Beyond Belief

The very public failures of the Mid Staffordshire National Health Service Foundation Trust raised serious questions about the standard of care in some hospitals. Two Enquiries agreed that there had been "appalling" emergency care with deficiencies at "virtually every stage." What would have prevented such a humanitarian failure? Some said that an obsession with targets and bureaucracy had been allowed to obscure the needs of patients. Others suggested that nurses in particular had lost the capacity to care. Again and again we heard the word "Compassion". Good old fashioned Compassion - a concept central to the world's religious tradition - just wasn't fashionable in an individualistic and competitive society.Ernie Rea is joined by Paul Gilbert, Professor of Psychology at the University of Derby: Anna Smajdor lecturer in Medical Ethics at the University of East Anglia; and Joshua Hordern Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at the University of Oxford.Producer: Rosie Dawson.

In January Alexis Tsipras became Prime Minister of Greece and formed a coalition government with the nationalist Independent Greek Party. Tsipras is a radical, committed to ending austerity. He is also an atheist who publicly declared that he wants to move Greece in a secular direction. That would be a radical move, for Greek Orthodoxy is the only legally recognised religion and may command the loyalty of up to 97% of the Greek people. Tsipras did not take a religious oath on taking office. But since then he has been seen attending Orthodox Services; and has been making friendly overtures to Orthodox Clergy. Church attendance in Greece is low; but Orthodoxy appears to be deeply embedded in the identity of the Greek people. It is almost part of their DNA. Why is that? And how does it impact on the lives of ordinary people?Joining Ernie to discuss the influence of the Orthodox Church within modern Greece are the Rev Vasileios Papathanasiou, priest at the Grreek Orthodox Cathedra; of the Holy Cross and St Michael in Golders Green; Stavroula Pipyrou Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews; and Daphne Halikiopoulou, Associate Professor in Comparative Politics at the University of Reading.Producer: Rosie Dawson.

Kathmandu was a city of temples. Now it is a city of tents." That was the comment of one observer after the two recent earthquakes which struck Nepal. Thousands have died; many more made homeless in one of the world's poorest countries. Nepal is overwhelmingly Hindu; central to the Hindu belief is karma, the conviction that every action produces an equal reaction; that suffering in this life is a consequence of your actions in a previous life. How do such beliefs sit alongside an understanding of plate tectonics? After the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 which killed an estimated 60,000 people, many theologians abandoned the attempt to explain such disasters in terms of God. What might be the effect of this disaster on the religious beliefs of people in Nepal? Joining Ernie to discuss how religious responses to earthquakes and other Natural Disasters are Edward Simpson, Professor of Social Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, author of "the Political biography on an earthquake" about the aftermath of earthquakes in Western India: Atreyee Sen, Lecturer in Contemporary Religion and Conflict at the University of Manchester; and The Rev David Chester, Professor of Environmental Sciences at Liverpool Hope University.

Ernie Rea and guests discuss the promise and threats of developing artificial intelligence with Anders Sandberg, a philosopher from the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford, Elaine Graham, Grosvenor Professor of practical Theology at Chester University, and Professor Lionel Tarassenko, Chair of electrical engineering at Oxford University.Producer: Rosie Dawson.

This is the Holy Week; the time when Christians remember the events leading up to the trial and execution of Jesus of Nazareth. It came to a climax on a Cross on a hillside outside Jerusalem, when Jesus laid down his life, according to Christian belief, as an atonement for the sins of the world. He was a scapegoat, an innocent man who suffered the punishment which by rights should have been ours. The scapegoat motif has resounded throughout history. Jews, held responsible for Christ's death, have been made scapegoats right up to the present day. The scapegoat is nearly always "the other;" the stranger who can be made to bear the responsibility for the problems the rest of us don't want to own. Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the Scapegoat are Rabbi Dan Cohn Sherbok, Professor Emeritus of Judaism at the University of Wales: Sharon Dirix, Tutor at the Centre for Christian Apologetics at Oxford; and Peter Stanford, writer and broadcaster whose latest book on Judas came out last week.Producer: Rosie Dawson.

Ernie Rea and guests discuss the revival of Confucianism in China.In 1966 the Red Guard in China sent a telegram to Mao tse Tung. "Dearest Chairman Mao," it read. "We have rebelled. We have torn down the plaque extolling "The teacher of ten thousand generations;" we have levelled Confucius' grave; and we have obliterated the statues in the Confucius Temple." By the time the Cultural Revolution had done its work, Confucianism which had dominated the religious and cultural life of China for over a millennium, seemed almost obliterated. But today it is making a comeback. The Chinese government is encouraging its study. What is going on? How can it be that a philosophy which was thought to be the embodiment of reaction is being hailed as a force of progress, Joining Ernie to discuss the New Confucianism are Dr Joachim Gentz, Chair of Chinese Philosophy and Religion at Edinburgh University: Thomas Chan, a member of ASHA, a group which focuses on inter faith dialogue: and Isobel Hilton, a journalist and editor of Chinadialogue.comProducer: Rosie Dawson.

In Britain we're sometimes nervous about talking about religion, lacking the tools to talk about it in a society of many faiths and none. But how can we begin to understand one another if we cannot talk about those things which form the bedrock of so many peoples' lives. Joining Ernie to discuss Religious Literacy are Dr James Conroy, Vice Principal of the University of Glasgow and lead author of the publication, "Does Religious Education Work?"; Dr Adam Dinham, Professor of Faith and Public Policy at Goldsmith's, University of London; and Dr Abby Day, Reader of Race, Faith and Culture at Goldsmiths, and author of "Believing and Belonging."Producer: Rosie Dawson.

According to Islamic teaching, there will a be a Day of Judgement when all of humanity will be judged by Allah. It will be preceded by divisions within the body of Islam and battles throughout the Middle East, particularly in Syria. Little wonder that some Muslims are speculating that the End Times are upon them. The leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, uses the language of End Times to underpin his organisation's legitimacy. So are we really experiencing the signs of the End Time? Why are the end time beliefs in Islam similar to those in Christianity? Does Islamic State believe they are hastening the Last Judgement? Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the end of time is Ibrahim Mogra, an Imam working in Leicester and Assistant Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain; Dr Shuruq Nagruib, Lectuere in Islamic Studies at Lancaster University and Dr Rebecca Masterton, Islamic scholar and Director of Online Shia Studies.Producer: Amanda Hancox.

Is Purgatory a religious place or a psychological concept?Even in this so-called secular age, people with little or no religious belief often revert to religious terminology to describe their experience. After a difficult time, someone will say, "I've been to Hell and back." And after a time of testing or of waiting, they might say they've been through Purgatory. The word Purgatory comes from the Latin word meaning to "Purge," and refers in Catholic teaching to a place or state between heaven and hell. It has no place in Protestant or Orthodox teaching. How did the idea develop? What was its purpose? Does it have any contemporary meaning? Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the concept of Purgatory are Miri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History at Queen Mary University, London: Father Paul Keane, Vice Rector of Oscott Catholic Seminary in Birmingham: and the historian of religions, Martin Palmer.Producer: Rosie Dawson.

Is it correct to describe the killers of Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris as fundamentalists? When this programme was recorded, the operation to detain the suspects is continuing. The initial murders were carried out in the name of Allah in retaliation for the publication of cartoons deemed to be lampooning the prophet Mohammed. How do you describe people who carry out such atrocities? A quick glance through the papers revealed a wide diversity of terms, from the simple "terrorists," to "Muslim hardliners and "Islamic fundamentalist." Which terms are appropriate? What does it mean to describe someone in religious terms as "A Fundamentalist? What problems do we cause problems when we don't consider carefully the meaning of terms before applying them to a particular situation? The use of the term Fundamentalism has changed over the decades. Joining Ernie Rea to discuss its usage today are Haras Raffiq, Managing Director of the Quilliam Foundation, which exists to counter Islamic extremism, Julie Scott Jones, Associate Head of the Sociology Department at Manchester Metropolitan University; and Salman Sayyid, Reader in Islam and Politics at the University of Leeds.Producer: Rosie Dawson.