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Religion & Ethics

A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week

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Sunday: Iran strike, Soul Survivor, Vaisakhi manuscript

14/06/2020

Iran strike, Soul Survivor, Vaisakhi manuscript

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday, Iran strike, Soul Survivor, Vaisakhi manuscript

A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week, with William Crawley.

Hugo Bachega reports on Iran's strike, William Crawley discusses the Soul Survivor scandal with Amy Orr-Ewing, and the holy manuscript used for the first time in hundreds of years.

Two things mark out the significance of Iran's overnight retaliatory attack on Israel:  The scale of the attack and its directness.  This was the  first time Iran has targeted Israel directly from its own soil, rather than using proxies. The BBC's Middle east correspondent Hugo Bachega reports  from  Jerusalem.

Maori and South Pacific tribal chiefs have declared that whales are people and should have rights. It fits their religion, but it also makes economic sense. We hear from Mere Takoko, a Maori conservationist and Professor Ralph Chami, an economist. 

Thousands of Sikhs in Manchester have witnessed an extraordinary historic event as part of their annual Vaisakhi celebrations.  An early manuscript of their holiest book has been used in prayer for the first time in hundreds of years, having been kept in the city's John Rylands Library. It's been restored and now put to its sacred use.

The Soul Survivor scandal, involving spiritual abuse within a church, raises uncomfortable questions about how charismatic personalities can sometimes get away with it for years.  William Crawley hears the insights of the theologian Amy Orr-Ewing. 

New figures show that there are more than three thousand white male Muslims in prisons in England and Wales. We bring a former prisoner and Muslim leader and former  prison chaplain together, to explore the reasons behind the growing numbers converting to Islam in jail.

Presenter: William Crawley
Producers: Catherine Murray, Peter Everett & Sadie Bell
Editor: Jonathan Hallewell

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Iran strike, Soul Survivor, Vaisakhi manuscript

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