From the Charlie Hebdo shootings a year ago to the November terrorist atrocities in Paris, a string of Islamist attacks has left French society reeling in the face of home-grown terror. The events raise many issues, including the nature of religious and cultural integration in France. Secularism is a defining principle of the State. Faith is practiced in private and not in public. However, the way the French government is applying the concept of "Laïcité" has come under increasing criticism.

Ernie Rea discusses religion in secular France with Kay Chadwick, Reader in French Historical Studies at Liverpool University; Mona Siddiqui, professor of Islamic and Inter-religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh; and Natasha Lehrer, writer and literary editor of the Jewish Quarterly.

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There is a long Christian history of exploring the self. Some of the greatest Christian theologians wrote about the importance of the inner life; and in times of distress and suffering it was the Church people turned to for both confession and counsel. Things began to change in the 20th century with the emergence of psychoanalysis and the writings of Sigmund Freud. No longer were ideas about the inner life the preserve of the Church. Psychotherapy was seen as a threat by the Institution; and religion, conversely, was viewed with suspicion among many psychotherapists. Are religion and psychotherapy at war with one another? Or are they more compatible than we might think? Can they be reconciled?

Ernie Rea discusses whether Christianity or psychotherapy provides the more reliable guide to the inner life with Mark Vernon, a psychotherapist and writer; psychoanalyst Anouchka Grose; and Reverend Dr Andrew Walker, Director of the St Marylebone Healing and Counselling Centre.

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The question of what happens after we die is central to the world's faith traditions. How has the belief in an afterlife developed across the religions? And what does Heaven mean to people of faith today?

Ernie Rea discusses the concept of the afterlife with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies; Dr Shuruq Naguib, lecturer in Islamic Studies at Lancaster University; and the writer and broadcaster Peter Stanford.

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December 21st - the shortest day in the year - is the day pagans across Europe are marking the Winter Solstice; an ancient festival, connected to the lowest position of the sun in the sky. It has been celebrated for millennia, and yet, its relationship to the relatively recent Christian celebration of Christmas is inseparable. It is no coincidence that a festival marking the 'rebirth' of the new sun in the sky comes just days before the celebration of the birth of Jesus, seen by Christians as the Son of God. How did this relationship develop? Where did many of the familiar customs we associate with Christmas come from?

Ernie Rea explores the pagan origins of Christmas with Ronald Hutton, professor of History at Bristol University; JJ Middleway, a celebrant and ritualist based in the Druid tradition; and the reverend Steve Hollinghurst, a Church of England vicar and author of 'New Age Paganism and Christian Mission'.

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Birth rates in Western Europe have been dropping steadily. In the 1970s, one in ten British women reached the menopause without having children. Today it is one in five. Earlier this year Pope Francis told an audience in St Peter's Square that, "The choice not to have children is selfish. Life rejuvenates and acquires energy when it multiplies; it is enriched, not impoverished." Is he right? Does the biblical injunction to "Go forth and multiply" still hold true? To what extent does the stigma of infertility still exist within society?

Ernie Rea discusses issues around childlessness with Khola Hasan, an Islamic scholar, writer and broadcaster who sits on the Islamic Shariah Council; Dovid Lewis, who is the Rabbi of South Manchester Synagogue; and Dr Dawn Llewellyn, Senior Lecturer in Christian Studies at the University of Chester who has carried out research into voluntary childlessness among Christian women in Britain.

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It is 50 years since the publication of the Vatican document 'Nostra Aetate' which transformed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and other religions, most notably Judaism. At only a few paragraphs in length, this short text has been widely seen as one of the most remarkable moments in the turbulent history of interfaith relations. How did it come about? What can we say it has really achieved? And how does it fit into the world in which we now live?

Ernie Rea explores the impact of 'Nostra Aetate' with Archbishop Kevin McDonald, Emeritus Catholic Archbishop of Southwark and chair of the Bishops' Conference Committee for Other Faiths and of the Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations; Dr Ed Kessler, Founder-Director of the interfaith organisation, the Woolf Institute; and Oliver McTernan, Director of the conflict-resolution charity 'Forward Thinking', which works among communities in the UK and the Middle East.

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There are big challenges faced by interfaith couples today; where to get married, how to bring up the children and where to be laid to rest. They are the concern of all faiths. As British society becomes more multicultural, are these challenges becoming greater for those who chose to marry someone of a different faith?

Ernie Rea discusses the pros and cons of interfaith marriage with Asad Zaman, an Imam for over 20 years who leads the Friday prayers at several mosques across Manchester; Dr Jonathan Romain, a Reform Rabbi who has written extensively on interfaith marriage; and Rosalind Birtwistle, Co-Founder of the Interfaith Marriage Network, who is a Christian married to a Jew.

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In claiming responsibility for the Paris atrocities, the so-called Islamic State described the attacks as "a blessed battle whose causes of success were enabled by Allah". Last year, when the group's self-imposed Caliphate was declared, hundreds of Muslim leaders and scholars from across the world wrote an open letter to the self-professed Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, accusing him of heinous war crimes and a violation of the fundamental principles of Islam. So how Islamic is 'Islamic State'? Why have mainstream interpretations of Islam so far failed to provide an effective counter-narrative? What needs to happen for the group to be defeated?

William Crawley discusses the beliefs which underpin the so-called Islamic State in the light of the Paris terrorist attacks with Sheikh Dr Salah Al Ansari, an Imam, theologian and academic; Haras Rafiq, Managing Director of the anti-extremism think tank, the Quilliam Foundation; and Dr Katherine Brown, an expert in Islamic Studies at King's College London.

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This week the Catholic Church began its second Synod on the Family. After a year of reflection and discussion, there has been much speculation as to what might emerge. The model for what constitutes a family has posed difficulties for Christianity down through the centuries. The greatly increased divorce rate, the movement for gay and lesbian equality; the possibility for surrogate children, all pose challenges for churches of all denominations which have longstanding theological ideas about what a family is and what it is for.

Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the family is Dr Clare Watkins, Lecturer in Ministerial Theology at the University of Roehamption in London; the Rt Rev Alan Wilson, Anglican Bishop of Buckingham; and the Rev Dr Paul Middleton, Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Early Christianity at Chester University and a minister of the Church of Scotland.

Producer: Amanda Hancox.

Of all the career choices open to young people, entering a religious community must come fairly near the bottom of the list. Yet the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has set up a new community based at Lambeth Palace for young Christian people from all over the world. About 500 started the application and 16 have been chosen. They will have the opportunity to live in the Palace for a year, experiencing a daily round of prayer, silence and work. They will be supported by another 20 who will share some of the community life while continuing with their jobs. Religious orders have been in steep numerical decline since the 1960s, but in recent years new communities like the Archbishop's, have emerged. So what is this new movement all about? Could it be bucking a cultural trend? Will it bring new life to the church?

Ernie Rea is joined by Mark Berry, a member of "Safespace," a new monastic community in Telford; Sister Dr Gemma Simmonds, Director of the Religious Life Institute, Heythrop College, London and a Trustee of the new St Anselm's Community at Lambeth Palace; and Dr Abby Day Senior Research Fellow in the Anthropology of Sociology and Religion at The University of Kent.

Producer: Nija Dalal-Small.