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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 PR

22/09/2014

Religion and PR

BBC Radio 4 - Beyond Belief, Religion and PR

Ernie Rea discusses with guests how religions can do good - and avoid bad - PR.

Ernie Rea in conversation with guests about how religions can do good - and avoid bad - public relations.

Should religions have a public relations strategy? Every organisation needs good communicators and religious bodies are no exception. They were once very good at it. Messages that had their origins in fairly obscure corners of the globe changed the lives of hundreds of millions. So what has gone wrong? Nowadays events can quickly unfold into PR disasters for religions. Is religion just another brand that needs to be sold and packaged? To what extent can organisations who prioritise truth afford to engage in spin?

Joining Ernie Rea to discuss religion and PR are the Rev. George Pitcher, former Religious Editor at the Daily Telegraph and Public Affairs Secretary to Rowan Williams when he was Archbishop of Canterbury; Dr Yasmin Ibrahim, Reader in International Business and Communications at Queen Mary University; and Jack Valero, former Press Officer for Opus Dei and one of the founding fathers of Catholic Voices set up to provide a positive Catholic response to issues in the public arena.

Producer: Catherine Earlam.

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