As Indians go to the polls this week, many expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party to be returned to power - but what would a third term look like? As Hindu nationalism has become the country's dominant political force over the past decade, the government is accused of making the state a “laboratory” for some of the most extreme rightwing policies and rhetoric targeting the Muslim minority.

The golf Masters 2024 champion Scottie Scheffler has been talking about how his Christianity underpins his life. But can you really be a high level competitive sportsperson and a follow a faith? We discuss the role of religion in sport with swimmer Daniel Jervis, who's heading to the Paris Olympics, and Katrina McDonald, a senior lecturer in sports coaching at Anglia Ruskin University, a Judo coach, and a former international Judo competitor.

Salman Rushdie’s latest book – ‘Knife: Mediations after an Attempted Murder' - was published this week. It's a memoir covering his experience of being stabbed at an event in New York in 2022. The Indian-born British-American has been threatened with death since 1989, when the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his assassination, following the publication of his novel 'The Satanic Verses'. But recently there have been many knife attacks in the news, and with so many of them seemingly linked to religious extremism, we talk to Professor Kevin Browne, a forensic psychologist at Nottingham University Medical School and a leading authority on the subject of knife crime.

And pop music has often used religious references to shock. But now the American pop star Rihanna has caused controversy by posing for a magazine cover dressed as a scantily clad nun. Is her image cheeky? Or offensive? And why is it always nuns who are mocked? We ask music writer David Quantick, to investigate.

Presenter: Emily Buchanan
Producers: Amanda Hancox, Rosie Dawson, Julia Paul and Alexa Good
Editor: Tim Pemberton Show less