All Things Considered

Civil unrest in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini in police custody, has spread across the Iranian Republic. What began as a protest for women’s rights has swelled, with demands for greater freedoms and even an overthrow of the state. The issue’s dominated Iran’s play at the Football World Cup in Qatar – as their team stood in silent protest while their anthem was played. Closer to home, here in Wales hundreds have gathered on the streets to protest under the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom.” In response the country’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed the West for inciting protests and there’s been a fierce crackdown. This week Iran reported that there have been more than 300 deaths and thousands have been arrested as a result of the protests.

But what does this really mean for people of faith? And how much do we know about the country and lives of the people who live there? While most Iranians are Shi’i Muslims, it is also home to a number of minority religious communities. To discuss the issues Azim Ahmed is joined by Roozbeh Najarnejad, an Iranian Christian who supports Christian communities in Iran through Elam Ministries. Maral Shams, a teacher from Wales who has been closely involved with the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests here in the UK. Padideh Sabeti, Director for the UK Office of Public Affairs for Bahá'í Community, the largest non-Muslim community in Iran, and Maziyar Ghiabi, the Director of the Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies at Exeter University.

Roy Jenkins looks back at a century of religious broadcasting on the BBC.

With a motto inspired by a Biblical source, the early BBC was avowedly Christian, and largely Anglican at that. Sir John Reith (a man lacking in neither religious conviction nor self-belief) placed enormous importance on the radio as a means of disseminating the Christian message. Roy Jenkins looks at Reith's legacy of religious programmes on the airwaves, and subsequently on television, as producers tackled the increasingly complex make-up of multi-cultural Britain.

From the broadcasting of services and state occasions to talks such as C.S. Lewis's hugely popular essays and Dorothy L Sayers' experimental drama The Man Born to be King, the BBC was at times innovative and prepared to court occasional controversy. Some of the BBC's religious programmes, such as The Daily Service - first broadcast in 1929 and still with us today - have a remarkable history almost as long as the BBC itself. Others, such as Songs of Praise, have faced diminishing audiences, as well as changes of slot times - a reflection on an increasingly secularised audience perhaps.

Roy's guests include Sian Nicholas, Professor of Modern History at Aberystwyth University; Leslie Griffiths; Ian Tutton, a former member of the Central Religious Affairs Committee whose job it was to oversee religious broadcasting; and Caitriona Noonan, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at Cardiff University.

Roy Jenkins and guests discuss human rights and the Football World Cup with a live audience at Wrexham Glyndŵr University. The panel discussion is part of a range of programmes being broadcast by BBC Radio Wales in Wrexham this weekend to mark the Wal Goch Festival of Football.

The Football World Cup is just a week away and it’s the first time Wales has qualified since 1958. It’s also the first time the World Cup has been hosted by a Muslim nation, Qatar, and the country is expecting 1.3 million fans. However, the games have been shadowed by controversy, with questions asked about the rights and working conditions of the migrant workers involved in building the infrastructure. Paris and other French cities are boycotting the games by not screening them in public spaces. In response the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, has said that Qatar has faced unprecedented criticism since winning the bid.

Joining Roy Jenkins to discuss the issues are Graham Daniels, General Director of Christians in Sport and a Director of Cambridge United Football Club. Jahangir Mohammad, Founder and Director of the Ayaan Institute. Ewa Turczanska, Member of the Colwyn Bay Amnesty International group and contributor to the World Cup values statement made with the Welsh Centre for International Affairs. Faisal Bodi from the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

Audience includes students from Wrexham Glyndŵr University, Coleg Cambria, Chester University and Bangor University.

This week we escape to the hills. If you explore the beautiful mountains and valleys of Wales, you don’t have to go too far before coming across an ancient Christian church founded many centuries ago by a Celtic saint who settled there. Such places, sometimes in a rugged remote setting, offer a powerful spiritual connection for those who might chance to visit. There’s also the lure of the hills and mountains. Amongst British Muslims – especially younger ones, the countryside and the Welsh mountains in particular, are popular locations for spiritual retreats.

What is it then that draws people of faith and none to make for the hills, whether to seek out holy places or to commune with nature? Azim Ahmed visits an ancient Christian church high up in the hills of Snowdonia to seek answers. During the programme we meet an Islamic scholar, a poet and priest, and another priest who leads Celtic worship.

Worship in the wild: www.caruconwy.com/worship-in-the-wild

Muslim Hikers: www.muslimhikers.com

This week Roy Jenkins is in conversation with Siân Rees, the new Head of Bible Society in Wales who’s less than two weeks in the job. The charity has its roots in Wales with Mary Jones’s 26 mile walk to Bala in mid-Wales over 200 years ago to buy a bible in her own language.

Today, Bible Society (formerly known as the British and Foreign Bible Society) is finding new ways of telling (as the hymn goes) the old, old story. Only this month the society has released a new video “The Bible in four minutes”; a spoken animation written and narrated by Welsh poet Dai Woolridge. In this programme Siân Rees tells Roy of her upbringing and her commitment to recapture today the kind of passion for the Bible as Mary Jones showed 200 years ago.

www.biblesociety.org.uk/wales

What is the true cost of food in a world facing war, inflation, and climate change? Jonathan Thomas discusses the ethics of food production with a panel of guests: Elizabeth Myendo is Tearfund's lead for disaster management in Southern and East Africa; Gerald Miles is an organic farmer based near St Davids; Victoria Shervington-Jones is a poultry farmer based near Newport, whilst Simon Bowkett is a chaplain and an upload beef and sheep farmer based in West Wales.

In Britain, as in many other parts of the world, we have become accustomed to a ready supply of food on supermarket shelves at all times of the year, and at low prices. But with rising inflation - affecting not only consumers pockets but farmers' overheads - that situation may no longer continue. Combined with the effects of global warming and the climate crisis, some countries in Eastern Africa are facing severe droughts and catastrophic crop failure. And nearer home, the pressures on farmers are intense. Jonathan Thomas discusses the ethics food production and the extent to which Biblical teaching can give encouragement to growers.

At her Coronation , the late Queen took a sacred vow to become 'Defender of the Faith' - the Protestant faith, that is. That vow has been repeated by King Charles III on his formal accession to the throne, and it's just one of many ways in which religion has helped shape the monarchy, and helped preserve its continuity. In this programme Jonathan Thomas looks at some of the profound and curious religious foundations for the British monarchy, as it draws on Biblical precedent for some of its authority.

This programme was first broadcast in June 2022.

American evangelist Franklin Graham is Roy Jenkins' guest, ahead of his 'God Loves You' preaching tour of the UK, which will include a meeting in Newport.

Franklin Graham is the elder son of the late Dr Billy Graham, the world’s most celebrated Christian evangelist of his day. It’s a tough act to follow, but for more than 20 years he’s headed up the global evangelistic organisation which bears his father’s name, preaching to more than 8 million people. For 40 years, he’s also led the related relief and development agency Samaritan’s Purse, which works in more than a hundred countries. These have long been multi-million dollar enterprises, and they give him significant influence in the United States, and take him to many places where humanitarian aid is desperately needed – most recently he was supporting teams in Ukraine.

Franklin Graham is also a controversial figure, not least because of his support for Donald Trump, and certain well publicised statements on sexuality and on Islam.

In this candid conversation, Roy Jenkins probes Franklin Graham's views on these and other issues, and also finds out what life was like growing up in the Graham household, with a father who could sometimes be away from home for as long as six months at a time.

This programme was first broadcast in May 2022.

Roy Jenkins guest is a nun who is one of the world’s best-known campaigners against the death penalty.

Sister Helen Prejean came to international fame when she was played by Susan Sarandon in the Academy award winning film Dead Man Walking, based on her best-selling book of the same name. She has had direct dialogue with two popes, and is credited among those who’ve helped move the Catholic Church into opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances.

Helen Prejean has witnessed the trauma of men being executed on six separate occasions, but the willingness to put herself through this, like her worldwide campaigning, required first a revolution in her own thinking - not least in her understanding of her faith.

In a new book River of Fire, she describes her spiritual journey, with passion and humour.

This programme was first broadcast in February 2020.

Rob Parsons is an international speaker and the author of over twenty books. Born and raised in Cardiff, he worked as a lawyer before founding Care for the Family, a national charity with centres around the UK. For more than 30 years the charity has offered down-to-earth practical guidance on such matters as bringing up children, preparing couples for marriage and supporting people through bereavement. He’s travelled all over the world as an inspirational speaker, for both Christian and corporate events. His most recent book, ‘From the Heart’, is based on his column for the magazine Premier Christianity.