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Sunday: Same Sex Marriage and the Church of England

22/01/2023

Same Sex Marriage and the Church of England

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday, Same Sex Marriage and the Church of England

Same Sex Marriage and the Church of England; Hip Hop made me Muslim; ChatGPT sermons.

It's been a tough week for the Church of England. The announcement that same sex marriages will remain banned in the Church though blessings for civil marriages of same sex couples would be allowed has been criticised by people on both sides of the debate. We hear from the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell who says he will take part in blessing services even though the Archbishop of Canterbury says he won't.

The story of Fr Isaac Achi who was burned alive by bandits in his home in Nigeria has reverberated around the world this week and raised the question - how dangerous is it to be a Christian in Northern Nigeria? William talks to Illia Djadi from the missionary charity Open Doors and Abuja based security analyst Dr Kabir Adamu.  

Music has the power to change a mood, but what about its ability to change your life? Ismael Lea South shares the story of how listening to Hip Hop in the 90s inspired him to convert to Islam. 

As part of our series on faith in prisons, William speaks to Rachel Treweek, Bishop to Prisons in England and Wales, who believes that the majority of female prisoners shouldn’t actually be locked up.

And it's robots v rabbis as we try out a new development in AI technology called Chat GPT that can be used to write sermons and prayers.

Producers: Catherine Murray & Jill Collins
Production co-ordinator: Liz Poole
Editors: Helen Grady and Tim Pemberton

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