Is religious intolerance on the rise, and if so, what is behind it?

In Sri Lanka this week, people claiming to be acting out of religious belief killed more than 350 people, mostly of a different faith – in this case Christians.

Religious intolerance is a theme which has surfaced in the news with some frequency in recent years – be it the persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar, the Yazidis in Iraq, the Uighurs in China or numerous blasphemy trials in Pakistan.

On this week's programme, David Aaronovitch asks whether religious intolerance – be it intolerance of religions, or by religions - is actually on the rise.

If so, who is leading this – governments? Nationalist political movements? Or the faithful themselves?

CONTRIBUTORS:

Alan Keenan, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group

Alan Cooperman, Director of Religion research, Pew Research Centre

Karen Armstrong, author of The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts

Oliver McTernan, founder of the conflict resolution organisation, Forward Thinking

Robin Gill, Emeritus Professor of Applied Theology at the University of Kent