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Beyond Belief

Religion & Ethics

Series exploring the place and nature of faith in today's world

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Beyond Belief: Religion and Mrs Thatcher's Politics

17/06/2013

Religion and Mrs Thatcher's Politics

BBC Radio 4 - Beyond Belief, Religion and Mrs Thatcher's Politics

Ernie Rea and guests debate the role of religion within politics.

Ernie Rea and guests debate the role of religion in politics, in the light of Margaret Thatcher's death. How did her faith shape her policies?

Margaret Thatcher's funeral in St Paul's Cathedral was attended by thousands of world leaders and watched by millions more around the world. In death, as in life, Margaret Thatcher shaped the occasion: she dictated the order of service and chose the hymns and readings. She was probably the most overtly Christian Prime Minister of the twentieth century up to the time of her leaving office. So where did those Christian influences come from? How did her religious conviction shape her politics? And what is her legacy in terms of the relationship between religion and politics in a multi cultural Britain?

Joining Ernie Rea are Dr Eliza Filby, Lecturer in Modern British History at King's College London, whose book, "God and Mrs Thatcher: The Battle for Britain's Soul", is published later this year; Edwina Currie, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health under Margaret Thatcher and MP for South Derbyshire between 1983 and 1997 and Canon Dr Alan Billings, Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council under David Blunkett when Margaret Thatcher came to power, and former Director of the Centre for Ethics and Religion at Lancaster University.

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