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A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week

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Sunday: Sri Lanka Easter Bombings; University Term Names; Windermere Children

Sri Lanka Easter Bombings; University Term Names; Windermere Children

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday, Sri Lanka Easter Bombings; University Term Names; Windermere Children

Emily Buchanan with a look at the ethical and religious issues of the week.

Four years after the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka, questions remain over who was responsible. And how archaeology is helping to tell the story of the holocaust.

This week marks the fourth anniversary of the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka, when militants inspired by the Islamic State group targeted Catholic churches and hotels in a series of attacks.  269 people were killed and more than 500 were injured.  This year, alongside the grief and mourning at commemoration events, there is anger among survivors, human rights groups and the Catholic Church.  They accuse the government of not doing enough to investigate the attacks and hold those responsible to account.

They're a cornerstone of life at Oxford University, the three academic terms: Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity.  At Cambridge, it's Michaelmas, Lent and Easter. Other universities have also given their terms traditional Christian names.  But Swansea University has just become the latest to rename its terms using secular names instead.  They believe the old Christian labels no longer resonate with their students.  But it's caused a backlash, with some arguing that there's nothing wrong with recognising Christian roots.  We hear the arguments for and against switching to secular names.   

Part of the history of the holocaust has been rediscovered in the Lake District, where a group of Jewish children stayed to recuperate after being freed from Nazi concentration camps in 1945.  Archaeologists from Staffordshire University have found everyday items, such as a tube of toothpaste, from the time when the young people known as the ‘Windermere Children’ stayed in the area.  One of the survivors shares his extraordinary story with us.  After being rescued from the Nazis, he described his new home in England as “paradise”.  

Producers:   Jonathan Hallewell and Louise Clarke
Presenter:   Emily Buchanan
Production co-ordinator:  David Baguley 
Editors: Tim Pemberton and Helen Grady

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Sri Lanka Easter Bombings; University Term Names; Windermere Children

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