Everyday Ethics

After 15 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit, in an exclusive interview Audrey Carville talks to Paddy Armstrong and his wife Caroline Armstrong about his life, now.

Were the secularists right in their declaration that religion is in the museum of history or is religion far from dead in 2025? It's a question provoked by a recent lecture given in Maynooth university in County Kildare by one of the best-known theologians from these islands. Dr Anna Rowlands, who is professor of Catholic social thought at Durham University and a recent advisor to the Vatican, told the gathering that not only is the political significance of religion rising, but new forms of religious and post-religious practice are emerging in both the global north and south. She joined the Sunday Sequence debate chaired by Audrey Carville. Also in the discussion is the theologian Professor Laurence Kirkpatrick and human rights defender Baroness Nuala O'Loan.

It's nearly 40 years since Maggie Thatcher declared the end of society.

Do you think women and men are equal in today's society- do they have equal opportunities in education and career development, do they have equal pay for equal work, are there particular obstacles that women face that men don't? What about in the home? In your home- do you split the tasks 50:50? Until women are no longer seen as the primary carer of children or older family members, will there ever be true equality? What about equality in faith. It hasn't always been the case that women and men are treated equally as worshippers in faith. Decades ago, women weren't allowed to participate in the same way that they do now- as readers, or cantors, or collectors. In many Churches men and women were kept apart, in separated aisles,.for fear of temptation or distraction. And of course what about the call to serve? The Catholic Church still will not allow women priests. Anglican and Presbyterian Churches do- but amid some entrenched opposition- to the extent that people have left their Church in protest. And does the Church's treatment of women play a part in how women are seen and treated across wider society? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Presbyterian minister and university chaplain the Reverend Cheryl Meban, theologian Dr Elaine Storkey, retired school principal and self described practising and questioning Catholic Michele Marken and Naomi Green, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.

How do beliefs jump from one generation to the next? Passing on your belief system - whether religious or otherwise - can be a really important priority for parents. Do churches offer much preparation or training to help people share what they hold dear? And do they support parents and grandparents who discover that children have perhaps turned their back on religion? If it takes a village to raise a child, does it take a village to school them in morals, ethics and spirituality? Teasing out some answers to these questions in the studio with Claire Graham are Roz Stirling who runs retreats and for a long time led the youth work strategy for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland; Boyd Sleater, coordinator of Northern Ireland Humanists; Lindsay Allen, a parent of two boys and a retired Baptist Pastor; and Fr Martin Magill, a Catholic Priest in west Belfast and a co-founder of the 4 Corners Festival.

Three years ago tomorrow, before dawn broke, Russia began its full scale invasion of its sovereign neighbour, Ukraine.

Earlier this month a couple in their early 50s were found dead in their home in Glenbeigh in County Kerry. It is thought they had been dead for several months. And Hazel and David Byrne were not the first couple whose deaths went unnoticed on this island in recent times. Over the past three years, there have been at least seven cases of men and women being found, months after they had died.

How could this happen? Where is the community? Has community broken down? How has it changed and what the impact?

Audrey Carville was joined by Michael Harding (an author and columnist), Liz Kennedy (a journalist and arts critic) and Niamh Hourigan (a professor of sociology at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick).

It's the month of love. February 14th looms ever larger. St Valentine' Day, the commercial world's dream day when they make millions out of our willingness to declare our love for that special someone. We could do it any day of the year but, it seems, everything has to have a date!

This week the PSNI laid down a challenge to men and boys everywhere. Check your behaviour towards women and girls. Step away from negative attitudes. Challenge your mates. And have the confidence to step in safely and put a stop to potentially abusive behaviour.

The past week saw an extraordinary admission from a major media company.