on a decade of Pope Francis
Windsor Deal; Slave Trade and the Church of England; Oscar Contender
Attacks on refugees; Orthodoxy in Ukraine; school singing project
Ukraine's Religious Freedom Watchdog; Black Jesus; Champing
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