The Holy Political Podcast

So, you may have noticed we've been away. Hope you didn't miss us too much.

We thought it was time to explain why. Hopefully we'll be back to regular episodes soon!

Soz x

Hi ho.

This week we've got Jonathan Williams, from CARE, on to talk about why the Government's new Relationships and Sex Education syllabus is causing concern, and also point out what good things it includes.

Then Laurence Wilkinson, from ADF International, joins us to discuss the viral video of a street preacher being arrested outside a London tube station.

Enjoy!

Fine then! We'll talk about Brexit...

We're joined by the brilliant Jonathan Tame, Director of the Jubilee Centre, who is talking about overcoming post-referendum divisions, off the back of his excellent recent article on the topic.

We chat with Jonathan about what Biblical examples can help us overcome these divisions, and how we can be light in our society today.

We're back (a little late!) in 2019 to chat with Natan Mladin from Theos Think Tank about his new report ‘Forgive us Our Debts: Lending and borrowing as if relationships matter’.

Enjoy!

Happy Christmas!

This week we're joined by two experts, to talk about persecution of Christians around the world, including Asia Bibi, and what the UK Government is and should be doing to help them.

Zoe Smith, Head of Advocacy at Open Doors UK, and Amro Hussain, Parliamentary Officer for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Freedom of Religion or Belief, join us to help explore this important topic.

This week we're delighted to play you the talk Prof James KA Smith gave to MPs and Peers at Christians in Parliament's event, looking at how Christians should engage in politics between Jesus' ascension and return.

In recent years, James KA Smith has become perhaps the leading evangelical theologian and philosopher writing on how Christians should think about engaging in society, and specifically politics. He has recently published Awaiting the Kingdom, the third and final instalment of his widely acclaimed Cultural Liturgies series.

Plus, we have to talk about Brexit. Cos that's the law now.

Ben Ryan, Head of Research at the think-tank Theos (which focuses on religion and the public square) joins us to talk about the Theos Annual Lecture, given last week by Michael Gove, and about 'Christianism' and how populist parties across Europe may be co-opting the language and symbols of Christianity.

Plus, we chat about Brexit cos, you know, it's hard not to.

Rachel Senior, who works with the Bishop of Gloucester, joins us to talk about Prisons week and why it would be better if many women prisoners on short sentences were given community orders and sent to women's centres instead.

Plus, we chat about the Government's delay on new regulations to fixed-odds betting terminals (dubbed the 'crack cocaine of gambling') which led the Government's Gambling Minister to resign.

It's not all good news though: Johnny's back.

This week the wonderful Philippa Taylor, Head of Public Policy at the Christian Medical Fellowship, joins James to talk about the abortion - both the law, barriers to the support available for women, and the actions by the UK Government to increase the numbers of abortion in the developing world.

Enjoy!

(Apols from Johnny - I'll be back next week!)

We’ve got LOADS of big things to talk about this week:

🇨🇳 Ryan Day on the Catholic Church’s big and controversial agreement with the Chinese Government, with Ryan Day

🍰 Simon Calvert on the Ashers Bakery ‘gay cake’ court case 

⛓ Lousie Gleich on prostitution and modern slavery

🔵 And Gareth Wallace on the Conservative Party Conference

Enjoy!

——

Few random links from the episode:

Louise mentioned Beyond the Streets and their amazing work.

More about the Ashers Bakery case from the Christian Institute and the BBC.

And a bit more on the Catholic Church’s deal with the Vatican.