Azim Ahmed and guests ask if faith makes a person more susceptible to criminals or if it makes people more resilient in bouncing back afterwards because they're able to forgive? How much does being a victim of fraud test a person’s faith? Could it even break it?

If you’ve been affected by the issues we’ve discussed in this programme you can get help and information by going to bbc.co.uk/actionline

In September the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally, organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, drew many thousands of people to London. Advertised as the UK’s biggest ‘Free Speech Festival’, speakers made calls to reaffirm Britain’s Christian foundations. Many held wooden crosses and flags with Christian slogans, and the crowds were led in reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

Meanwhile operation ‘Raise the Colours’, a campaign to cover Britain in flags, has seen St. George’s flags appear on lamp posts across England. Some see flying the flag as patriotism, while others are concerned and say the movement is underpinned by far-right nationalists.

Today we’ll explore the issues. Why is it different to fly a Welsh Flag or a St. George’s Cross? What is the difference between patriotism and nationalism? In what way was the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march unsettling and exclusionary to others? Delyth Liddell is joined by Reverend Rhys Llwyd, leader of a Welsh speaking Baptist Church in Caernarfon, North Wales. The Rt Rev Philip North, Bishop of Blackburn who has recently written an article arguing that the flying of flags is a cry from long neglected communities. Suzanne Philpott lives near Swansea. She attended the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally in September and is a Christian. Ross Hendry is from Llanelli and is the CEO of Christian Action Research and Education. He was a joint signatory of the letter “Do not ‘co-opt’ the cross to divide."

In light of the recent appointment of the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, Azim Ahmed and guests examine whether women have shattered the glass ceiling of faith leadership.

To discuss the issues Azim is joined by a panel of female faith leaders; the Very Reverend Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, Dean of St. David’s Cathedral. Chine McDonald who is the Director of the Theos think tank. Zara Muhammed made history as the first woman to lead the Muslim Council of Britain, serving as Secretary General between 2021 and 2025, Rabbi Charley Baginsky is the Co-Lead of Progressive Judaism in the UK and Ireland.

Together they examine the challenges of leadership in faith traditions shaped by patriarchal societies, the qualities women bring to leadership and the hope they have for the future of religious leadership and inter-faith relations.

Jonathan Thomas visits the Torch Fellowship Group in Ammanford, speaks to volunteers of Guide Dogs UK, and interviews others about the experience of sight loss in the church.

He also remembers the life and ministry of Peter Jackson, a blind pianist.

All music performed by Peter Jackson for BBC Radio Wales Celebration in 1995 and 2013.

This summer huge crowds gathered at Glastonbury Festival to sing along to a set of 'Assembly Bangers'; beloved songs from primary school. Musician and music teacher James B. Partridge led the field with classics including 'One More Step Along the World I Go', 'He's Got the Whole World in his Hands' and 'Lord of the Dance'. The popularity of these songs goes beyond music festivals, and this autumn in his Homecoming concert Mal Pope will include an 'Assembly Banger' slot with singer and songwriter Graham Kendrick, composer of 'Shine Jesus Shine'. The popularity of primary school songs has taken many by surprise and this week Azim Ahmed sets out to explore why so many people love singing tunes from their youth.

Azim speaks to James B. Partridge who explains that he began recording ‘Assembly Bangers’ during the Covid lockdown — and was astonished at how popular they became. Alongside his teaching commitments he's also planning a nationwide tour this Christmas. We’ll visit the Freedom Festival in Carmarthen, an event run by the Diocese of St. David's, where the Crowfoot band performs an 'Assembly Banger' slot and we'll hear from the audience there. We'll speak to Mal Pope and Graham Kendrick about the importance of communal singing, and lastly we'll visit Clyro Church in Wales Primary School to find out which songs children love today and which ones could be the 'Assembly Bangers' of the future.

The twenty-first of September is the UN International Day of Peace, and this year’s theme is “Act Now For a Peaceful World.” Delyth Liddell and guests discuss if peace is possible.

Usman Manan is an Imam serving with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Cardiff.

Azim Ahmed and guests shine a light on a collection of ‘Lost Hymns’; long forgotten Welsh-language folk hymns recorded by oral historians at St. Fagan’s National Museum of History in the 1960s.

When musician and composer Lleuwen Steffan came across these recordings she immediately realised that they were no longer featured in contemporary hymn books. She embarked on a decade long project to track down the descendants of those recorded, and to compose music inspired by these songs. Today she brings these recordings to modern audiences, joining the recorded voices with her own compositions on piano, guitars and synthesizers.

Many of the hymns were composed as a response to the Welsh Revival of 1904, a period of intense religious fervour that swept across Wales, filling chapels, and bringing life-changing religious experiences to those part of the revivals. The songs are frank, down to earth and sometimes dark. They reflect the fragility of human experience.

Emeritus Professor Wyn James, a Welsh hymnology expert from the School of Welsh at Cardiff University sets out the historical context of these hymns. Catrin Roberts, the granddaughter of hymn collector William Morris (one of the voices in the collection) shares memories of her grandfather, and his passion for the heritage of Wales.

Lleuwen’s work is made in partnership with Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru and supported by the British Council Wales.

For centuries the singing of psalms has been a cornerstone of Christian worship and in Wales today psalms are sung in the splendour of great cathedrals and in the quiet devotion of Catholic monasteries.

While the singing of psalms has long been cherished, in some churches and denominations psalm singing has been replaced by more modern songs and worship. But a new movement called 'Psalm Roars' is challenging that notion. Led by vicar Tim Vasby Burnie, 'Psalm Roars' aim to make psalm singing accessible to everyone, regardless of whether you have a musical background, and to encourage singing that is “enthusiastic, robust, loud, and inclusive.”

Jonathan Thomas attends a 'Psalm Roar' and meets enthusiastic people learning all about psalm singing. He speaks to one of the most pre-eminent modern hymn writers of today, Keith Getty, who sets psalms to music, bringing them to contemporary audiences. Jonathan visits Llandaff Cathedral and meets Stephen Moore, Director of Music, where psalms are sung daily by the cathedral choirs. At Belmont Abbey, Abbot Brendan Thomas explains the ancient tradition of psalmody in the Benedictine Order, where psalms have been sung since its foundation in the sixth century.

This programme was first broadcast on the 30th March 2025.

Procedures are in process to find a new Archbishop of Canterbury and a new Archbishop of Wales. Both of whom retired amidst controversies over the handling of safeguarding issues, although there are no suggestions that they behaved inappropriately themselves. Azim Ahmed and guests discuss - is the Church in Crisis?

Dr Andrew Graystone is an advocate for survivors of abuse in the Church and is the author of “Bleeding for Jesus : John Smyth and the cult of the Iwerne Camps”

Jonathan Thomas is joined by the award-winning historian, biographer and broadcaster Tom Holland. Tom is the co-presenter of the world’s most popular history podcast 'The Rest is History', a bi-weekly podcast that explores everything from the Norman Conquest to Nazi Germany. The series is downloaded an astonishing eighteen million times every month.

Tom Holland has written many best-selling books include 'Millennium' and 'Rubicon', but in the programme Tom discusses 'Dominion', a book that explores how Christian values and ideas have shaped Western civilisation, although we now live in a secular age. Tom and Jonathan explore how writing Dominion has influenced Tom's perspectives on Christianity.