Heart and Soul

By BBC World ServiceReligion & Spirituality

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Heart and Soul episodes

November 13, 2020 Catholic women and the US elections
As the campaign in the 2020 US Election went on it became clearer that America’s Catholics were crucial to the result.
Here are two candidates, the Democrat Joe Biden, a practising Catholic, who represents a social justice interpretation of the faith, and the Republican, Donald Trump, with who now describes himself as ‘a non-denominational Christian’ but who appeals to the socially conservative Catholic pro-life agenda. It is a fascinating dynamic. The rival campaigns targeted Catholics with fervent appeals to vote based on faith, especially on the issue of abortion.
After a tense week, Joe Biden was called, and declared the next president of the United States, only the second Catholic to hold the presidency. As he steps up to lead, he faces the challenge of a divided America and it may take a lot more than just words to heal, and an awful lot of faith to fix the wounds inflicted by both sides.
Angela Davis, in Minnesota, brings together four Catholic women across the US, to discuss issues that affected their vote, such as right to abortion and racism. Did they vote on faith or policy?
In a divided America, what does the Catholic faith tell us about how democrats and republicans can now come together and heal?
Presented by: Angela Davis
Produced by: Louise Clarke-Rowbotham
Photo: A pile of I voted stickers, November 2020 / Credit: Aimee Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.
29 min
October 30, 2020 The living water
Elizabeth Alker loves to feel the cold water as she slides into it from the river bank or steps nervously from the lake side. She is a Christian, used to the euphoric feeling that worship also brings her, and swimming in the open gives her a similar, immersive sensation - as soon as she leaves the water she immediately craves it again.
She sets outs to find out why so many people have that same craving, discovering tranquility and spirituality in the icy water. From there she moves on to consider the spiritual nature of water itself.
Right across the world’s faiths water represents life, fertility, healing and purity. It has been used in rituals for thousands of years, rivers are sacred, baptisms with water symbolises the introduction of children to their faith
Elizabeth explores why water is so important in the lives of believers, wild swimmers and the millions around the world whose spiritual thirst is quenched by its power.
She goes swimming with Helen Pidd of The Guardian newspaper who first introduced her to swimming outdoors, and Scottish singer Julie Fowlis who explains how the stories and myths surrounding water make their way into Gaelic music.
Professor Bron Taylor, author of ‘Dark Green Religion’ discusses the place of water in organised religion - as well as his own connection with the ocean having speak years as a coast guard.
Izumi Hasegawa describes the place of water in Shinto, and Ruth Fitzmaurice, author of ‘I Found My Tribe’, describes how swimming in the ocean helped her profoundly through the illness and death of her beloved husband Simon.
Why is water so important in the lives of believers, wild swimmers and the millions around the world whose spiritual thirst is quenched by its power.
Producer: Geoff Bird
Presenter: Elizabeth Alker
(Photo: Two people watch someone swimming in the water. Credit: Richard Lautens/Toronto Star/Getty Images)
27 min
October 23, 2020 Is this Egypt’s #MeToo moment?
Egypt is currently in the midst of a growing movement calling out the culture of sexual assault that’s rife in the country. A UN study showed 99.3% of Egyptian women have experienced sexual harassment or violence, and although women’s rights activists have been campaigning for years, there continues to be victim blaming surrounding women and a lack of prosecutions. However, a recent high profile case of one man who allegedly sexually assaulted and blackmailed several women was brought to the public’s attention due to an Instagram account called Assault Police which shared victim’s testimonies. It’s encouraged more women to speak out about their own experiences. And significantly, the religious authority, the Al Azhar Mosque published guidelines against assault, specifically stating what women wear is not an excuse.
Salma El-Wardany, a UK based Muslim writer and poet, was born in Egypt and wants to uncover what impact this largely online movement is having. Will it create a lasting change in Egyptian society and result in prosecutions?
Salma will talk to the key women fighting for change, and the male allies using their platform to speak out. She’ll hear from Nadeen Ashraf, the young woman behind Assault Police, and Sabah Khodir who’s offering practical support and guidance for victims. Plus she’ll speak to Omar Samra a well-known adventurer who’s encouraging men to take responsibility for their actions. She’ll hear from Human Rights Watch about their concerns over women’s rights in the country, and she’ll speak to Egyptian American journalist Mona Eltahawy about her hopes for a feminist revolution.
Producer: Miriam Williamson
(Picture: Egyptian women hold signs during a protest against sexual harassment in Cairo, Egypt, June 2014 / Credit: Ahmed Ismail/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
29 min
October 16, 2020 Russia's persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses
There are hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia who are being prosecuted for their faith. Some of them say they have been tortured and their testimonies were never investigated. Others have to hide their prayers as they fear the secret services are spying on them through undercover agents.
The wave of arrests started in 2017 after the Russian Supreme Court declared Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation as extremist and banned all Jehovah’s Witnesses registered groups throughout the country.
Jehovah’s Witnesses renounce violence and do not possess arms, yet criminal cases against them claim they possess extremist materials and peaceful worship has been raided by armed police.
This programme will follow some of the most dramatic stories told by Jehovah’s Witnesses under prosecution and their family members. Among them is the story of imprisoned man Feliks as told by his wife Zhenya. Upon arrival to his colony Feliks had suffered such an atrocious beating that he spent months recovering in a prison hospital. In May this year he was stripped of his Russian citizenship and became the first Jehovah’s Witness forced into statelessness. We will also hear from Jehovah’s Witnesses who aren’t prosecuted but live in constant expectation of being disturbed by police.
All of them will share how their faiths help them to survive those dark days and how they continue to worship despite being scared and intimidated.
Presenter: Anastasia Gulubeva
Producer: Tatyana Movshevich
(Picture: Feliks Makhammadiev /Credit: jw-russia.org)
29 min
October 09, 2020 Testifying against a Neo-Nazi
On the 9th of October, 2019, Mollie S. a Baltimore native, was observing the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur in the city of Halle, Germany. She decided to take a short break and go for a walk during the proceedings. Moments later a then 27 year old neo-Nazi named Stephan Balliet attempted to bomb the Synagogue and later on a Kebab Shop. Mollie returned to the Synagogue shortly after and saw a body wrapped on the street outside.
On this day, Amie Liebowitz received an unexpected text from her friend Mollie. Mollie lives in Berlin and messaged her to say that she was a victim of the attack but was okay and looked after.
Mollie and Amie kept in contact. They had always been close friends but Amie wasn't aware of the full extent to which Mollie had been affected and was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD). In August 2020, Mollie asked Amie if she would be her support person as she testifies against the neo-Nazi in Magdeburg, Germany.
From catching the train in Berlin together to the court proceedings, practicing her testimony the night before and retracing her steps in Halle, these two friends have a honest discussion about what it's like living with trauma and standing up to someone who wants to kill you because of your faith.
Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta
(Picture: Damaged entrance door to the synagogue in Halle (Saale),Germany, July 2020 / Credit: JENS SCHLUETER/AFP via Getty Images)
28 min
October 02, 2020 The US Elections: A Faith Perspective
Religiosity has always been a key factor of who takes charge in the White House. US presidents have been invoking faith and God ever since George Washington expressed his “fervent pleas to this Almighty Being who rules the universe” in his 1789 inaugural address.
This year, more than ever eyes are on who the religious voting banks will decide as their candidate of choice for the upcoming Presidential election. Does Trump remain the choice of evangelicals or has some of his statements and behaviour proved a turn off? And will Biden’s Catholic faith help him or do his liberal values on topics such as abortion put him out of favour.
In the programme journalist Colm Flynn speaks to religious people across the United States to get a sense of the role faith will play in determining who will become the next President of the United States.
Presenter & Producer: Colm Flynn.
27 min
September 24, 2020 Father Joe
Just over a year ago, 29 year old Lyra McKee was shot dead in Northern Ireland.
The day after she was murdered, the parish priest in the part of Londonderry where she was shot was angry and deeply upset, and he spoke out against those who pulled the trigger. Father Joe Gormley knew it could be dangerous to be so vocal but nevertheless he said: "Our parish is full of so many good people and these people come into our area and use us to carry out such vile acts. How dare they. How dare they."
"They have done it in this Holy Week. They have done it in a way that is totally, totally anti-Gospel and literally anti-Christ."
Father Gormley was right. Speaking publicly took its toll. He felt at risk from groups like the New IRA and Saoradh, and fellow clergy urged him to watch it.
However Father Gormley hasn't stopped meditating on Lyra's death. Now he feels it's safer to tell the story of what it's like to serve parishioners in a housing estate which has been at the heart of the sectarian conflict for so long.
Presented by Siobhann Tighe.
(Image: Father Gormley / Credit: BBC)
27 min
September 18, 2020 The lives of female Qur'an reciters
Around the world, there are differing attitudes to recitation of the Qur'an and the female voice in Islam. For some, female reciters should be restricted to female-only spaces, reciting verses in female prayer circles or Islamic lectures, for fear that the voice in public arenas with mixed audiences can bring about sin. But in many cultures it is permissible and encouraged to platform female reciters, and there is growing appetite from women online to bring more women into the field.
Nusaiba Mohammad Timol is one reciter who grew up between Saudi Arabia and the UK. Never hearing a female reciter perform publicly during her childhood, she was the first winner of Islam Channel's national Qiraat (recitation) competition in 2006 and has gone onto recite publicly as well as teach both men and women how to recite. But her reception has not been completely positive - and a record deal was scuppered when investors in Egypt said it was not appropriate to sign a woman.
We hear from Madinah Javed and Maryam Amir, two reciters across the Atlantic from each other who are using Instagram to raise awareness about female recitation and scholarship, and from some of the women that they have inspired.
Producer/presenter: Sophia Smith Galer
(Photo credit: BBC/Emily MacInnes)
27 min
September 04, 2020 Faith versus the virus: Pakistan’s struggle
Pakistan’s relationship with religion is the most distinct element of its identity. Be it politics or any other aspect of social & cultural life, religion is the main guiding force.
The country was created in the name of Islam almost a quarter century ago, where the clergy still enjoys the tremendous power. Even during the pandemic, when the holiest mosques & shrines in Saudi Arabia, Iran & Turkey were closed, the clerics in Pakistan refused to shut down the mosques in Ramadan.
The former cricketer Imran Khan’s government tried and failed to stop annual gathering of “Raiwind Tableeghi Jamat” a global Muslim missionary movement in the Eastern city of Lahore, which is thought to have resulted in transmitting the first corona virus case to the Middle East.
And now, weeks before Eid-ul-Adha, cattle markets have sprung up in and around cities, where people in large numbers are gathering to buy animals for sacrifice.
This program gives a picture of a struggle between science and faith in Pakistan. How the voices of doctors and paramedics were lost in religious rhetoric and how the government has been repeatedly backing down under the pressure from the religious leaders. Presented by: Shumaila Jaffery
(Image: Muslim devotees offer prayers for the Eid al-Adha, at a mosque in Rawalpindi, Pakinstan on August 1, 2020. / Credit: FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP via Getty Images)
27 min
August 28, 2020 Fruit of thy womb
In many religions child bearing is revered. Giving birth can be a way of honouring your deity and strengthening your community. In contrast, infertility can be seen as a punishment.
So what impact does that have on the faith of women who find they’re unable, or unwilling, to conceive? This Heart and Soul hears how this experience has transformed the spiritual lives of four different women - Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew.
The Fruit of Thy Womb is produced by Julia Paul.
28 min

About Heart and Soul

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Heart and Soul is a weekly half-hour programme that has the scope and understanding to explore different experiences of spirituality from around the world.