Heart and Soul

Mexico has become the most dangerous country in the world to be a Catholic priest. In the past 15 years, 50 were killed in narco-related violence. And the young men who enter the priesthood in the region of western Mexico known as Tierra Caliente, meaning "hot land", are at particular risk. They will have to work in drug cartel-controlled communities, may have gang leaders or members in their congregations and will struggle with the ethical and theological dilemmas of publicly condemning these men’s actions at the risk of being murdered for speaking out. Even baptisms or delivering communion or receiving donations can prove extremely threatening: to refuse them any of the most sacred rituals of the Church is to defy the cartels. And few live to tell the tale having refused to bend to the cartels’ demands.

The BBC’s Mexico Correspondent, Will Grant travels to Tierra Caliente to meet a group of seminarians. In recent years, their director was attacked and almost killed. Members of a drug cartel entered their seminary, dragged off one of their colleagues and murdered him in the surrounding countryside. And the grave to one of their instructors is nestled by the chapel. All reminders, if any were needed, that these young men are about to join the world’s most dangerous priesthood. How are they prepared? Do they appreciate just what they are letting themselves in for? And how will they tackle the thorny ethical and spiritual questions which lie ahead as priests?

Come with us! Heart and Soul is moving and we would love it if you can join us. You can now find all our episodes on The Documentary, the home of original, global storytelling, from the BBC World Service. Search for The Documentary, wherever you found this podcast, and don’t forget to subscribe or follow.

Gwen was brought up as a strict evangelical Christian. She was taught that women needed to control the way they dressed and acted to control the behaviour of men. When she was sexually abused, she believed it was her fault. But when she first stepped into a nudist community, she felt free. She was naked, with other naked people, and her nakedness was not making other people molest her. She learnt that her body was not something she had to hide. The BBC’s Josie Le Vay visits Gwen at her home in a nudist community in Florida, USA, as she reconciles with the harm purity culture has caused herself, and those she taught it to.

We meet Gwen’s neighbour, Michael, a retired chaplain and pastor, who runs nude bible reading sessions from his home and attends the nearby Garden of Eden church, which celebrates the ‘joy and innocence of Christian naturism’. And we hear how those who practise many of the evangelical teachings Gwen grew up with respond to her new nudist lifestyle; and her Christian friends who believe the Bible justifies their way of life.

Producer: Michael Gallagher Presenter: Josie Le Vay Editor: Helen Grady Production co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno

Come with us! Heart and Soul is moving and we would love it if you can join us. You can now find all our episodes on The Documentary, the home of original, global storytelling, from the BBC World Service. Search for The Documentary, wherever you found this podcast, and don’t forget to subscribe or follow.

It took Salimata Sylla three hours to get to the away fixture she was due to play with her basketball team mates from the Parisian suburb of Aubervilliers. But it was only a few minutes before the match started that she learned she was going to sit the game out on the bench.

Despite playing for more than 10 years in the French Championship, the federation that controls her sport decided to apply the rule that forbids female basketball players from wearing the hijab.

Her coach describes her as the backbone of the team and an ambassador for the sport. She has been a face of basketball for many big brands on social media. And the hijab she wears is sold by mainstream sportswear manufacturers.

Salimata’s ban is the latest in country where the right to wear a hijab has long divided opinion. But in her case, it raises an interesting dilemma for France.

While domestic sporting federations enforce their ban on the hijab, their international counterparts have no such ban in place. So what will happen, Salimata wonders, when the Olympics come to Paris next year?

Reporter Claire Jones goes to Paris to meet Salimata to find out how she can resolve her wish to express her Muslim faith by wearing a hijab with her desire to play the sport she loves.

Presenter: Claire Jones Location Producer: Léontine Gallois Producer: Helen Lee and Rob Cave Production co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno

The organ has always been a vehicle for truly cosmic ideas - for atheists and believers alike. Acclaimed Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna explores the idea that the instrument is simply a vehicle for Christian worship digging deeper into how the organ conveys ideas of the infinite and the microscopic, the existential and the personal, of celebration, grief and joy.

Presenter: Iveta Apkalna Producer: Steven Rajam An Overcoat Media production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Pipe organ by Nikolaus Moll in the Innsbruck Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of St. James in Innsbruck, Austria. Credit: Getty Images)

When we think of division in the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict normally comes straight to mind. But there’s a new and dangerous tension in Israel – between its own Jewish people. The country now has its most right-wing government for decades, with controversial figures who’ve advocated violence and divisive policies. There’s also a plan to change the judicial system to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a small number of government figures vast control. Its critics say Israel is in danger of becoming a ‘democratic dictatorship’. This political shift is now pitting ordinary Israeli Jews against each other. The ultra-orthodox Haredim and their conservative supporters are at odds with more liberal elements of society. Former Defence Minister Benny Gantz – a powerful figure in the former government – has even raised the spectre of a civil war in Israel, telling the new politicians that they’ll be responsible if a new conflict breaks out. As efforts are made to maintain peace and hold the country together, the BBC’s Middle East Correspondent Yolande Knell meets two rabbis who are odds with one another in the heart of Jerusalem. Surrounded by the religious iconography that should symbolise the links between them, she explores why the two ends of the spectrum now find themselves so far apart. And she tries to persuade them to come together over a meal to find out if there’s any way to bridge the gaping political and theological differences in their thinking. But will they be willing to meet?

Presenter: Yolande Knell Producer: Rajeev Gupta Editor: Helen Grady Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno

Almost 10 years ago, Peter MacJob’s life changed forever. Born and raised a devout Christian like so many of his fellow Nigerians, he fell out of love with the Church and discovered the traditional Yoruba religion of his ancestors. Other Africans appear to be doing the same thing, both on the continent and throughout the diaspora. But as Peter has found, it is not always easy to convert: Ifá, or Isese, involves effigies, divination, and making offerings to a range of deities, up to and including animal sacrifice.

Those not initiated into the faith often see it as superstitious and even sinister. Devotees say that outsiders misunderstand, and complain that Ifá is pejoratively depicted as devil worship. It is perhaps little wonder that after Peter adopted Ifá, he chose not to tell his family about it. But now he has decided it is time to come clean, taking a trip back to Nigeria to confront childhood friends and loved ones, in the hope that they will give their blessing.

Presenter: Peter MacJob Producer: Michael Gallagher Strand producer: Rajeev Gupta Production co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno Editor: Helen Grady

Aged four, Mary was playing in her parents’ front yard, when she was grabbed by “the government people” and taken to a Catholic boarding school to be turned into a Christian. She’s just one of thousands of Native Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes and put into boarding schools from the 1800s right up to the 1970s. According to a US government report, the purpose of these schools was to strip indigenous people of their spiritual beliefs, culture and land. A government investigation also found that physical, emotional and sexual abuse was “rampant”. Indigenous Americans’ spiritual beliefs are now experiencing a renaissance, but is this revival enough to enable Mary and her friends heal from a childhood of trauma in America’s residential schools?

Presenter: Leana Hosea Producer: Leana Hosea with Rajeev Gupta Production co-ordinator: Nancy Bennie Editor: Helen Grady

When Mubarak Bala posts criticism of Islam on social media, it sparks a landmark legal case and leaves him facing 24 years in jail. Raised in a Muslim family, Mubarak is the son of an Islamic scholar in the religiously conservative Kano state. But in 2014, Mubarak renounces Islam and later becomes president of Nigeria’s Humanist Association, gaining a reputation as an outspoken critic of religion.

In 2020, a group of Muslim lawyers call for him to be tried for offences related to blasphemy over social media posts which they say insult the Prophet Muhammad and the religion of Islam. With access to Mubarak’s wife and lawyers, the BBC’s Yemisi Adegoke follows his case through the Nigerian court system, finding out what it tells us about freedom of belief in a country where religious tensions run deep. She talks to other Nigerian atheists as they follow Mubarak’s case and wrestle with the challenges of being open about their beliefs in a deeply religious society.

Presenter: Yemisi Adegoke Producers: Valeria Cardi and John Offord Production co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno Editor: Helen Grady

(Photo: Mubarak Bala speaking at Kaduna Book and Arts Festival in 2018, still from the film The Cost of Being an Atheist)

In July 2000 Floyd Bledsoe was convicted of the murder of his 14-year-old sister-in-law in the small Kansas town of Oskaloosa. His older brother Tom had originally confessed to the killing, but later changed his story, accusing Floyd of the crime.

A committed Christian, Floyd spent the next 15 years fighting his conviction, and wrestling with the Bible’s teaching to forgive those who have done us wrong. Could he forgive Tom for what he had done? Or his parents, who had sided with one son over the other?

Mike Wooldridge speaks to Floyd about his ordeal and about his struggle to do the right thing by his faith. Mike also hears from a volunteer prison chaplain who helped Floyd resolve his dilemma, and from a family friend who stuck by Floyd when others in his own church turned their backs on him.

Producer: Mike Lanchin A CTVC production for the BBC World Service Archive material courtesy of the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World

(Photo: ​Floyd Bledsoe, 2015. Credit: Midwest Innocence Project)

**Contains graphic details of sexual violence against women and children** As a young boy, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege witnessed his father, a Pentecostal pastor, praying for a sick child. It made him want to help people who suffer – not as a pastor, despite his own Christian faith, but as a doctor.

Fast forward to 1999, and Denis Mukwege founded Panzi hospital in Bukavu, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the Rwandan border. There, over the last 20 years, he has treated tens of thousands of women with gynaecological trauma, caused by the extreme sexual violence which has become a weapon of war in this volatile part of the world. Rich in coveted mineral resources, the area is the scene of a large-scale conflict involving countless armed rebel groups.

But Dr Mukwege was not just helping women; he was also speaking out against the cruelty of this conflict. This led to several attempts on his life. Fearing for his family, Denis Mukwege went into exile, but the women who saw him as their only hope launched a big campaign to persuade him to return.

Mike Wooldridge talks to Denis Mukwege about his life’s work and how his Christian faith has motivated him to disregard his own safety and bring new hope to women who, without his help, would be looking ahead to a life of ostracism and pain. If you have been affected by sexual abuse or violence, details of help and support in the UK is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Producer: Lore Wolfson Windemuth A CTVC production for the BBC World Service

(Photo: Dr Mukwege. Credit: Alexis Huguet/Panzi Foundation)

The Ásatrú faith is Iceland's fastest growing religion. Drawing on Norse mythology, it is a pagan faith open to all. But in recent years it has been hijacked by white supremacists in other countries. We follow High Priest, Hilmar Hilmarsson, as he attempts to tackle this critical challenge and protect his faith’s true origins. When white supremacists marched through Charlottesville in 2017, Hilmar looked on from Reykjavik. It was not just their racist message that worried him. It was the fact their banners bore the symbols of his faith such as Thor's hammer. Ásatrú, according to Hilmar, emphasises respect and tolerance, reviving polytheistic traditions and the worship of gods and goddesses from Iceland’s pre-Christian past. Thanks to his position and the fact he has become so well respected both inside and beyond Iceland, Hilmar has an authority recognised by the Icelandic state to conduct weddings and funerals and lead the rituals or "blots" that the group practise to mark the passing year - a 21st Century reimagining of how pre-Christian Norse people celebrated their seasons. We join him as the community gather around him and prepare for the welcoming of the winter blot. But Hilmar has also received disturbing messages and even death threats from far- right pagans in the US, Germany and Canada who do not agree with his inclusive belief system and his support for gay marriage and LGBTQ rights. We follow him as he looks forward to the opening of the group’s first temple while under pressure to distance the religion from white supremacy.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon A Falling Tree production for BBC World Service

(Photo: High Priest Hilmar Hilmarsson. Credit: Gavin Haines)

In this special programme to mark the death of Pope Benedict XVI, Colm Flynn explores the life story of the gentle German academic who became the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics all over the world.

The 95-year old Pope Emeritus died at the Vatican on New Year’s Eve 2022. He will perhaps be best remembered as the first Pope to retire in 600 years. But his life and legacy is much more complicated and varied, with a papacy filled with both majestic spiritual moments and embarrassing and hurtful blunders.

Benedict led the Catholic Church for fewer than eight years but is considered by many to be one of the most influential religious leaders of modern times. Born Joseph Ratzinger in rural Bavaria, he has a deeply religious upbringing and trained for the priesthood along with his brother. Before becoming a bishop, he was a professor of theology, teaching in several universities. He embraced the spirit of change that blew through the Catholic Church in the 1960s, gaining a reputation as a progressive at the Second Vatican Council. But in later life, as head of the Catholic Church’s doctrinal watchdog, he defended Catholic teaching fearlessly, even earning the nickname “God’s Rottweiler”.

As Pope, Benedict spoke out against what he called "the dictatorship of relativism", and produced deeply moving spiritual writings, drawing many young people to the Catholic faith. His papal visits always draw huge crowds and those who met him describe a gentle, kind and self-effacing man. His Papacy was overshadowed by the breaking scandals of decades of sexual abuse in the Church. And while Pope Benedict introduced ground-breaking reforms to tackle abuse, campaigners for survivors say he failed to deal with hundreds of cases.

Presenter/producer: Colm Flynn Editor: Helen Grady

Image: Pope Benedict XVI, pictured in 2020 (Credit: Leon Neal/PA)

Nepal has one of fastest growing Christian communities in the world. Helping to drive the growth are South Korean missionaries like Pang Chang-in and his wife Lee Jeong-hee. The couple’s work spreading the word of Jesus is risky. Those found guilty of converting people face up to five years in jail in Nepal.

The BBC’s Asia editor Rebecca Henschke and Korean journalist Kevin Kim follow the couple as they open new churches and teach the next generation of Nepali Christian leaders. This is a rare insight into an organised and increasingly controversial Korean mission, spreading the Christian faith high in the Himalayans. Presented by: Rebecca Henschke Produced with: Kevin Kim, Rajan Parajuli, Rama Parajuli and Rajeev Gupta

(Photo: Pang and his wife)

Thich Nhat Hanh is known as the father of mindfulness. The Vietnamese monk shared Buddhist teaching with the world, and launched a global spiritual movement. But a year on from his death, Thich Nhat Hanh remains a controversial figure in his home country of Vietnam.

During his lifetime, he built Plum Village monasteries and meditation centres across the globe – but he couldn’t do it in his home country. His anti-war activism angered the authorities in south Vietnam, and he spent most of his life in exile. Even today, Plum Village is still not allowed to establish a formal presence in Vietnam.

To find out about his life and the enduring appeal of his writings, Grace Tsoi goes to Thailand, where many of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Vietnamese followers have gathered to keep his teachings alive. As social media introduces a new generation to the Zen master, will the Vietnamese government finally embrace his full legacy?

Presenter: Grace Tsoi Producers: Grace Tsoi and Tran Vo Editors: Helen Grady and Giang Nguyen

Fr Leo Patalinghug is not your typical priest. In one hand he holds a cross, in the other a cooking spatula. With his own international TV show, YouTube channel and cookbooks, this apron-wearing minister is on a mission – to share his faith through food. Growing up on an island in the Philippines, where money was tight, Leo and his family sometimes struggled to put food on the table. It was after moving to the United States that they got a start in life and, from a young age, Leo was always passionate about cooking. But his other great passion in life was his Catholic faith. And when he finally made the decision to enter religious life and become a priest, he was determined to use cooking to tell people about Christ. As he puts it: “I want to change hearts and minds by going through your stomach.” Presenter Colm Flynn travels to Baltimore in the US to meet Fr Leo in his kitchen and at the food van where he and a team of volunteers feed the homeless of their hometown. He explains how he believes Jesus was a foodie, and how a good meal, made with love, can nourish our souls as well as our bodies.

Iran has seen months of protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who was detained by the country's ‘morality police’ (Gasht-e Ershad) on 16 September, three days after her arrest in Tehran. As women-led protests intensify, with calls for freedom against strict dress codes and mandatory hijab, and demands for regime change, Heart and Soul brings together three Iranian women from different walks of life. The BBC’s Faranak Amidi leads the conversation which explores religion, personal faith and the struggle for independence from state-controls on religious practices.

Image: An Iranian flag (Credit: Jasmin Merdan/Getty Images)

For centuries, Poland was home to millions of Jews in the heart of Europe. Decades after the horrors of the Holocaust, questions of lost identity have arisen. What is it like to be a third-generation Jew in present-day Poland? We meet Małgorzata, who was born into a Jewish family in the late 1980s. She says being a Jew in Poland today means people think you are neither truly Jewish, nor Polish. She is just one of millions of third-generation Jewish people across Central Europe attempting to make sense of an identity that cannot be changed, reversed or erased.

Producer: Bartosz Panek Presenter: John Beauchamp A Free Range and Overcoat Media Co-production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Małgorzata, with kind permission)

Alvaro Enciso is a Vietnam veteran, and an artist. He arrived in the US from Colombia in his 20s, and now lives in Tucson, on the south-eastern edge of the unforgiving Sonoran Desert. If you’re a migrant, this is one of the deadliest places to cross the border from Mexico into the United States. Every Tuesday, Alvaro does something extraordinary. Together with a group of volunteers, a GPS, cement and shovels, he journeys off-road through the dust and the cacti. He has a map provided by the County’s Medical Examiner. On it, there are thousands of red spots - the locations where human remains have been found over the last two decades. When he arrives at one of them, Alvaro and his team dig a deep hole, fill it with cement, and place a decorated wooden cross in that spot... A testament to a life lost, and a visual remembrance of someone’s struggle to fulfil their human potential.

So far, Alvaro Enciso has placed 1300 crosses in the Sonoran Desert. At first, he didn’t want to use a Christian symbol, but then he started to look more deeply at the history of the cross. He researched how crucifixion made death as painful as possible in Roman times, so that those who were crucified died in excruciating circumstances with no access to food or water. Alvaro Enciso saw a parallel with the way migrants expire on their journey north. For Heart and Soul, Linda Pressly journeys into the Sonoran Desert with Alvaro and his team.

Producer: Tim Mansel and Linda Pressley

Native American Anishinaabe people have been living around the Great Lakes since time immemorial, following spiritual beliefs centred around the water. But they say their way of life is being threatened by an oil pipeline sitting on the bed of the Straits of Mackinac, a volatile waterway connecting two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The Line 5 pipeline has been there for 69 years, but only came to public attention after a major oil spill in Michigan led to its discovery. The company that owns the pipeline insist it is safe. But its location is central to the Anishinaabe people’s creation story, positioned as it is in the heart of North America, or Turtle Island as the Anishinaabe call it. They believe they have a sacred oath with The Creator to protect the Great Lakes, which contain a fifth of the world’s fresh surface water. The BBC’s Leana Hosea meets some of the tribes affected in their Michigan reservations and follows their fight to protect their faith and traditions in modern America.

Photo Credit: Gerardo Reyes

Artist Annie Nicholson's life and work have been shaped by loss after her family were killed in a helicopter crash in New York City in 2011. The grief was overwhelming, but slowly she found a way to live her creative practise.

During the pandemic, as people around the world were coming to terms with their own losses, Annie bought an old ice cream van and set off - serving up mint choc chip and vanilla scoops- and inviting people to talk about big uncomfortable emotions.

Now she is taking the project to New York, to start new conversations over ice cream, and where she will mark the anniversary of her family's death, in this documentary about grief, but above all, survival.

(Photo: Annie Nicholson standing in front of her repurposed ice cream van. Credit: Tara Darby)

Varanasi is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world and considered the spiritual capital of India. While also holy to Buddhists, Jains and many other sects, it is the most sacred city in Hinduism. Said to have been founded by Lord Shiva, for centuries Hindus have made the pilgrimage from all over the world to the banks of the Ganges River. For many of these pilgrims, they know this will be their last mortal journey. In Hindu tradition it is said that to die in Varanasi, one may attain Moksha – an end to the continual cycle of rebirth, and a place in paradise.

These are the stories of those intimately involved in the unique culture of spirituality, death and funerals in the city. We hear from the manager of Mukti Bhawan, one of the so-called Death Hotels which host pilgrims in their final days on earth, alongside personal family accounts of those who have chosen this path and the stories of those who jobs are to cremate the roughly 100 bodies per day at the ancient Burning Ghats, before their remains enter the holy river to pass into the afterlife.

(Photo: Panoramic view across the holy river Ganges on Munshi Ghat in the suburb of Godowlia. Credit: Frank Bienewald/Getty Images)

By the time Richard Turner was in his mid-30s, he’d given away nearly all of his money to a church. Everything he held dear had been stripped bare by a religious community in the UK which claimed to have his best interests at heart. It took him years to piece together how this could have happened. It was only in recovery that he was diagnosed with autism, which he believes made him more susceptible to coercive control by a group he now regards as a cult.

For Heart and Soul, Richard takes us on his journey of self-discovery, sharing his faith experiences with other ‘cult survivors’, including one US man with Asperger’s Syndrome who has spent most of his adult life ‘cult-hopping’. How common are these extraordinary stories across the world? With very little academic research available, Richard is part of a growing movement working to understand the link between neurodivergence and cults.

(Image: Group Of People Against Blurred Background. Credit: Getty Images / Emmanuel Lavigne / EyeEm)

The English city of Leicester hosts the largest Diwali celebrations outside India. More than 40,000 people gather every year to see the Diwali lights switch on in Belgrave Road. People of all faiths and none attend, but for Leicester’s Hindus, the festivities are an important way of practising their faith and honouring their culture. In Hinduism, Diwali celebrates Lord Rama’s victory over the demon Ravana and Hindus observe it through prayer and by lighting up their houses with clay pot lamps. Home to thousands of Hindus who migrated from India and East Africa, Leicester is often held up as a shining example of how different religious communities can live together in harmony. But in recent weeks, tensions between the city’s well-established Hindu and Muslim population have erupted into street violence. Hindu temples were attacked while Muslims say right wing Hindu nationalism is seeping into the city from abroad. Some Hindus fear they won’t be able to celebrate Diwali in the same way this year. So could Leicester’s huge festivities be thrown off course?

Rajeev Gupta goes to Leicester to find out, uncovering an intense debate among the city’s Hindus about how to respond to inter-religious tensions and how best to express their faith. A new generation wants to express and defend their beliefs more confidently than the first generations who arrived in the city. Others argue that identity politics are pulling people away from true Hindu values. Rajeev finds out what scripture has to say about social cohesion and how believers are drawing on it to help restore peace to the vibrant city.

Patrick van der Vorst was a tech multi-millionaire, and had been the head auctioneer at the world famous Sotheby's auction house in London selling tens of millions of pounds worth of art including the contents of Elton John's house. Then he went through what he called "a seismic change" in his life. Turning his back on money, fame and success to pursue something he feels is deeper and more meaningful. "I gave up the home I live in, the bed I sleep in, the food I eat. I had to give up my dog. I had to go back to studying again!'.

Originally from Belgium where he practised law, he then moved to the UK and pursued life as an entrepreneur. It was during his time dealing with art, that he felt drawn to Christian art and he started thinking about life's bigger questions. Eventually he shocked his friends and colleagues when he announced that he would be giving up business and devoting his life to the priesthood. And so Patrick left for the simplicity of the seminary in Rome.

In this Heart and Soul on the BBC World Service we'll meet Patrick in Rome to hear his story, and how he wants to start contemporary Christian art tours in Rome after he's ordained as a priest.

Christianity and Hip Hop have a long and complex relationship. From Kanye’s Jesus Walks to the development of Christian Hip Hop, artists rapping about their faith has caused controversy in a genre that’s known for its violent oversexualised lyrics.

But who’s rapping about God right now and is anyone claiming the title of Christian rapper?

Swarzy Macaly, a BBC 1Xtra presenter, is a Christian who works within the mainstream music world, playing secular music. She loves it when she hears people share their faith in their music, like the pioneers of Christian Hip Hop like Lecrae and Guvna B did.

But in recent years, artists beyond the Christian Hip Hop world have been releasing ‘gospel’ filled music like Kanye West and Stormzy, blurring the lines between religious and secular music. Swarzy wants to know if that’s having an impact on the music Christian artists make, and if they feel pressure to dilute explicit faith messages in their songs to reach a wider audience. Is the label ‘Christian rapper’ too restrictive for artists who want their music to go further than the church?

To find out more, Swarzy meets Still Shadey and Jo Joey, young Christian rappers making popular drill music with a religious message; Deyah and Happi who’ve moved beyond the ‘Christian’ artist label, and Limoblaze the artist behind viral TikTok hit Jireh, to hear what it’s like producing music with a Christian message, and how receptive the music industry is to the growing trend of faith filled music.

Produced by Miriam Williamson for the BBC World Service

(Image Credit: Chinyere Anosike)

Twenty-one-year-old journalism graduate, Saskia Masaun has been attending meditation, mediumship and healing classes at the Spiritualists National Union (SNU) Church in Wolverhampton, UK, since she was 16, alongside her spiritualist mother.

Saskia explains how her faith, which includes connecting with the spirit world through mediums and a seven principle philosophy described as a ‘guideline for life’, is helping her navigate her journey as she sets out on her career. She speaks to Spiritualist leaders and attends the medium’s training college, where recruits are taught the art of communicating with the dead.

She talks to Karin Huber, a full time medium in Germany, and Asha, a healer who was brought up as a Hindu in the British multicultural city where they live. From its beginnings, founded in the 1840s in the US, spiritualism has established itself in the UK through its teachings on mediumship, healing and a philosophy which centres the soul through developing self-awareness.

Presenter: Saskia Masaun Producer: Dylan Hayward and Nina Robinson

There are hundreds of verses in the Quran calling on Muslims to protect the environment. Islam teaches that everyone is a custodian of nature and should treat the natural environment with respect and care. Sustainability has been part of the faith from the beginning. How are ordinary Muslims around the globe responding to that call?

Reporter Zubeida Malik hears about the experiences of a local imam from Indonesia trying to persuade his community to help redress the effects of climate change and she looks at how religious leaders in Zanzibar successfully persuaded fishermen to change their age-old customs.

Zubeida also visits Europe’s first eco-Mosque in Cambridge, England, a beacon of modern Islamic environmentalism, and eavesdrops on British Muslim schoolgirls learning to interpret their faith and the natural world.

(Photo: View of the famous Cambridge Central Mosque design. Credit: Edward Crawford/Getty Images)

Vishva Samani meets young Hindus in the diaspora who believe their faith is being misunderstood and who speak out against what they say is ‘Hinduphobia’. While some academics claim the term is used to silence dissent, online hate directed towards the Hindu community has increased.

Once Afghanistan’s Sikh population numbered more than 100,000 in the 1970's. Today, it’s estimated around only 100 Sikhs remain, following the return to Taliban rule. The BBC’s Kawoon Khamoosh speaks to those who have been forced to leave in recent years.

Producer: Nina Robinson

Evangelical Christian women of colour were the kingmakers in Brazil’s last presidential election. In May, a corruption conviction that barred the former left wing President from running was quashed on a technicality. And the stage is now set for an epic election showdown where experts say it’s women of colour who will have the deciding vote. But after four years in power, will they turn a blind eye to Jair Bolsonaro’s comments that some consider misogynistic and racist? In ‘The Bible, Black women and Brazil’, Lebo Diseko travels to Brazil for Heart and Soul from the BBC World Service, to find out if their vote may deliver the President his second victory.

In February 1983, a group of 42 Shia devotees left a quiet village in the Chakwal district of Pakistan and embarked on an epic journey to Karbala in Iraq. This was no ordinary pilgrimage but had been ordained by Mahdi, the last spiritual leader or Imam of Shia faith. His instructions were communicated to the faithful in miraculous messages channeled through an 18 year old woman.

The caravan left in two trucks on the 1300 kilometre journey to the port city of Karachi where they were to cross the Arabian Sea for Iraq. What happened next is a story of extreme sacrifice in the name of the Shia Islamic faith and would result in the deaths of 18 men, women and children.

In this programme reporter Shumaila Jaffery returns to their village before she travels to Hawkes Bay to discover what really happened on that moonlit night four decades ago. She tracks down survivors to explore if what the sacrifice of the devoted may tell us about Shia Islam today, asks; ‘could something like this ever happen again’?

Writer and poet Nikita Gill and sitar virtuoso and composer Anoushka Shankar are friends and collaborators whose life stories share many parallels. In this programme, recorded sitting with tea and doughnuts on the floor of a child’s bedroom, they share an intimate conversation about a moment of spiritual awakening.

Nikita reflects on the idea that awakenings or epiphanies often follow a challenging or traumatic phase of life. She recalls a series of personal experiences which compelled her to take a train north and walk all through the night and into dawn. She describes how she returned from this experience a changed person.

Anoushka describes how a build up of stressful experiences pushed her to a breaking point which also became a spiritual calling.

Together the women reflect on the idea that these moments are a profound part of the story arc of our lives, forcing us to confront our deepest values and setting us on a new path. They share how the experience led to new wisdoms and spiritual practices.

Prodiucer: Sarah Cuddon ​A Falling Tree production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Anoushka Shankar (L). Credit: Laura Lewis. (R) Nikita Gill. Credit: Peace Ofure)

In 2007 Christian and Muslim leaders in Norway controversially recognised for the first time in modern history, the right to convert between the two faiths without harassment or impediment. They also called for all missionary work to be conducted “without force or manipulation".

The “Joint declaration on the freedom of religion and the right to conversion” was welcomed as an important contribution to inter-faith dialogue in the Scandinavian nation. But it was also seen by some Muslims as recognizing the right to abandon Islam, which is considered apostasy and punishable as a criminal offense in many Muslim countries. It was similarly criticised by some of Norway’s evangelical churches, which saw it as disavowing their central missionary role.

Reporter Maddy Savage travels to Norway to hear the stories of some of those who’ve chosen to convert from one of the two faiths to the other; and to ask whether the joint declaration played any role in their life changing decisions.

CERN, in Geneva, is the most complex scientific experiment in the world. It has just restarted operating after a break, and is celebrating the 10th anniversary of detecting the Higgs Boson, a particle that is the final piece in the jigsaw of the standard model of physics. It explains how particles acquire mass. Without mass, there would be no matter and we wouldn’t be here.

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN was designed to find this Higgs boson, and smashes particles at almost the speed of light in a tunnel deep underground to discover new particles. It attempts to explain how the Big Bang worked. We go underground to visit one of the enormous detectors at the famous Large Hadron Collider and talk to young scientists from different parts of all the world who, despite looking for scientific answers to how the universe began, still believe devoutly in a creator.

Among the other contributors are the designer of the LHC itself, Lyn Evans; physicists with and without faith who have been at CERN from the early days; a scientist who studies anti-matter and other members of CERN staff, old and new. Faith in Science is presented by Elin Rhys, a scientist raised as a Baptist, who struggles with not knowing the answer to what was there before The Big Bang and tries to discover how scientists with a faith square this with their research into why we exist.

(Image: Elin Rhys and Dr Orlando Villalobos Baillie stand in front of the Alice Experiment at CERN. Credit: Telesgop)

Fleeing from the war-torn Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, Afina Khadzynova is trying to reconnect to her Greek roots in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The ethnic Greek community has been in Mariupol since the 18th Century. Up until February of this year the city's Greeks had a vibrant cultural life, celebrating their language, traditions and religious rites, brutally cut short by the Russian invasion. Within weeks traditional Greek settlements were levelled and the city itself was besieged, leaving civilians to shelter in their basements without food, water, heat or mobile connection. Afina and her mother Olympiada managed to escape after two weeks under siege, yet her brother and nieces still remain in the occupied city. She began communicating with reporter Natalia Golysheva Deis, sending voice notes that reflect her life in the city, and her transformation into a refugee. A self-proclaimed non-believer, when the war came she started to pray to an old Greek icon to shield her from shelling. Now in Cyprus, she meets Natalia Deis around orthodox Easter as she settles into her new life away from her beloved home. Producer/presnter: Natalia Golysheva Deis A Whistledown production for BBC World Service Title song "Iнша Весна"/Another Spring, courtesy of Vitaly Kozlovsky and team (Photo: Azov Greeks' cultural festival Megha Yurty in Mariupol, 2021. Credit: Mariupol Rada)

What are the consequences of the Church of England's historic slave plantations in Barbados today? Theologian Robert Beckford considers why and how the Church's missionary arm, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, got involved in the slavery business. He travels to Barbados to hear from a range of voices who tell the story of how in 1710, the Church turned the Codrington Plantation into a missionary experiment. The original mission failed but later generations did eventually adopt the Anglican faith. However, spurred by the country becoming a republic, some are now questioning the Church's historic role in slavery. For some, it has turned them away from Christianity; for others, there is a need to decolonise or Africanise Anglican Christianity in Barbados. They say the religion's only hope of survival on the island is to make it relevant to the black majority populace. Through the voices of Bajan Anglican worshipers, Robert interrogates what the future of the Church now looks like in terms of practice and governance in Barbados.

Presenter: Robert Beckford Producer: Rajeev Gupta

We explore the interplay of faith, spirituality and LGBTQ+ identity in this special episode for Pride Month 2022. We hear three fascinating cross-cultural and religious conversations between people who are also LGBTQ+. Furgie was raised a Muslim as a child in Pakistan. He speaks to Sukhdeep, a gay Sikh man in India. Abby Stein left her strict Hasidic Jewish community and transitioned but she is still very much Jewish. Abby talks to Claire who is a 73-year-old trans woman from the UK. Finally two African queer women explore their relationship with religion - one as a Christian and the other as Muslim growing up in Kenya. Producer: Nina Robinson and Josie LeVay

(Image: A rainbow flag seen flying during a Pride March in New York, USA, 2021. Credit: Erik McGregor via Getty Images)

Raees Khan explores the history, influence and enduring legacy of Qawwali music, both within, as well as outside of the Islamic World. From its earliest origins in the writings of Sufi Saints, to its spread throughout South Asia we look at how the mystical and devotional artform spread throughout the Indian Sub-continent and attracted millions to the religion of Islam. A deeply personal journey, Raees reminisces about his first introduction to Qawwali as a young boy and how the captivating voice of one man, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, changed him forever. Along the way, we meet Tahir Qawaal, the lead vocalist in an all-Caucasian Qawwali group who spent years in Pakistan and India learning from the true masters. Tahseen Sakina explains how she feels she has been accepted as one of the only female qawaals and Abi Sampa, Rushil and Amrit Dhuffer, the members of The Orchestral Qawwali Project, tell us about introducing qawwali to a whole new audience.

Presenter: Raees Khan Producer: Talat-Farooq Awan Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta

(Photo: Group Fana Fi Allah and their lead singer Tahir Qawwal performing. Credit: Tahir Qawwal)

When ISIS swept into Mosul in June 2014, the organisation immediately began a campaign to wipe out the most important part of the northern Iraqi city’s unique heritage - its a multi-sectarian culture. Mosul was home to ancient and modern Christian communities, Yazidis, Shia and Sunni Muslims, and at one time, Jews.

Throughout the period of ISIS occupation Omar Mohammad, a history lecturer at Mosul University, risked his life daily to get news of the city out to the world via the internet. His Mosul Eye blog became essential reading. Now living in exile in Europe, Omar de Mosul, as he is known, is reconstructing the history ISIS tried and failed to wipe out, including the history of the city’s Jewish community.

Presenter Michael Goldfarb spends time with Omar as he collects oral histories from the remaining Jews who were born and grew up in the city. Most Jews left the city in the early 1950s in the upheaval following the establishment of Israel. He also speaks with Rabbi Carlos Huerta, retired US army chaplain, who spent the first year after the US overthrew Saddam Hussein in Mosul with the 101st Airborne. He had no idea about the rich Jewish history of the place and spent much of his time investigating it.

Presenter: Michael Goldfarb Producer: Julia Hayball

(Photo: The dilapidated Sasson Synagogue in Iraq's northern city of Mosul destroyed by Jihadists. Credit: by Zaid aL-Obeidi/AFP/Getty Images)

A Certain Height production for BBC World Service

BBC Faith and Ethics reporter Claire Jones has been granted exclusive access on board British warship HMS Northumberland while on deployment to the North Sea. As Russian troops continue to invade Ukraine, Claire explores faith on a warship, and whether armed forces personnel can ‘find their faith’ in times of trouble or unrest.

The military chaplain onboard the warship is Reverend Dr Louisa Pittman, one of three female chaplains in the Royal Navy. She caters for all faiths, never carries a weapon, and holds no rank so the captain or a junior rating can speak freely. Claire follows her as she carries out her duties and hears from sailors onboard about what their faith means to them in times of conflict.

In traditional Maasai culture one of the central figures of the community is the laibon. A laibon is a person who has been gifted with the power to see the future. They are not really a fortune teller and they are certainly not a witch doctor. They are more like a seer, but some also have the power to cure illnesses. A laibon is the one who advises the community as a whole on the best course of action to take in a given situation. For example, they can use their powers to say where the community’s cattle should be taken in order to find better grazing when there’s a drought. They are the ones who can pronounce when the time is right for important ceremonies. Today hardly any laibon remain.

There is still one though. Called Mokompo, he is today an elderly man who lives in one of the remotest corners of Kenya, far from towns, villages, and surfaced roads. Although very few Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania have ever met him, he continues to command huge respect. In this programme journalist Stuart Butler travels to Kenya to meet Mokompo and find out the spiritual secrets of one the country's last laibons.

(Photo: Mokompo. Credit: Stuart Butler)

According to some studies, journalists tend to be less religious than the general population. Some find solace in faith, but others begin to question it. So is it a profession which challenges your religious convictions, strengthens faith or attracts the faithless?

Atif Rashid, a Muslim, has started questioning his role as a journalist who believes in god. What place does religion have in the work that he does? To help him consider his future career steps he speaks to other journalists who have turned to god and others who have questioned their beliefs after seeing so much suffering as foreign correspondents. He meets other young Muslim reporters from the USA and the UAE and asks how their jobs impact their faith. And also catches up with two of his former editors, who quit their jobs to lead a more spiritual lifestyle, one as a vicar and another as a monk. Along the way, he considers whether he should follow the same path.

It is the number one question asked to anyone who is fasting for Ramadan, which began at the beginning of April. But what is Ramadan? Why Fast? And how do young Muslims manage Ramadan in their respective lives and work? Former teacher turned journalist Mehreen Baig goes in search of the answers by speaking to Muslims from different cultural backgrounds. She explores all aspects of fasting like abstaining from food, sex, music and of course…water.

(Photo: Iftar water. Credit: Getty Images)

For 500 years the Jews of Europe were kept apart, legally segregated in ghettos. Then at the dawn of the 19th Century Jews were emancipated and overnight what it meant to be a Jew in the world changed. Michael Goldfarb looks at how this historic event changed Jewish identity and the world in which Jews lived.

In interviews with prominent members of his community in three different countries - a Rabbi, a musician and educator, and an organiser for eastern Europe’s rebuilding Jewish communities, he explores the rapid changes of identity in a group of people who lived an essentially unchanged existence for more than half a millennium.

Emancipation changed the practice of Judaism and brought new ideas to the arts. It created controversy within the Jewish community about how far one should assimilate, and hatred outside the Jewish community among those who did not want Jews to assimilate at all. This reaction would create an ideology - anti-Semitism, which would ultimately lead to the near annihilation of Europe’s Jews.

(Photo: Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto rebellion. Creddit: Bernard Bisson/Sygma/Getty Images)

Easter and Passover are among the most important religious festivals of the year for Christians and Jews. But after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, how will the people of faith still left in the country celebrate? Is it possible to practise your belief when your country is at war?

In Odesa, an Orthodox priest is preparing to deliver an Easter service as best he can, even though half of his congregation has left. In the west of Ukraine, members of the Jewish Ukrainian Social Initiative are organising supplies for those elderly members of the faith left in Kyiv. And Radio Maria, a Christian radio station based in the capital, is still broadcasting to as much of the country as possible, and has seen listening figures soar. But will it be safe enough for them to broadcast mass at Easter?

Julia Paul speaks to people from the Orthodox, Jewish and Catholic faiths in Ukraine, to hear what it is like living, and worshipping, in a war zone.

For 16 years Sister Imelda Poole has been fighting in a war. This war has brought her to countries all over the world and just when she thinks she is making progress, the war game changes. Based in Albania, during the pandemic Sr Imelda noticed a new trend in human trafficking as people in poorer regions were struggling to pay their rent due to losing their jobs. It came in the form of a compromise from their landlord; offer your daughter for sex or to be entered into the sex industry to clear the debt. Many of these girls were very young. Some were left with no choice, others, thankfully were able to avail of emergency Covid funding. Stories like these are what Sr Imelda and her team at RENATE (Religious in Europe Networking Against Trafficking and Exploitation) are hearing every day and trying to do what they can to rescue woman from trafficking. They are at war with the complex and often vast trafficking gangs who move women out of countries like Albania and into Italy and other parts of Europe. Now, they operate online as much as offline, using the dark web as a marketplace for people. We meet Sr Imelda in Albania to hear how a small nun from England ended up doing this work. We talk to her about how her faith gives her the fire to keep fighting for these women, despite figures showing that the problem of trafficking is only getting worse. At a recent visit to the Vatican, Sr Imelda met with Pope Francis in a bid to highlight the plight of these women and show how the Church can help them. We meet some of those girls who have been rescued and given a new life to hear their stories. And we visit the poorer regions of Albania and hotspots where the gangs operate.

(Image: Sister Imelda Poole. Credit: BBC)

What does it mean to be a young Hindu in India today? The BBC’s South Asia correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan is in Delhi with a panel of young people aged between 18-27 who have travelled from across India to share what their faith means to them. They give their views on the caste system, Hindu nationalism, interfaith marriage, who is and is not a Hindu and the values and rituals that sustain them in their daily life.

Presenter: Rajini Vaidyanathan Producer: John Offord (Photo: Rajini Vaidyanathan with Delhi producer Shalu Yadav and panellists Ojas Sahasrabudhe, Kashish Kunden, Akshat Pal, Architi Batra, Disha Singh, Sankalp Dash, Swarangi Joshi, Akshay Anand and Siddhant Mohite)

The German Catholic church is one of the most influential and richest in the world. It is at the epicentre of Catholic theology, debates over the future of the church, and the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic faith all over the world. Revelations over priests accused of child sexual abuse being protected from consequences by church institutions continue to emerge, with a recent bombshell report even linking Pope Benedict with the scandal from his time in Germany. Many are losing confidence in the church's ability to adapt, and are leaving Catholicism for good.

Wolfgang Rothe is one of a new generation of Catholic thinkers; he does things from his Parish in Bavaria that for many are still unthinkable. He presides over blessings for same sex couples, gives women the opportunity to preach in his church, and advocates for an end to celibacy for priests. He has also become something of a celebrity on social media, bringing his campaign to a wider audience. He hopes that by keeping up with modern values, the Catholic Church can win back an increasingly disillusioned generation of German worshippers.

BBC correspondent Damien McGuinness heads to Munich to meet Wolfgang, exploring what his movement is trying to do, and the immense ructions its causing in the Catholic world, where the church's traditional values are still sacrosanct. As Wolfgang's mission gains momentum, it could tear the whole church in two.

Presenter: Damien McGuinness Producer: Robert Nicholson

A Whistledown production for the BBC World Service

Pav Gill, a Sikh lawyer living in Singapore, joined the Wirecard financial services empire in 2017. Wirecard had global ambitions to become a big player like Google or Amazon. But it did not take long until Pav realised that there were fraudulent business practises going on.

To investigate and examine the financial wrong-doing he had discovered, Pav commissioned an independent report - with damning results. Advised by his mother, Sokhbir Kaur, a woman of strong Sikh faith, Pav eventually decided to blow the whistle on Wirecard. At which point things turned very ugly.

In conversation with Mike Wooldridge, Pav Gill and Sokhbir Kaur recall what it took for them to do the right thing and expose Wirecard’s fraudulent practises and ultimately bring down the company – and what the cost was to their own lives.

Presenter: Mike Wooldridge Producer: Lore Windemuth

(Photo: Exterior view of the Wirecard AG building in Aschheim, Germany. Credit: Roland Krivec/DeFodi Images/Getty Images)

A CTVC production for BBC World Service

From an early age, Fatima Daas knew that she was different. Raised in a strict Algerian Muslim family in the poor suburbs of Paris, she struggled to reconcile the feelings she was developing with her devotion to her faith. Her upbringing dictated that she would have to choose between Islam and her sexuality. At high school, she tried and failed to start teenage romances with boys. Confused and isolated, one day she even took out her frustrations on a fellow student whom she resented for being able to be openly gay.

Mike Wooldridge travels to the suburbs of Paris to meet Fatima and some of those who accompanied her on her difficult journey. He hears about the pressures she came under, and her fears of disappointing both her family and her community.

As she grew up, Fatima says, she coped “by speaking to God…as if He was a counsellor,” sharing with Him her innermost secrets. And for many years, she says, she was convinced she was the only lesbian who was also a Muslim.

Now in her mid-20s, Fatima tells Mike how she eventually reconciled her inner conflicts and made her choice. She has recently published a frank semi-autobiographical novel about her experiences, which has caused a stir in France. “I’m not going to reform a religion that’s existed for such a long time,” Fatima says, adding: “But I have never doubted God.”

(Image: Fatima Daas. Credit: Mike Lanchin)

June Joplin was born outwardly a boy, but at the age of 11, at a Christian summer camp, two things became very clear to her: that she was supposed to be a pastor, and that she was supposed to be a girl.

Becoming a pastor was the easy bit. June studied to become a Baptist minister in Richmond, Virginia, married and started a family. Yet the sense that she was really a woman never left her – and by her own admission, the struggles with her gender identity led to a depression which at times made her difficult to live with.

Eventually, by now living in Canada, she decided to come out as a transgender woman to her congregation and face the consequences.

In conversation with Mike Wooldridge, June Joplin tells her story and reflects on the cost of doing what she felt was the right thing.

Presenter: Mike Wooldridge. Producer: Rosie Dawson A CTVC production for BBC World Service

(Photo: June Joplin)

BBC Hong Kong reporter Danny Vincent hears from Christian migrants who have fled the territory for a new life in the UK. Many of the people Danny hears from are speaking about their experiences for the first time. A large number of Christians have made the difficult decision to leave Hong Kong after the introduction of a controversial national security law, which critics say is eroding freedoms in Hong Kong. Danny also meets their friends and family who have been left behind, the Christians still worshipping in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was a British colony for 156 years until it was returned to Chinese control on 1 July, 1997. China formed the special administrative region of Hong Kong, which had maintained governance and economic systems separate from those of China's communist regime. Around 600 UK churches of different denominations have signed up to be “Hong Kong Ready”, welcoming Christians from Hong Kong into their church communities. One in 10 of new arrivals is estimated to be Christian.

(Photo: Jimmy Lai. Credit: Danny Vincent)

In the internet age, the traditional way Thailand’s monks reach out to young followers is under threat. With nearly three quarters of Thailand’s population on Facebook, a move by two monks to broadcast their teachings live has created controversy, and exposed a growing schism within the religion. It ultimately leads one of the men to turn his back on the temple.

Thai reporter Chaiyot Yongcharoenchai hears from 30-year-old monk Phra Maha Paivan Worawono, from Bangkok who landed himself in trouble after he appeared in his sermons to laugh and joke, as he poked fun at current affairs and politics.

The Buddhist authorities did not find the sessions amusing after more than 200,000 people had logged on to watch and lead to an investigation by the National Office for Buddhism.

As more monks turn to social media in a bid to revolutionise how the Dharrma is taught, is the resignation of Thailand’s most popular internet monk a sign that traditional Buddhism must modernise, or face becoming irrelevant to the country’s young population?

(Photo: Thai monk Sompong. Credit: Thai News Pics)

In the summer of 2014, a passenger jet was shot out of the sky over a rural area of Ukraine. Images of suitcases and children’s toys strewn around the burning wreckage were beamed and streamed around the world. All 298 people on board were killed. Two thirds of the victims were Dutch and this air disaster is often referred to as the Netherlands 9/11 - likening the impact of the downing of flight MH17 to that of the terror attacks in New York, in terms of the way these unfathomable events ignited a collective grief and national mourning.

Four men are on trial for their alleged role in the mass murder. In the most recent hearings, relatives were given an opportunity to share their stories, the ‘victim impact’ testimonies, as they were called in court, revealed how this single event had affected so many lives in so many ways and gave a glimpse into how faith has been tested, lost and rediscovered.

Anna Holligan has been reporting on this story for the BBC since the day flight MH17 was brought down. She has got to know many of the surviving relatives, some of whom are still struggling to comprehend what happened to their loved ones. To what extent did faith has play a role in their ability to go on after they lost everything? And she speaks to experts about how the public mourning, and global attention has shaped the way in which families sought solace in their faith and found hope in the darkness.

(Photo: A religious cross marks the entrance of the village Grabovo, on the site of the flight MH17 disaster, in Grabovo, Ukraine. Credit: Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

Poland is often seen as a stronghold of the Catholic faith. Yet today, many Poles are now protesting against the Church’s political over-reach - by simply leaving.

With more secular, more ‘western’ ideas and movements penetrating what was once a bastion of Roman Catholicism in Eastern Europe, more and more people are deciding to part ways with the Church. While around 90% of Poles identify themselves as Catholics, only 40% go to church regularly: and that number is falling as the Church loosens its grip on society – as the country becomes what Poles themselves call ‘more European’.

The decision to leave is not an easy one. So just what is the practical side of apostasy? How does one formally ‘separate’ from the church? What does it mean for the individual as well as society? Once you are out, how does life change afterwards? And why is the phenomenon surging right now?

Presenter John Beauchamp follows the journey of a number of individuals who have either parted with the church or are in the process of doing so. We explore the struggles they have to embark on to tear themselves away from the Catholic church in Poland, which still tries to hold a firm moral grip on Polish society – and which often overreaches its permissible mandate by swaying voting habits and directly telling people how to lead their lives.

(Photo: A Pro-LGBT activist holds a portrait of the Virgin Mary that reads 'Jesus also had two fathers' during the annual Krakow Equality March 2020. Credit: Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

Producers: Bartosz Panek and Jarosław Kociszewski A Free Range and Overcoat Media Production for BBC World Service

Andrea Bocelli is a multi-award winning Italian tenor who has sold over 75 million records worldwide. Blind from the age of 12, singing was always his passion but he never could have dreamt his life would turn out as it has. When asked what he puts his sucsess down to, he lists his talents, hard work, and overall his belief and faith in God. A strong Catholic, Bocelli has even performed for three popes at the Vatican, and his faith lead him to establish the Andrea Bocelli Foundation where he helps people in impoverished and disaster-stricken parts of the world. Much of his music has a spiritual air to it, and has sustained Bocelli through the ups and downs of life. This Christmas, Heart & Soul on the BBC World Service will present a special one-on-one interview with Andreea Bocelli, presented by Rome based journalist Colm Flynn. The programme will be recorded in the historic Italian city of Florence and will feature some of Bocelli's much-loved music, as well as the story of his life and faith.

(Photo: Andrea Bocelli. Credit: Colm Flynn/BBC)

Journalist Nadine Batchelor-Hunt is a black, Jewish woman. She is is fiercely proud of her dual identity - even as recent political discourse around race has meant that she has been forced to defend her identity in ways she's never had to before. She is on a journey to meet one of the oldest, largest and most resilient communities of black Jews in the world: Israel’s Ethiopian Jewish minority.

Around 140,000 black Ethiopian Jews live in Israel today following several waves of emigration in the 1980s and 1990s. They left everything they knew behind to flee antisemitic persecution in Ethiopia to go the spiritual homeland they had dreamt of for millennia. But for many, that did not mean they felt welcome - with complaints of discrimination, alienation, and even police brutality.

Nadine joins the community as they celebrate a Jewish holy day unique to their community - Sigd - a festival where Ethiopian Jews remember the acceptance of the Torah, express their yearning for Jerusalem, as well as celebrate their unique culture and identity in modern Israel.

Sitting down in conversation with religious leaders, activists and other members of the community, Nadine explores if she can learn anything about her own sense of self as a Black Jewish woman. And importantly, what can they teach her about accepting her own dual identity in a world that frequently questions it?

Photo: Presenter Nadine Batchelor-Hunt in Israel Credit: Candace Wilson/BBC

Jan was 33 when she had an abortion. She now believes she murdered her child and works with Catholic organisations to get the procedure banned. Erika was 14 when she terminated her first pregnancy. She is now a church minister and believes God wants her to fight to protect the rights of women to choose an abortion. Across America women and churches are divided on the issue. And it’s coming to a head as many states, emboldened by recently appointed conservative justices on the Supreme Court, are attempting to undermine federal protections.

Jane O’Brien went to Texas where the procedure has been banned after six weeks - long before most women even know they’re pregnant. She spoke with women of faith on both sides of the debate who believe God is on their side as America’s abortion wars intensify.

(Photo: Pro-choice demonstrators at the Supreme Court in Washington DC. Credit: Jane O'Brien)

To celebrate the lives of loved ones after they have passed away is nothing new. Many communities cling to memories, stories and anything else that makes them feel as close as possible to those who have died.

For the Malagasy people, an Austronesian ethnic group native to the island country of Madagascar, this desire to remain close to lost loved ones is viewed in a more literal sense with a funerary tradition known as Famadihana - the turning of the bones.

With the belief that the spirits of the dead only finally join the world of the ancestors after the body's complete decomposition, this ceremony involves exhuming the bodies of loved ones, replacing the silk cloth wrapped around them, and celebrating their lives as they are once again laid to rest. Volana Razafimanatsoa explores the shifting spiritual landscape amongst the Malagasy people in the 21st Century, joining a family celebrating their loved ones and discovering what the future holds for one of their most cherished traditions.

(Photo: Isabel Malala Razafindrakoto carries the wrapped body of her son, who died aged three, as she takes part in a funerary tradition called the Famadihana. Credit: Rijasolo/AFP/Getty Images)

This year marks the centenary of Northern Ireland. Since its inception it has been divided between those who want to be Irish, who are mostly Catholic, and those who want to remain British, who are mostly Protestant. But what about the people of faith outside the sectarian divide – or those of no faith?

Reporter Julia Paul meets Joseph Nawaz, whose father was a Muslim from Pakistan and whose mother a white Catholic from Northern Ireland. His parents were married in the 1970s, at a time when most NI churches wouldn’t even marry a Catholic and Protestant. Joseph talks about his journey to embrace his mixed heritage and the two very different religions in his childhood.

Esther Chong was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents and moved to Northern Ireland for a better life. The day after she arrived she attended a service at the Chinese Christian Church in Belfast and she says God began to show her her path forward in Northern Ireland. Both her children are autistic and she now runs support groups at her church for other Chinese families, especially those who struggle with the language barrier.

Dr Satyavir Singhal is a consultant at the Royal Hospital in Belfast and a Hindu. He moved to Northern Ireland from India with his family in 2000. The more people in Northern Ireland asked him about his faith and his country of birth, the more he was drawn closer to his faith. In 2014, he became more involved in the Indian Community Centre and Hindu Temple in Belfast, and now he teaches society about Hinduism.

(Photo: Dr Satyavir Singhal. Credit: Julia Paul)

Lipa Schmeltzer is a bright star in the world of Jewish music; only his music sounds nothing like traditional Jewish music! In fact, he has been nicknamed, the ‘Jewish Lady Gaga’!

Growing up in New York, in an ultra-conservative Hasidic community, Lipa was always different. At school, he was taught all subjects in Yiddish, and when he found it hard to concentrate his teachers called him the 'dumb kid' and told him he would never amount to anything. He had a dream of being a singer, but when he started writing and performing his own songs, his father and rabbi told him to stop and concentrate on studying the Bible. Lipa agreed and publicly apologised to the community for the modern music he had been creating - but it was not long until he started again.

Lipa's music and performance style represented a split in his community: the younger Hasidic Jewish who loved the modern Jewish beats and wanted him to perform at their weddings and children's bar mitzvahs, and then the older more reserved Jewish who thought it was disrespectful and would lead people away from holy scripture and on a path to hell.

Today Lipa lives in both worlds, creating modern Jewish music while trying to stay true to his roots. But it is not always easy, as Colm Flynn found out when he went to New York to visit Lipa.

(Photo: Lipa Schmeltzer)

This week leaders from over 200 countries have been making pledges to cut carbon emission at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). But for many climate activists on the ground, action speaks lounder than words. Reporter Rajeev Gupta speaks to activists who say they are compelled by their faith to act now.

He hears from Alphonce Munyao, a Catholic activist from Kenya, who says climate change there is causing droughts, leading to wild animals entering urban areas in search of food and water. Alphonce says religion for him is not just about preaching, but is a call to action.

William Morris, an Evangelical, says he grew up believing there was no need to protect the planet as the world was temporary. He describes why many in his tradition believe climate change is a hoax, and how he now goes back into his church and tries to persuade people otherwise.

Rajeev also speaks to Sheila Chauhan, a Hindu who runs a project called Green Karma – Blue Planet. Sheila says the protection of the environment is one of the fundamental teachings of her faith, and that the energy of God is found in all living things. She describes her own deep connection to the environment, and how she has made it her life's work to spread the message of climate protection.

Tonga is a country that faces an extensive threat from rising sea levels: some scientists have predicted the South Pacific island could be completely drowned within 50 years. Sixteen-year-old twins Louisa and Lorrain describe how the changing weather has been affecting them, and how they want religious leaders to do more than just talk about the issues.

Finally, Rajeev speaks to Malaysian activist Aroe Ajoeni, who has been working with indigenous Malay tribes. Aroe says the indigenous people are aware things have been changing, but thought it was because the gods were angry with them. She says by helping them to understand the impacts of carbon emissions, some of the youngsters in the community have started to question why they should be affected by the pollution of others.

Presented and produced by Rajeev Gupta

Image: A protester at the COP26 summit in Glasgow (Credit: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

Communities that celebrate with the Latin Mass have prospered. Now, Pope Francis has ruled that Catholics may only use the Latin Mass if their bishops agree to let them. Instead of a rule of tolerance for the Old Rite, wherever Catholics want it, there will be tolerance on a case-by-case basis. Many traditionally-minded Catholics believe that what is at stake here is the soul of the Catholic church, with a liberal old guard, with Francis at their head, hoping to snuff out a rising generation of conservatives before they take over.

In France, the more old-fashioned Catholics still often have very large families and, proportionately, many more of their sons become priests. In this edition of Heart and Soul, France-based correspondent John Laurenson takes us into the extraordinary world of traditional Catholicism in France. We go to Versailles, the former seat of the ardently-Catholic monarchy, that is today the unofficial capital of the ‘tradi’ movement. John meets young Catholics to find out what attracts so many young believers to the Old Rite.

Producer and Presenter: John Laurenson Image: John Laurenson/BBC

Many Sikhs all over the world have joined together in support of protests by Indian farmers against new laws proposed by the Indian government. Solidarity has come from musicians, singers, sportspeople and many young second and third generation diaspora Sikhs who have joined social media and local drive-thru protests in British, Canadian and American cities.

A culture of protest is embedded in Sikhism through prayer, songs and stories, which inspires this sense of activism.

Modern-day Sikhs, through their poetry or music or through their voluntary work or political campaigns, explain how their religion’s history of protest against persecution and standing up to injustice, inspires their view of the world in 2021. Pavneet is a poet whose work is unapologetic and seeks to stand up for women, against a caste and patriarchal system.

DJ Rekha, based in New York, ran a broadcast through the 2020 US Presidential election night live on Twitch, and linked her music playlists to political campaigns against poverty, racism and sexism.

Sukhdeep Singh stood for the rights of gay people in India by setting up Gaylaxy, an online magazine, at 22 years old. He started a queer collective on Instagram in 2019 and he wore a rainbow turban to the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

The roots and passing down of stories in families from Sikh history, as well as the use of social media to spread campaign messages, are, they say, helping to nurture and grow a shared sense of Sikh activism against inequality and oppression.

Produced by Nina Robinson for BBC World Service. Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta

(Photo: Farmers shout slogans as they take part in a protest rally against the central government's agricultural reforms in Amritsar on September 28, 2021. Credit: NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images)

Hannah Ajala, a British-Yoruba broadcaster will walk us through the sounds, beats and meanings of a Yoruba engagement ceremony. Speaking to those at the heart of the traditional marriage and exploring its importance on what could be considered the most important day of their lives.

Producer: Tobi Olujinmi

(Photo: Yoruba marriage ceremony. Credit: David Olujinmi)

David Eubank, who is originally from Texas, lives in the jungles of the Karen state near the Thai-Myanmar border, along with his wife and children. The Karen people have been fighting the Myanmar military for decades, in the world’s longest civil war.

Since the military coup on 1 February, the Karen Nation Union has sided with a people’s uprising demanding democracy is restored, and has launched attacks on the military. The army has responded with bombings that have displaced tens of thousands of people. David has seen first-hand what has happened.

Hundreds of young protesters have fled to ethnic areas, including into the area David is working in. His group, The Free Burma Rangers, has provided survival and medical training to some of these young people who want to continue fighting to restore democracy. He is also part of an underground railway helping to smuggle out politicians, artists and activists who are on the military’s wanted list. David takes us on a mission through the jungle to get aid to civilians caught up in the conflict.

(Photo: Sahale walks by a burning shack and opium field on a mission. Credit: Free Burma Rangers)

Ise Jingu is a Shinto shrine in Japan that is full of paradoxes. Every 20 years, for the past 1300 years, Ise Jingu has been rebuilt from scratch. It involves constructing identical copies of 125 structures that cover an area the size of the centre of Paris, using ancient techniques passed down through generations of craftsmen.

It is one of the most sacred Shinto shrines in Japan. Every year, over 10 million visitors and pilgrims journey through the depths of the ancient forest that surrounds the shrine, to pay homage to the deities of the Shinto faith.

Poet and professor Jordan Smith journeys to the heart of the Jingu in search of the rituals, customs, and spirituality that has kept it as alive today as it was over 1000 years ago. But as Jordan finds out, the essence of Ise Jingu cannot be discovered quite so easily. To get close to what Ise Jingu means to the Shinto faith and Japanese society, Jordan must travel into the depths of the forests of Ise to listen to the inaudible and feel the intangible. On his way he meets priests and professors, who help him discover new ways of interpreting Shinto divinity and what Ise Jingu means to those who journey there.

Br. Guy Consolmagno calls himself a 'Sputnik Kid'. He started school the year the Russians launched the world's first satellite. Growing up in Detroit during the space race he remembers the excitement he felt watching Nasa launch rockets into space, "I grew up at a time when anything was possible." He was always fascinated with astronomy. In fact, his father always wanted to be an astronomer but could never turn it into a career. He would show Guy the stars at night and point out the different constellations. Little did he know back then that his son would not only go on to be an astronomer, lecturing at the prestigious colleges of Havard and MIT, but he would go on to become the director of one of the oldest observatories in the world - The Vatican Observatory.

The Vatican Observatory has been gazing at the stars since 1582. The church started the observatory to study the heavens in order to make changes to the church calendar. Over the years it became a way for the church to marry science and faith and explore the points where they intersect. The first telescopes were placed right on top of the Vatican, but as Rome grew bigger and brighter, the view of the stars started to fade and so in the 1930s the Vatican built a new large telescope at the Pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo 25km south of Rome, and also one in Arizona in the US!

There are twelve astronomers working at the Vatican observatory, but Br. Guy, the director, is unique as he is the only one who was appointed by a pope and saint, Saint Pope John Paul II. He worked under JPII, Pope Benedict, and now Pope Francis. He still wears his MIT ring, as well as his white priest's collar.

For this Heart and Soul special on the BBC World Service, we will visit the Vatican Observatory to hear about its fascinating history and meet the 'Sputnik Kid' who is passionate about showing the world that science and faith are not as opposed as you might think.

Jim Giaccone will never forget the day his brother Joe simply vanished – killed in a blast so forceful that not even a trace of his remains was ever recovered. Joe was one of the 2,977 victims of the terror attacks of 11 September 2001 when members of al-Qaeda – an Islamist extremist group – flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York. They also crashed into the Pentagon on the outskirts of Washington DC and another plane was downed in a field near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Jim not only lost his brother that day, he also lost his faith. With grief came anger and a reckoning with God that continues when he revisits New York’s Ground Zero on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Jim tells his story to Jane O’Brien who discovers that he is not alone in re-evaluating his beliefs. She also hears from others who say the terrible events served to strengthen their faith and a Muslim American who say’s they still face hostility because of their religious identity.

Marzia Babakarkhail knows what it's like to have the Taliban break her door down intent on killing her. In 1997 they did just that because of her work promoting education and progress for women. She was forced to flee and now lives in the UK. That work continues and has never been more important.

As the last of the US military presence leaves Afghanistan Marzia tells her story to Matt O’Donoghue, how she rose to become a judge at 26 and was forced to flee and live under threat of death.

But she says her faith never faltered and she carries its strength in the UK where her humanitarian work continues in Manchester. Her fear now is that the progress she has fought for will be ripped away as the Taliban violently grab more and more control of her troubled homeland.

Sophia Smith Galer, reporter and TikTok creator, speaks to users who have faced discrimination and suppression online based on their religion. We speak to YouTuber Nada Majdy, who regularly faces abuse from Islamophobes whose sexualised comments do not get taken down; the Jewish TikTok creators who try to challenge anti-Semitism, only to have their own videos taken down in the process; and we ask why and how Instagram managed to censor #sikh for nearly three months.

The Druze are a religious minority, living mainly between Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. The religious movement was founded in the 11th Century by Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad, an Ismaili leader, mixing aspects of Shia Islam and Esoterism, among other western philosophies. Because they are an insular community - conversions are forbidden either out of or into the faith - the Druze face a number of existential challenges, in a region where unrest is the norm.

Tamara Rasamny meets young Druze men and women to what pressures young people in the community face, and how they reconcile loyalty to their faith and their country.

For decades, the Catholic Church rarely acknowledged the fact that supposedly ‘celibate’ priests were fathering children. The scale and impact of these secretive births is only now coming to light. The Vatican does not deny that there could be as many as 10,000 children of Catholic priests living around the world. Many who are now adults describe childhoods separated from their fathers, shrouded in secrecy and shame. For this Heart and Soul, three of them – Vincent Doyle, Michael McGuirk and Sarah Thomas – tell their stories.

Produced by Dan Tierney

Since the murder of George Floyd in 2020, taking the knee has become a prominent sight at protests and sports events, signifying opposition to racism and discrimination. But with some fans booing players for kneeling and some black players refusing to take the knee – has this anti-racist gesture now lost its potency?

For rapper and football fan Guvna B taking the knee has an added significance. He is a committed Christian, and knows the religious significance of kneeling. To mark the start of the Olympic Games, he explores taking the knee and its relationship to sport, prayer and protest.

Athletes like Colin Kaepernick, who sacrificed his NFL career to take the knee before a game have cited their faith as an inspiration, but many Christian sports women and men have remained upright, refusing to kneel. They say that kneeling is only reserved for God.

Kneeling was meant to be a gesture of solidarity by black and white athletes to show their contempt for racism, but divisions have also formed - footballers have been booed by their own fans because, they say, of its links with the organisation Black Lives Matter.

Guvna B explores the history of taking the knee, speaks to athletes like NBA star Jonathan Isaac who have refused to take the knee because of their love for God, and ask what’s next for taking the knee and for the sporting world’s response to racism. Athletes at the Olympics are banned from taking the knee. But with issues like systemic racism still dominating headlines, as athletes stand on the podium in Tokyo, what will their response be, and what will be the reaction to it?

Uighur poetry is and has been for centuries a fundamental part of the culture and members of the community write poetry and often recite part poems that have been passed down the generations and learn off by heart. As the community face widespread persecution by the Chinese authorities and at a time of great despair and fear for them, Uighurs speak to us about the ways in which poetry offers ways of support, succour and resistance.

The programme features the voices and works of Uighurs, poets and experts from across the world.

In the run up to the Tokyo Olympics professor Robert Beckford explores how cheating in sport conflicts with Christian principles.

He asks how can an Olympic champion stand on the podium with a gold medal and then thank God in an interview if they have taken performance enhancing drugs? Can a footballer celebrate the penalty he has ‘won’ and then point to the sky in honour of God?In this edition of Heart and Soul, featuring Olympic medallist Ben Johnson, Robert explores what the Christianity has to say about fair play and whether by cheating you are dishonouring your faith.

Where does God fit into your sex life? Decades after signing up to remain ‘pure’ until marriage, many Evangelical Christian Millennials are still confused by that question – and some are turning to counselling for help. In the 1990s a sexual abstinence movement became popular in the US and eventually spread to the UK. This ‘purity culture’ recruited young people to wait until marriage before having sex, and wear a silver ring to advertise their pledge. But what effect did it have on the thousands of teenagers who took part.

Journalist Harriet Bradshaw went to a Christian evangelical/Pentecostal youth church as a teenager, and has been fascinated with the movement ever since. She revisits her own past, and hears from others who signed up to find out what their lives are like now.

Colourful temples, bells , incense and a multitude of deities and festivals - journalist Nalini Sivathasan grew up immersed in her parents’ religion, Hinduism. But as she has grown older, she has found it harder to connect with her faith and speaking to her friends, she finds she is not alone.

Unlike most other religions, Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture nor commonly agreed set of teachings – which for some, can make it tricky to navigate.

On her journey to discover ‘her Hinduism’, Nalini talks to the Hindu Academy, which provides online classes and resources on the religion.

It’s seen a rise in engagement among young people over the past few years, yet the number of young people attending temples has fallen across the UK. Nalini visits a temple she grew up visiting to find out why and discovers how it’s trying to engage young people in ways other than worship.

For charity Go Dharmic, which was founded on the Hindu principle of dharma, practising seva - or selfless service - is the best way for young Hindus to connect with their faith and the world around them. While for vlogger Parle Patel, social media is the place to connect with young Hindus. But Parle says he is often criticised for proudly showcasing his Hinduism identity online.

Couple Abhinaya and Rahul are planning their Hindu wedding ceremony. For them the ceremony is more of a cultural event, rather than religious. Will understanding the importance and symbolism of the rituals bring them any closer to their faith?

Nalini also speaks to Indian politician Shashi Tharoor. While unsparing in his criticism of certain elements sometimes linked to Hinduism, he describes himself as a proud, believing Hindu. How is he able to navigate the apparent contradictions he sees within his religion?

Nalini tries to make sense of what it means to be a Hindu today, talks to those practising the faith in their own distinct way and decides whether there is a version of Hinduism out there which best suits her.

Can the prison be a “citizen factory” where the rebellious soul goes in and comes out as a demure, indoctrinated model citizen? Is the God of Punishment the same as the God of Salvation? How do priests, imams and rabbis work with inmates who wish to return to faith?

Lipika Pelham examines whether the Foucauldian phrase “soul is the prison of the body” offers a guideline to the modern criminal system for its rehabilitation programme. Traditionally, religious beliefs have inclined to the opposite, that the body imprisons the soul. Earlier ways of dealing with outlaws often involved extreme physical stress to achieve the docility of the body. This was believed to be the key to making prisoners conform to social norms and become good citizens. Lipika asks representatives of major world religions if they think the pathway to correction is through faith. She hears conversations between an inmate and his Christian worker; reflections of a rabbi, an imam, and a Buddhist meditation teacher about their methods to stop offenders from committing further crimes.

For 18 months reporter Fateh al-Rahman al-Hamdani filmed inside 23 Islamic schools, or khalwas, across Sudan for a BBC News Arabic investigation. He uncovered systemic child abuse, with boys as young as five years old routinely chained, shackled and beaten by the “sheikhs”, or religious men in charge of the schools. The investigation also found evidence of sexual abuse.

We visit some of the nearly 30,000 Sudanese khalwas, where children are taught to memorise the Koran. The schools receive money from the government and private donors both in Sudan and around the world. Because they charge no fees, many families consider them an alternative to mainstream education, especially in remote villages that may not have government-run schools. Students board there, only returning home for the holidays.

We meet two 14-year-old boys, Ismail and Mohamed Nader, who were beaten so badly at one khalwa that doctors worried they might not survive, and hear how their families decide to take legal action. We join Fateh as he confronts the sheikh in charge of the school where they were assaulted. And we hear what Sudan’s new transitional government has to say about reforming khalwas.

Presented by Paul Bakibinga, narrating the words of Fateh al-Rahman al-Hamdani.

Photo: A young boy with his feet shackled and chained. Credit: Jess Kelly/BBC)

A year after George Floyd's death, what positives and negatives can Black Christians take away from the tragic series of events that unfolded?

In the year since, many black Christian groups have been at the forefront of large protests across the US. Leaders, the media and people from all communities have engaged in conversations about the future of race relations in United States. In addition, churches and church leaders began to work together to understand, to learn, and instigate change. But has the Church gone far enough and what part can and should Christians, both black and white, play in bringing together communities and tackling racism.

Professor Robert Beckford hosts a discussion featuring Revd. Minister Elijah McDavid III from The Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Minnesota, Dr. Love Sechrest who is Vice President for Academic Affairs at Columbia Theological Seminary and Dr Richard Land, President of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte and former faith advisor to President George W. Bush.

Producers: Rajeev Gupta and Emb Hashmi

(Photo: A mural painted by artist Kenny Altidor depicting George Floyd is unveiled on 13 Jul 2020, Brooklyn, New York City/ Credit: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Bob Dylan was brought up in a Jewish household in the American Midwest, but kept his faith away from the spotlight of his professional counter-culture persona. That was until the late 1970s when he converted to evangelical Christianity and released an album that shared his born again beliefs with the world.

We join his childhood friend, Louie Kemp, as we delve into why the boy he met at a Jewish summer camp turned to Christianity.

We hear from Regina McCray, his backing singer from the time, who retells the story of her audition where she sang Amazing Grace. She went on to get the job, but little did she know that the song would go on to inspire Dylan’s sound for his next three albums - Slow Train Coming, Saved, and Shot of Love.

We also hear from Australian journalist, Karen Hughes, whose in-depth interview with the singer broke to the world how serious Dylan was about Christianity - and from Swedish doctor and musician, Valdemar Erling, whose accidental discovery of Slow Train Coming has been the foundation of his faith for many years.

Along with live music tracks, archive excerpts from outraged fans and even the sounds of Bob Dylan preaching to his crowds, we hear how Dylan’s often overlooked ‘Gospel Period’ helped people develop a deeper connection to spirituality that is still relevant today, years after the singer-songwriter appears to have turned his back on organised religion altogether.

(Photo: Bob Dylan in concert in Atlanta, Georgia, 1974. Credit: Rick Diamond/WireImage/Getty Images)

He was once the third most powerful Catholic in the world, overseeing financial reform at the Vatican. But for Cardinal George Pell, the fall from grace was hard when he was accused, convicted, and imprisoned for sexual abuse in his home country of Australia. It was a huge blow for the Catholic church across Australia.

Abuse victim groups celebrated his conviction, however not everyone was convinced, and a debate began to rage as to the credibility of the accusations levied against him, as well as the fairness of his trial.

Cardinal George Pell always maintained his innocence, and after spending a year in jail, in a startling twist to the story, Australia's highest court overturned his conviction, seven high court judges unanimously ruling.

Today, Cardinal George Pell is back in the eternal city of Rome and living right next to the Vatican. In this Heart and Soul special, Colm Flynn meets Cardinal Pell at his home for a one-on-one extended interview to talk about the accusations that were made against him, the time he spent in prison, and why he decided to return to Rome after his release.

Presenter and producer: Colm Flynn Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta

(Photo: Cardinal George Pell is surrounded by Australian police as he leaves the Melbourne Magistrates Court in Australia, 6 October, 2017. Credit: Mark Dadswell/Reuters)

The death of George Floyd Jr in May 2020 started a wave of unforeseen protests. As these protests consumed the United States, groups of people from various beliefs, backgrounds and origins came out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which started in 2014. A year later, under a new US president, the US still faces the same challenges even though police officer Derek Chauvin has been found guilty with murder, many still believe that they are still fighting against institutionalised racism in the US.

Monitoring the news in the US, journalist Amie Liebowitz has repeatedly seen images of groups of Jewish people stand side by side, holding placards and wearing t-shirts that said “Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof” (Deuteronomy 16:20) – a passage from the Torah meaning “Justice, Justice you shall pursue”. This message has been adopted by the Jews for Black Lives Matter movement which has always been associated with the act of social justice. This made her reflect on her own context as a white, Ashkenazi Jew from Australia and what this movement meant for her religious community. In this episode of Heart and Soul, Amie Liebowitz reconciles with her lack of knowledge about the black Jewish experience and reflects upon the need for further understanding of both privilege and antisemitism. She speaks to four black Jewish community members in the United States who speak frankly about identity dynamics and misconceptions, racism, activism and the support needed to help resolve the issues they face. Presenter and producer: Amie Liebowitz Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta Audio clip contributions: Hannah Roodman, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), Nissim Black, Westside Gravy, Drake and CBS

(Picture: April N. Baskin at the Women's March in Washington DC in January 2019 representing Jewish Women of Color / Courtesy of April N. Baskin)

France is on its way to passing The Bill Comforting the Respect of Republican Principles, one of the most controversial laws of President Macron’s presidency. It aims to fight back against what Emmanuel Macron and his ministers are calling “Islamist separatism”, what he says is an assault by Islamist extremists on the values of the French Republic.

John Laurenson meets people on both sides of this fractious debate. He visits a closed-down Paris school that its head teacher says is an early victim of President Macron’s war against “Islamist separatism” and meets another teacher – also Muslim - who describes her struggle with what she says is religious extremism in the classroom.

John meets an MP and the head of a militant secularist organisation both keen on the law. He also goes to Trappes, a suburb of Paris that many say is a breeding ground for Islamic extremism, and drinks mint tea with a scholar of Islam. He meets an Islamic bookseller called John, goes to the mosque and talks to the mayor, eats a “halal ham” sandwich, meets an inhabitant who says she lives “Islamist separatism” every day and another who says the new law stigmatises Muslims in general and will separate them still further from the non-Muslim people of France.

(Photo: A woman holds a placard reading "Freedom leads all the people" as protesters demonstrate against a bill dubbed as "anti-separatism", in Paris. Credit: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images)

Villagers believe Prince Philip is returning to his ancestral home on their Pacific island. In a handful of villages on the island of Tanna, in Vanuatu, he has been revered as an ancestral spirit and son of their mountain god, and they have been waiting for him to return to them, either in person during his lifetime or in spirit form after his death.

The prince never visited the island of Tanna, but letters, photographs and gifts were exchanged over the years and the prince met a delegation of islanders at Windsor Castle in 2007. Tanna elders sent Prince Philip a "nal nal" pig hunting club. He sent them back a picture of himself holding the club, which the villagers cherish. It is thought the religious movement started after the 1974 royal tour of the Pacific, during which the Queen and Prince Philip visited Vanuatu, then known as the New Hebrides.

Presenter: Jo Dwyer

(Photo: Sikor Natuan holds a water damaged portrait of Britain's Prince Philip in a partially built monument to the British royal near the remote village of Yaohnanen. Credit: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)

For thousands of years Jews have sought to understand the Bible, with all its inconsistencies and contradictions, through “midrash”. Midrash is a combination of interpretation and teaching based on the written texts of the Old Testament that tell the story of the ancient Hebrews, from the creation of the world, through God making his covenant with Abraham, the Exodus from Egypt, the destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple and the exile to Babylon.

As what it means to be Jewish has changed over the millennia, Jews have used midrash to re-interpret their identity in the world. In this edition of “Heart and Soul,” Michael Goldfarb searches through the ancient texts for clues to what it is to be Jewish in the 21st Century. He looks for modern midrash in conversations with a rabbi, an archaeologist, a Jewish Studies professor, a psychoanalyst, and a composer who is writing musical midrash for each part of the Torah, the five books of Moses. They talk about the historical truth of the Bible, and can midrashic interpretation help find meaning in the Holocaust, and even these days of the pandemic.

The world watched on as Pope Francis embarked on what he called a pilgrimage to the Middle East, a journey that could possibly be the Holy Father's legacy. Despite worries of the Covid pandemic and the real threat of a terrorist attack, Pope Francis became the first pontiff in history to visit Iraq. Standing among rubble and ruins in the devastated city of Mosul where ISIS took root and threatened to behead him, Pope Francis proclaimed "hope is more powerful than hatred, that peace more powerful than war."

In this programme Colm Flynn travels on the papal flight to Iraq to talk to Iraqi Christians and Muslims who have come out to welcome Pope Francis to their nation. The programme will bring you behind the scenes on a papal trip, and let you experience real moments with the Iraqi people who hope that the Pope's visit will bring long-lasting healing and peace to their land.

Presenter and Producer: Colm Flynn

Additional audio supplied by EWTN Picture credit: Colm Flynn /EWTN

Everyone tells five-year-old Shira Malka she looks just like her dad. She has his green eyes. But she’s never met him, because he died seven years before she was born. Shira was conceived through posthumous reproduction, where a child is created from the frozen sperm or eggs of a person who has died. The practice is banned in some places, tightly restricted in others. But Israel - a country that leads the world in assisted reproduction - is testing the boundaries on allowing this new method of family creation.

Shira is a one of a small but growing number of children to be born through posthumous reproduction in Israel over the last two decades. Her grandmother, Julia Pozniansky describes how she struggled for seven years to fulfil her son’s dying wish to father a child and leave her a grandchild. She was helped by Irit Rosenblum, a family lawyer who specialises in these cases and has even created a legal tool document she called the ‘Biological Will’ that enables people to express their wishes about becoming a parent after death. Shira’s mother, Liat Malka discusses why posthumous reproduction was a good alternative for her to anonymous sperm donation. Irit is adamant that the state should be removing barriers to the practice and instead allowing those who die, and their bereaved loved ones, to continue their legacy. But the practice does have its critics and has generated headlines and national debate. Israeli bioethicist Vardit Ravitsky - professor at the University of Montreal and the President of the International Association of Bioethics - explores the ethical arguments on both sides of the issue, and describes how Israeli culture and Jewish tradition have allowed the country to become ‘a unique pressure cooker for allowing reproduction’. She debates the subject with the fiercest critic she knows - her son.

Producer/presenter: Viv Jones Editor: Penny Murphy

(Photo: Shira and Liat Malka, courtesy of the family)

In 1971, Aziz BineBine – a junior officer in the Moroccan army – was ordered to take part in a military exercise. Unbeknown to him, the attack on King Hassan’s summer palace near Casablanca was in fact a coup attempt. The coup failed – and Aziz, who had never fired a shot, was accused of being part of the plot. He found himself publicly disowned by his father, a devout Islam scholar and close associate of the King. Sentenced to 10 years in jail, Aziz was soon transferred to the dungeon of a secret prison in the Atlas mountains - Tazmamart. It was what Aziz describes as hell; his cell, furnished only with a concrete bench, was dark and dank, liable to flooding by blocked sewers, shared with scorpions and cockroaches, searing in summer and freezing in winter. Many of his fellow prisoners perished. Aziz was to remain at Tazmamart for 18 years. But he found astonishing inner resources to survive this hell. Even before entering Tazmamart, he had made an act of complete, unconditional surrender to God, which enabled him to live one day at a time and forget everything else, even any desire to regain his freedom. Aziz tells the story of his captivity and the faith that sustained him in conversation with John McCarthy, who himself experienced a long imprisonment as a British hostage in Lebanon in the 1980s. Both men were eventually released in 1991.

(Photo: The prison of Tazmamart, a former barracks in the eastern Middle Atlas mountains 60km from the city of Errachidia, Morocco. Credit:: Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images)

Mike Wooldridge explores another story of faith and hard decisions. When American Beth Ball was pregnant with her first child, she found out that the baby had Down’s syndrome. Upon receiving the diagnosis, she says she was shocked at the heavy hints that she should terminate the pregnancy, and outdated information made available. For Beth and her husband Stephen, both Christians, the next months were a struggle, emotionally and spiritually. At one point, Beth prayed that if she was unable to cope with a baby with Down’s syndrome, God would take it away. But then things were to change for the Ball family, and several times. Alongside Beth and Stephen, Mike hears from Dr Francis Hickey, an expert in Down’s syndrome, Michelle Sie Witten, President of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, their Pastor Bill Cahoun, and the family of Jack Holm, a young man with Down’s syndrome who inspired them to re-imagine the future. Producer: Paul Arnold

(Photo: DNA helix illustration. Credit: Getty Images)

Mike Wooldridge tells the story of Rais Bhuiyan, who In his 20s, traded a job in the Bangladeshi Air Force for a life in the US. He was working at a petrol station. A man with baseball cap walked in and pointed a double-barrelled shotgun at him. Rais offered all the money in the till to him, but the attacker asked him where he was from. Rais was confused, and said ‘Excuse me?’, but as he spoke, he was shot. He said it felt like a million bees stinging his face. He fell to the floor and started reciting from the Koran, begging God not to take him that day.

White supremacist Mark Stroman’s attack left Bhuiyan partially blind, and two other men died during Stroman’s killing spree. In court Stroman said he had intended to target Muslims in revenge for the 9/11 attacks. Stroman was found guilty and received the death penalty, but Bhuiyan forgave his attacker and campaigned against the execution, saying that his faith told him that saving one life was like saving the whole of mankind.

As well as Rais, we hear from his friends, those who worked alongside him to save Mark Stroman, and the brother-in-law of one of the other victims, Waqar Hussein.

(Photo: Rais Bhuiyan. Credit: WFFA ABC Channel 8, Dallas)

Veer is four years old. He has a genetic disorder called Fanconi Anaemia affecting his bone marrow. In 2019, his parents were told they would need to find a lifesaving stem cell donor for him. Doctors estimated that Veer could expect to live for between two to five years before needing a transplant, depending on how quickly his bone marrow depletes. However, after one of Veer’s recent general check-ups, the Doctors said things were deteriorating faster than expected and Veer was only three to six months from needing the transplant. The challenge is to get people to register. Currently, only 2% of the UK’s population are stem cell donors. A donor could come from anywhere around the world but misconceptions about becoming a donor means registrants are low. In the end, all it involves is a procedure similar to giving blood.

Rajeev Gupta follows Veer’s parents as they dramatically ramp up efforts to save their son's life. In this emotional story, we get to know the charming little Veer and his family as they battle limitations placed by the coronavirus pandemic to try and find a match for him. Rajeev hears how Veer’s mum, Kirpa and dad, Nirav have increasingly turned to their Jain faith to help deal with the emotional traumas placed upon the family. Kirpa believes their faith inevitably guides them through this and will help Veer find his match. With exclusive access, this programme follows Veer and his family to what could be a joyous or equally heart wrenching conclusion.

Presenter/producer: Rajeev Gupta

(Photo: Veer. Credit: helpveernow.org)

Malta is the last country in Europe to still criminalise abortion. A majority Catholic country, prior to Covid-19 Malta was due a visit from the Pope. While a pro-choice movement is increasingly emerging in the country, the Maltese political sphere on virtually all sides is anti-abortion. Doctors for Choice, a group of pro-choice medical professionals, was set up last year and they have received major criticism in the country – with hundreds of doctors writing a letter in response in support of what they call pro-life laws and treatments. We speak to the doctors and activists trying to prompt debate in a country that has historically avoided it – and why anti-abortion politicians and doctors are proud that Malta is, as they see it, Europe’s defender of Catholic values. Producer/presenter: Sophia Smith Galer

In the far north of Finland, 6km south of the Artic Circle, the town of Rovaniemi is the “official home" of Santa Claus - the location where any letter addressed to Santa (over 500,000 every year) will arrive.

St Nicholas may have roots in 3rd Century Turkey - but this one-time logging town is now the centre of a vast Santa industry. In 2019, more than half a million people came to Rovaniemi’s Santa Village – including 60,000 from China. Dignitaries such as Chinese President Xi Jinping have also made a pilgrimage to the home of the world’s most identifiable, pan-cultural, pan-faith icon.

This year, though, things are different. Santa’s village lies eerily quiet due to Covid-19. All focus – and hope – lies on his official Post Office, and the letters that continue to stream through the door from children – and adults – across the world. Producer Steven Rajam tells the story of the global Santa tourism boom, the myths, fantasies and traditions that Santa represents across different cultures.

Contributors include writer on Christmas and biographer of Santa Claus, Gerry Bowler; historian Martin Johnes; expert on China and religion, Fenggang Yang; travel agency chief Chao Tang; and supervisor at Santa’s official post office, Katja Tervonen, who details how the hundreds of letters received every year give a unique insight into the thoughts and emotions of children around the world.

(Photo: Driver POV of sleigh ride in thick snow and bright sunshine in Rovaniemi. Credit: Lars Ley)

The identity and colour of Jesus – and why it matters - has taken on a new significance in this year of protest and change. Seeing Jesus as a darker skinned Palestinian Jew rather than blonde European is both historically accurate and theologically important, but it’s not a new idea.

James Cone, the influential US theologian released ‘A Black Theology of Liberation’ 50 years ago this year – and formally developed a radical new way of exploring the message of Christianity. While people often say it’s a ‘white man’s religion’, Cone emphasised Jesus’ identity as black, on the side of the oppressed, and Christianity as a religion of liberation.

Robert Beckford, one of the UK’s prominent black theologians, wants to explore the impact Black Theology has had, the implications for the church and whether seeing Jesus as black is having a revival due to the influence of black lives matter. In this programme Robert speaks to key theologians who studied under Cone; Professor Dwight Hopkins and the Very Reverend Kelly Brown Douglas about the social context and significance of Cone’s work. He hears from Rev Otis Moss III from a Chicago based church which lives out black theology, and Pastor Jonathan Jackson in the UK. Robert goes on to explore how young Christians are readdressing Jesus’ identity in the UK with Chine McDonald and has a discussion about embracing the Black Jesus with Clare Williams, Shermara Fletcher and Joel Brown. Plus he’ll hear from American artist and iconographer Mark Doox about the depiction of a black Christ in Christian art.

Producer: Miriam Williamson

(Picture: ‘The Holy Face' by Mark Doox)

In 1978, over 900 US citizens died at Jonestown, a remote settlement in Guyana. The vast majority were members of a community run by the charismatic Rev Jim Jones, taking their own lives with poison under armed guard on his orders. But how did a church known for racial integration and practical help for the poor come to such a destructive end? How could one man’s increasing paranoia have driven so many people, who had built a mission community from nothing in four years, into a seemingly pointless sacrifice?

In this second and final programme, Erin Martin – who herself grew up in a controlling religious group – hears from ex-members of Peoples Temple who explain how steadily increasing isolation made it so hard to leave the organisation. Vera Washington describes how she and seven others had to accelerate their escape plan when a leadership spy heard of it, and Jordan Vilchez relates how a faked assassination attempt on Jim Jones was used to reinforce their sense of threat from outside.

The move to the Guyanese jungle meant escape was almost impossible - Jim Jones’ son, Stephan, and a few others survived because they were on a visit to the capital, Georgetown. But could Jonestown have had a future? Tim Carter imagined paved streets and seeing his grandchildren there. And John Cobb still feels that if he hadn’t been in Georgetown with Stephan on November 8th, 1978, he could have prevented what was, before 9/11, the largest intentional loss of civilian lives in American history.

Producer: Paul Arnold

(Photo:Main entrance to Jonestown, with welcome sign over the road. The sign reads Welcome to Jonestown, on the top line; the next line reads Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, May 1978. Credit Jon Moore/The Jonestown Institute).

In 1978, over 900 US citizens died at Jonestown, a remote settlement in Guyana. The vast majority were members of a community run by the charismatic Rev Jim Jones, taking their own lives under armed guard on his orders. But how did a church known for racial integration and practical help for the poor come to such a destructive end? How could one man’s increasing paranoia have driven so many people, who had built a mission community from nothing in four years, into a seemingly pointless sacrifice?

In these programmes, Erin Martin – who herself grew up in a religious group that exercised strong control over its members – hears from survivors of what’s become known as the Jonestown Massacre, an event that captivated and horrified the US and international media.

Contributors include Stephan Jones, son of the Rev Jim Jones; Vera Washington, for whom Peoples Temple was “a wonderful, warm family” before it all went wrong; Jordan Vilchez, who at 16 already belonged to Jones’ inner circle; John Cobb, Leslie Wagner-Wilson, Tim Carter and Mike Cartmell, who each lost several family members in Jonestown; and Fielding M McGehee III, Temple archivist and Research Director at the Alternative Considerations of Jonestown website.

Between them, they reflect on the attraction of Peoples Temple, trace the road that ended with the destruction of the Jonestown community, and explain how they escaped with their lives. And they try to answer one crucial question: what could have led an idealistic group of community-minded people to such destruction?

Producer: Paul Arnold

(Photo:The local tourist office has placed signs to mark the site of Jonestown, Guyana. Credit: Getty Images)

Experts say China has detained as many as one million Uighurs and Muslims in "re-education" camps in Xinjiang province. Survivors have shared stories of countless alleged abuses including mass surveillance, forced labour and forced sterilization.

Uighur activist Rukiye Turdush said she feels helpless in Canada knowing Uighurs back home are being forced to learn Chinese, renounce their faith and abandon their culture.

"We said never again after World War Two, but it's happening again in the 21st century in China."

In this programme, reporter Idil Mussa meets Canadian Uighurs, like Turdush, to hear their stories. She learns that the Chinese state has tried to stop all contact with their families, how the Canadian Uighur community suffers from a collective guilt knowing their loved ones are suffering and how Toronto has become a hive of activism to raise awareness of their plight.

(Picture: Rukiye Turdush. Credit: Idil Mussa/BBC)