Sunday

The Epstein files has raised big questions beyond politics, Sunday explores the moral dimension of the latest revelations.
Documents reveal that in 2017 the financier and convicted paedophile was sent fragments of a cloth used to cover the Kaaba - also known as the House of God - in the Great Mosque of Mecca. Edward Stourton discusses the revelation with Leicester imam Sheik Ibrahim Mogra.
A hammer price of 23 million dollars is quite a lot to pay for a small chalk drawing of a foot. Michelangelo sketch was part of a study for the magnificent Sistine Chapel fresco. Jarda Da-man, a specialist in Old Masters at Christies, describes it for the Sunday audience.
The BAFTA awards are a fortnight away and the documentary 'Apocalypse in the Tropics' is in the running. It is a story of religion and right-wing politics set in Brazil, and focuses on the rule of Jair Bolsonaro, who was the country's president from 2019 until 2023, before he was replaced by President Lula da Silva. Petra Costa directed the film and details the rise in evangelical Christianity against the setting of Brazilian politics.
Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producers: Bara'atu Ibrahim & Katy Booth
Studio Managers: Lynsey Akehurst & Phillip Halliwell
Editor: Tim Pemberton

Churches across the country are bracing themselves for a significant new financial challenge. Until now, they’ve been able to reclaim VAT on essential repairs for everything from leaky roofs to dilapidated towers. But from April, that protection goes, and they'll have to pay a 20-per-cent tax to the government. William Crawley speaks to Sir Philip Rutnam, Chair of the National Churches Trust.
At the start of the year, the Jamia Usmania mosque in Bradford posted a video on social media of its pilates class for older men, and it went viral. William hears from the mosque’s general secretary Mohammed Ilyas and pilates instructor Zafar Kayani and tries a few pilates moves in the studio.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve devoted a series to faith and Gen Z: rising Bible sales, social media influencers, and the online “orthobro” phenomenon. We've also previously reported on the battle between statisticians about whether or not the data points to a "quiet revival". But this week, Humanists UK offered a new analysis of the British Social Attitudes Survey which, they say, ends the debate once and for all. To explore what’s really going on, we hear from Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of Humanists UK and Linda Woodhead, professor of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London.
PRESENTER: William Crawley
PRODUCERS: Katy Davis & James Leesley
STUDIO MANAGERS: Mike Smith & Lyndsey Akehurst
EDITOR: Dan Tierney

People are facing increased financial strain as funeral costs rise, according to the Quaker Social Action charity. One of the unexpected bills that hits people at this vulnerable moment is the high burial charge some local authorities demand if the person who has died lives in another borough, even if they are geographically close by.
As part of our series on young people and religious revivals, we are looking at the increase in new members of the Orthodox Church in the UK and ask whether online influencers or 'Orthobros' are one of the reasons behind the rise.
As Brooklyn Peltz Beckham says he doesn’t want to reconcile with his family, we explore what faith leaders say about forgiveness, reconciliation and familial estrangement. His parents, Sir David and Lady Victoria Beckham, haven't officially responded.
PRESENTER: EMILY BUCHANAN
PRODUCERS: KATY BOOTH & BARA'ATU IBRAHIM
STUDIO MANAGERS: BECKY MARCUS, GEORGE WILLIS, SAM BIDDLE & AMY BRENNAN
EDITOR: CATHERINE MURRAY

The capture of the Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro, the attacks on alleged drug-running boats off the Venezuelan coast, the threats to strike the regime in Iran, the determination to take Greenland even though it is the territory of a fellow NATO member, the musings about invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act so that active-service troops can be deployed on the streets of Minneapolis - all of these things raise profound legal and moral questions. Edward Stourton speaks to the Catholic archbishop Timothy Broglio who leads the United States Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Sales of the Bible have rocketed according to data from Britain's biggest Christian publisher, SPCK. For most of the 2010s they ran at a reasonably steady rate - between two and a half and three million a year - but they began to take off in 2021, and last year they hit over six million three hundred thousand. This comes amid claims of a religious revival being led by younger people. We begin a mini-series of reports devoted to Gen Z believers.
There has been a huge increase in the proportion of imams in this country who are British born, according to new research. A study nearly two decades ago found the figure was just eight percent - a new study, due to be published this autumn, concludes the figure has increased to forty eight percent, or nearly half. The findings form part of Cardiff University's 'Understanding British Imams' research project.
PRESENTER: Edward Stourton
PRODUCERS: Dan Tierney & Katy Davis
STUDIO MANAGERS: Chris Mather, Luke Holmes & Phil Booth
EDITOR: Tim Pemberton

As protests in Iran continue into their 16th day, Emily Buchanan asks Prof Ali Ansari whether the country is ready to end almost 50 years of clerical rule.
Elegy from a Scottish church, as parishioners say goodbye to the Holy Family Parish in Inverclyde, one of more than 300 that have closed in Scotland since 2020.
We hear about 'Born in Bethlehem' the BBC documentary that tracked the lives of Palestinian women giving birth in a Catholic-run hospital in the West Bank.
Should the C of E foot the bill for lower income couples to encourage marriage? Church wedding costs are under scrutiny after a centre-right think tank, the Centre for Social Justice made the recommendation aimed at promoting marriage to improve outcomes for boys.
The Universities of Leeds and Cambridge team up to train UK Muslims how to spot the moon themselves and end the so called 'moon wars' that often mark the end of Ramadan.
Presenter: Emily Buchanan
Producers: Catherine Murray & Bara'atu Ibrahim
Studio Managers: Paul Everatt & Helen Williams
Editor: Chloe Walker