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Religion & Ethics

A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week

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Sunday: The Church of England and slavery; Ukrainian military chaplains; Should the Lords Spiritual be scrapped?

The Church of England and slavery; Ukrainian military chaplains; Should the Lords Spiritual be scrapped?

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday, The Church of England and slavery; Ukrainian military chaplains; Should the Lords Spiritual be scrapped?

Edward Stourton explores the ethical and religious issues of the week.

Edward Stourton explores the week's ethical and religious issues including a Rwandan church leader's response to the UK's new asylum plan.

Should the Lords Spiritual be scrapped? Currently 26 bishops sit in the Lords. But it's been reported that some cabinet ministers want that to end after the Church of England criticised the government's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. We debate the issues with the former attorney general Dominic Grieve -  a practising Anglican and former Conservative MP - and Dr Jonathan Chaplin from the Divinity Faculty at the University of Cambridge.

In Ukraine, the focus of the fighting has shifted to the Donbas region, but it is as fierce as ever. A senior government official has told the BBC that Ukraine is losing between one and two hundred troops every day. Military chaplain Father Sergiy Berezhnoy, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest and a chaplain to the 42nd Battalion of Defenders of Kyiv tells Edward how Ukrainian soldiers are bearing up in the latest battle.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has apologised after research showed the Church of England's investment fund has links to the slave trade. Justin Welby said he is 'deeply sorry' for the links. But are apologies enough? We speak to Robert Beckford, Professor of Climate and Social Justice at the University of Winchester, who's recently been to Barbados to explore the legacy of the link between Anglicanism and slavery.

As devoted yogis prepare to mark International Yoga Day, we speak to Heather Mason from the Yoga in Healthcare Alliance, which trains people to use yoga to prevent health conditions and we ask the Indian cultural minister for the UK, Amish Tripathi, how he feels about yoga being detached from its spiritual roots. 

Plus an Anglican church leader in Rwanda responds to his English counterparts' attack on the UK Government's new asylum policy. 
 
Presented by Edward Stourton
Produced by Rebecca Maxted and Julia Paul
Editor: Helen Grady

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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The Church of England and slavery; Ukrainian military chaplains; Should the Lords Spiritual be scrapped?

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