Beyond Belief

Ernie Rea chairs Radio 4's discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.

Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes contradictory understandings of the world around us.

Producer: Karen Maurice.

Ernie Rea chairs Radio 4's discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.

Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes contradictory understandings of the world around us.

In this programme, Ernie asks his guests whether the values of celebrity culture are at odds with their own religious values. Why are we fascinated by the rich and famous and have we always been? Why do we care about the personal antics of footballers, pop stars, TV personalities and actors? Has celebrity replaced religion in society?

Joining Ernie to discuss celebrity culture is Dr Kristin Aune, senior lecturer in Sociology at the University of Derby and co-author of "Reclaiming the F World: The New Feminist Movement; Vicki Mackenzie, journalist and Buddhist and author of Cave in the Snow; and Miriam Berger, Rabbi from the Finchley Reform Synagogue.

Producer: Karen Maurice.

Ernie Rea chairs Radio 4's religious discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.

Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes, contradictory understandings of the world around us.

In the programme, Ernie and his guests discuss the disputed site of Ayodhya in India. Hindus and Muslims have been in conflict for more than a century over the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, a town in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Hindus claim the site was the birthplace of one of their most revered deities, Lord Ram, and that a mosque was built after the destruction of a Hindu temple by a Muslim, Babur, in the sixteenth century.

After decades of legislation, an Indian court ruled last year that the site should be split three ways between Hindus, Muslims and the Nirmohi Akhara Hindu sect.

Beyond Belief examines why this site is important to both Hindus and Muslims and asks whether the legal judgement is workable in modern secular India.

Ernie is joined by Dr Raj Pandit Sharma, President of the Hindu Priest Association and Executive Officer of the Hindu Council UK; Kashif ul Huda, editor of Twocircles.net, an Indian Muslim news website; and Dr John Zavos, Lecturer in South Asian Studies at the University of Manchester and editor of the journal, Contemporary South Asia.

Ernie Rea chairs Radio 4's discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.

Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes contradictory understandings of the world around us.

In this programme, Ernie Rea and guests discuss the religious history and make-up of Egypt: what is Coptic Christianity? How do Christians, who make up about ten per cent of the population, live alongside their fellow Egyptian Muslims? What is distinctive about Egyptian Islam? How have the two faiths co-existed for 1,400 years and how do we make sense of recent tensions between the two communities?

Producer: Karen Maurice.

Ernie Rea chairs Radio 4's discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.

Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes contradictory understandings of the world around us.

In this programme, Ernie and guests discuss how suicide is understood in Christian, Muslim and Hindu communities. Why do people want to take their own lives? What do the faiths say about suicide? And why does having a faith make you less vulnerable to suicide, as the evidence suggests it does?

Joining Ernie to discuss suicide is the Rev Dr Mike Parsons, principal of the West of England Ministerial Training Course and author of "Suicide and the Church"; Raana Bokhari, doctoral student in the Department of Religious Studies at Lancaster University; and Dr Chetna Kang, a consultant psychiatrist and Hindu pastor. The panel hear from the Reverend Alan Smith, an Anglican priest, whose daughter, Sarah, took her own life in January 2007.

Producer: Karen Maurice.

Ernie Rea chairs Radio 4's discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.

Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes contradictory understandings of the world around us.

As 2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, Ernie Rea and guests discuss how sacred texts, such as the Bible, Koran or Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Holy book, should be translated. Are translations given equal consideration by followers as the original text? Does it matter whether you understand the language of your Holy book? Is there a place for contemporary interpretations such as the comic book Bible?

Joining Ernie to discuss translating holy books is Jasjit Singh, a doctoral researcher from the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds; Dr Sahib Bleher, a professional translator who is currently working on a translation of the Qur'an into English; and the Rev Dr Maggi Dawn Fellow at Robinson College Cambridge and author of "The Writing on the Wall: High Art, Popular Culture and the Bible."

Producer: Karen Maurice.

Ernie Rea chairs Radio 4's theological discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.

Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes contradictory understandings of the world around us.

In this programme, Ernie Rea and guests discuss the story of the visit of the Magi, or Wise-men to the infant Jesus told in St Matthew's account of the Nativity.

Who could the Magi have been? From where did they travel, having seen a star in the east and why would they have recognised it as a significant sign? Is there more to this story than a colourful image on a Christmas card and the inspiration for a well known carol?

Producer: Karen Maurice.

Ernie Rea chairs Radio 4's discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.

Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes contradictory understandings of the world around us.

In this programme, Ernie Rea and guests discuss whether faith inspires philanthropy and asks if greater personal wealth comes with greater responsibility to help others, less fortunate.

Producer: Karen Maurice.

Ernie Rea returns with a new series of Radio 4's discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.

Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes contradictory understandings of the world around us.

In this programme, the first in a new series, Ernie and guests discuss the supernatural and ask whether there are always rational explanations for the apparently inexplicable.

Why does belief in the supernatural appear to have increased in recent years? Can it be explained by an increase in visibility in books, television and the internet or could our fascination with ghosts, spirits and the hereafter be filling a void left by organised religion.

The panellists hear from a medium and paranormal investigator who claims to have daily visions and has helped police forces solve murder cases.

Joining Ernie to discuss the supernatural are Gordon Smith, one of Britain's best known psychic mediums, the Reverend Anthony Delaney, pastor of Ivy Church in Manchester and Professor Christopher French, head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, London.

Producer: Karen Maurice.

Ernie Rea is joined by three guests who discuss how their own religious tradition affects their values and outlook on the world, often revealing hidden and contradictory truths.

In this programme Ernie Rea and his guests explore the history and place of Islam in America, following recent tensions over plans to build an Islamic cultural centre close to Ground Zero in New York. Confusion over whether the building will be a mosque or a community centre have fuelled suspicions over the motivation of those behind the plans and given rise to a wave of Islamophobia across the USA. In the countdown to the mid-term elections in November, is such anti-Muslim rhetoric politically motivated or are Americans having a long overdue conversation about the place of Islam in their society?

Joining Ernie to discuss this are Robert Salaam a former US Marine who converted to Islam and is now the editor of The American Muslim: Dr Hussein Rashid, Lecturer at Hofstra University in New York and associate editor of Religion Dispatches; and Daniel Pipes Director of the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia.

The middle interview comes from Pamela Geller, editor of the blog, AtlasShrugs.com and author of "The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America."

Producer: Karen Maurice.