Andrew Norfolk's next investigation?

This morning's Sunday on Radio 4 shows that some parts of the BBC have abandoned any pretence of impartiality over the Tower Hamlets fostering controversy. 

This was the most one-sided piece of reporting I've heard for quite some time. 

It started from the premise that the Times's reporting left a lot to be desired and included a range of voices all saying the same thing. 

The messages from Kevin Bocquet's report were: that the Times's reporting was disappointing; that placing Christian children in the care of Muslim families raises no problems; that there are wonderful Muslim foster carers; and that the Times's reporting risks making adoption harder for Muslim children. 

There was no one to defend the Times's reporting and no attempt on the BBC presenter or reporter's part to provide a contrasting point of view. 

Maybe Andrew Norfolk should investigate biased reporting at the BBC next.

'Just money', Bob Fu, Catholic family values, Top 10 Christian books, jihadis and the internet & an Anglican row

My old spiel about the sort of features you'd usually get on a typical edition of Radio 4's Sunday...

"the usual diet of breaking news from the Arab world, Christian-related abuse stories, bad news about the Catholic Church, something about human rights, the usual airing of Muslim grievances, a call for something or other by a left-wing campaign group, an Anglican row over something, that sort of thing" 

...sprang to mind again during this morning's edition of the programme. Four out of the six features today were picked from that standard menu. 

Still, there were other, less usual features too - choices from the specials board, so to speak.

Here's how it went (using quotes from the Sunday website as titles for each section):

1. A more balanced approach to economics which takes its inspiration from the Catholic Church is being urged in a new report commissioned by the think tank Theos. We speak to its author.

That author was Edward Stourton's old friend from the Tablet, Thought for the Day's  Clifford Longley. His report argues that "market fundamentalism" got us into trouble in 2008, so what's needed in an infusion of Catholic social teaching. Clifford is specifically pioneering the concept of 'just money' - a parallel to 'just war' theory. The idea is that making profits isn't necessarily a bad thing; it should, however, "serve the common good". Business is fine, therefore, but any profits need to be made under certain social constraints. Labour's policy chief John Cruddas is, apparently, very enthusiastic about the report. 

We hear a lot about Catholic social teaching on Sunday.

2. The Chinese American Christian pastor Bob Fu speaks to Edward about the growth of Christianity in China despite ongoing persecution, and assesses the implications of the recent Hong Kong protests for the mainland.

Described somewhere as "probably the world's best known Chinese Christian", Bob Fu now lives in exile in Texas. He was a demonstrator in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and one of those who the Communist Party took revenge on afterwards. He converted to Christianity during his subsequent interrogation. He'd heard others lying to get themselves off the hook and was having very dark thoughts about carrying out a suicide bombing against the Chinese regime when he began reading Chinese pastors' testimony and a missionary book. After becoming a Christian he was imprisoned again (in 1996) for establishing an underground house church i.e. "illegal evangelising". He then went to Hong Kong before getting his family out and moving to America. (He thanks people in the free world for helping them).

His new uses a quotation from Madame Mao crowing that Christianity was "dead and buried" in China. Well, it's not dead and buried now. It's said there are more Chinese Christians than Communist Party members in China now - "the most rapid growth since the time of Adam", Bob called it. Over 300 churches have been attacked in recent months and there's been over sixty years of persecution now. For Bob Fu this shows, "the most persecution there is the more Christian believers there will be". 

An interesting and inspiring man, and all credit to Sunday for interviewing him.

3. In the second of three special reports on what ordinary Catholics think about their Church's teaching on family life, Kevin Bocquet speaks to school children and university students.

Back to Catholic matters, and a two-part report. 

The first part came from a Catholic retreat centre in Bollington, Cheshire. Six 14-years old Catholics expressed their very clear views. None of them goes to church very often, and they feel frowned-at for not going every week. On marriage and the family,  they think the church should get with the 21st Century, be more "lenient" and let people divorce and remarry. On contraception, they say "people should be allowed to do whatever they feel is right" and believe that the Church's rules "shouldn't be as strict as they are". God gave us free will, they said. It's not for Church to "tell people how to live their lives". Despite all this, they all feel Catholic and believe they will be Catholics until they die.

The second part of the report came from Manchester (where most Sunday reports seem to come from these days, given that the programme is broadcast from Salford), specifically from a Royal Catholic Student Chaplaincy there. This group of young adults was far more theologically-minded and expressed a much greater spread of views from fairly liberal to fairly conservative. None, strikingly, was as emphatically socially liberal as the children in Cheshire. 

I suspect that the selection of views reflected each place and each group accurately. 

4. The Church Times has released its 'top 10 Christian books'. We pick through the list and discuss how theological writing can appeal to the modern reader.

So, St Augustine's Confessions is the best Christian book of all time, according to the Church Times; and, for those interested in such things, here's the full list:

1 Confessions by Saint Augustine

2 The Rule of Benedict by Saint Benedict

3 Summa Theologica by Saint Thomas Aquinas

4 Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

5 The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) by Dante Alighieri

6 Pensees by Blaise Pascal

7 The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

8 City of God by Saint Augustine

9 The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a. Kempis

10 Complete English Poems by George Herbert

As Edward Stourton noted, the most modern book on that list is The Pilgrims Progress. 

Sunday talked to Martyn Percy (who compiled the list) and Chine Mbubaegbu from the Evangelical Alliance. Martyn was unashamed to have gone for reliable, rich, influential classics. Despite some gentle ribbing from Ed Stourton, he stuck to his belief that these books - some of which haven't sold a single copy over the past year - matter. Chine was less smitten, noting that many of her friends' favourite writers - Billy Graham & Co - aren't there. The importance of C.S. Lewis as a popular classic Christian writer was agreed upon by all and both of Ed's guests agreed that there are no such obvious classics around today, though Cambridge University's Sarah Coakley got an honourable mention.

Any list that has George Herbert's poems in its Top 10 is fine by me but it's a shame that C.S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters didn't make the grade though. 

5. Social media, glossy videos and easy access Jihad magazines are all part the recruitment drive for extremist groups like the Islamic State. How are young people drawn in? And what is the best way to counter these messages? Bob Walker reports.

Bob Walker's report began and ended with Khadijah Kamara, the mother of the 19 year old jihadi killed in Syria whilst 'serving' with the al-Qaeda affiliates out there. She was on Broadcasting House last Sunday and, from reading Biased BBC, seems to have appeared on at least a couple of other programmes across the BBC as well. Whatever her personal merits and circumstances, she is certainly getting a good deal more attention from the BBC that the mothers of the victims of jihadis. 

Bob noted that Kadija still blames the authorities for her son managing to fly to Syria. She herself believes peer pressure - especially the internet - caused his radicalisation. 

We also heard from Jahan Mahmood, a former Home Office advisor. He was looking at an al-Qaeda recruitment video, which he described as a slick Western style army recruitment video complete with Muslim songs. He argued that the authorities have taken too long to take such online material seriously, saying they should have started in 2008-09. He wants a strong online counter-narrative and those videos deconstructed (perhaps using former fighters.) He also blames "shoot-em-up video games" that sanitise war. He himself tries to de-glamourise war, such as by showing the horrific effects on an enfield rifle. 

A Home Office statement was then read out saying that the government is doing lots of good stuff and that 50,000 pieces glorifying terrorism have been taken down.

Next came the obligatory aggrieved Muslim - a cleared terrorist suspect, arrested for looking at an online manual used by terrorists. He says (and the courts believed him) that he was merely researching how to make prank smoke bombs. Bob Walker, rather gratuitously,  dropped in that he's now a "carer for his disabled father" and also a political activist. 

Next it was the turn of Hafiz Usman from Birmingham Central Mosque. He said that imams are doing lots of good stuff and tackling extremism online.

Finally it was back to the mother of the dead jihadi, who never knew about such material until her son went to Syria. Bob Walker said that such material "twists religion to justify violence" [the standard BBC/British government view] "but it's also religion [in her case, Islam] that gives her comfort", and the report ended with  Khadijah Kamara explaining the importance of her faith.

6. This week the conservative evangelical group 'Reform' pulled out of the Church of England's 'shared conversations' on sexuality. Edward Stourton asks whether the deep divisions on this issue can ever be resolved.

Now, this really was a classic 'Anglican row' story. It pitted Bishop Alan Wilson, the go-ahead Bishop of Buckingham (strongly pro-gay marriage and that sort of thing) and Susie Leafe of 'Reform' (strongly against gay marriage and that sort of thing). It was a decidedly sour discussion, with Bishop Alan denying that he thinks conservative evangelicals like Susie are 'homophobic', while Susie says that she's read his book and that's exactly what he calls people like her. 

She didn't want a debate that she thinks we overturn correct Church teaching. He cited Romans 14. And so on.

I think that's all I want to say about that.

A scandalous bishop, blasphemy in Pakistan, Opus Dei, atheist evangelicalism, R.E., abortion in Brazil and someone ranting against the West over Iraq

It's been quite the day for 'good old-fashioned' newspaper sex scandal exposés, hasn't it? 

First there was Conservative MP Brooks Newmark being forced to resign over some lewd photos he sent to an undercover reporter at the Sunday Mirror, which (along with the defection of Mark Reckless to UKIP) is, understandably, dominating the headlines of pretty much every media organisation in the country. 

Then came the Mail on Sunday's exposé of a leading Catholic bishop for having an affair with at least one one woman. The bishop has now resigned. 

That story led this morning's Sunday on Radio 4, so it's time for the usual review of that programme.

Kieran Conry, the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton [above], is a leading liberal voice within the English Catholic Church and, as a result, has long been a repeated target for criticism from conservative Catholic bloggers. Damian Thompson called him "the [liberal Catholic] Tablet's favourite bishop" and noted his appearance on a particularly biased edition of Sunday back in 2010:

From the strictly impartial BBC Sunday programme at Cofton Park, a classic discussion of the subject of women priests between Tablet editorial consultant Clifford Longley, Tablet director Tina Beattie and the Tablet's favourite bishop, Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton – chaired by Tablet trustee Ed Stourton.

That sort of thing prompted one of my first posts at Is the BBC biased?, 'Take One 'Tablet' Three Times a Day', and caused something of a storm - and a significant falling-off of guests from The Tablet thereafter. It was a blatant case of bias, exposed and then rectified by the BBC - i.e. a result!

Bishop Conry's unhappy story was the opening item on this morning's Sunday. Edward Stourton discussed the matter with Catherine Pepinster, editor of the Tablet (who else?). My goodness, they sounded as if they had rather heavy hearts. Catherine paid him a handsome tribute.

From Catholic matters, Sunday moved next to the plight of Muhammad Asghar, the British man with a history of mental illness who has been sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan for sending letters claiming to be (the prophet) Mohammed. Now he's been shot by a prison guard in jail. Edward Stourton talked to BBC Pakistan correspondent Shaimaa Khalil [below] about the story. 

She talked about "the sensitivity and danger" that faces anyone who dares to confront this issue. Many Pakistanis even think that it's blasphemous for lawyers to defend people on blasphemy charges, and there have been several high-profile assassinations of would-be reformers of the blasphemy law there. 

It was then back to Catholic matters, as Sunday discussed the beatification in Madrid of Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, former leader of the Opus Dei movement. 200,000 people from 80 countries attended. If he becomes a saint he'll be the second saint associated with that particular Catholic movement. Bishop Alvaro took over the movement in 1975 after the death of its founder, Saint Josemaría Escrivá. Opus Dei's Jack Valero (also of Catholic Voices), something of a Sunday regular [often as the only non-socially-liberal voice on panels], told Edward Stourton about his life - details such as that Pope John Paul II only ever attended two peoples' wakes as pope - one of the doctor who cured him after his assassination attempt, and the other Bishop Alvaro. Jack Valero praised him for bringing the laity to the fore and placing the clergy in a subservient role, in the spirit of Vatican II. 

His miracle was the cure of a little baby born in Chile in 2003 with heart problems. The baby's heart had stopped for half an heart. The doctors wanted to stop treating him but his mother prayed to Bishop Alvaro [below, with John Paul II] and the boy recovered with no brain damage. The doctor, an atheist, couldn't account for it. Thus, it was a miracle. 

Sunday reported last year on a couple of comedians who were setting up atheist churches. 

There are now over 60 of these Sunday Assemblies, so-called Godless congregations, opening across the world and there's a poster campaign in the London Underground from the British Humanist Association too. So what's with all this "atheist evangelisation"? 

Kevin Bouquet reported.

Instead of hymns the Sunday Assembly movement sing pop songs (like 'Blame It on the Boogie') and have talks, poetry readings, meditation periods, and tea and biscuits. But no God. They are unabashed about having "stolen" the form from traditional religious services.

We heard from supporters (non-believers) and sceptics (believers). Sunday regular Andrew Copson of the BHA appeared during the report too.

According to the last census, there are 14 million atheists in England and Wales. 

From atheism to R.E. A review of Religious Education in Church of England schools has found that the teaching of RE is "not good enough" in 60% of their primary schools. The author of the report, Alan Brine [below], was interviewed by Ed Stourton. 

Mr Brine told him that R.E. in Church secondary schools is fine. It's just Church primary schools. His explanation? A confusion about its purpose, and a lack of subject knowledge and background training from some of the teachers, he said. Because of that Christianity is often boiled down to "a narrow diet of Bible stories". 

For Mr Brine a proper religious education would inculcate an understanding of the key ideas, concepts, theology and practice of various religious traditions (Christian and non-Christian). He sees what children are getting now as being mostly "superficial bits of information which don't always add up to a coherent grasp". 

At secondary school well-trained teachers who understand their subject ride to the rescue, somewhat.

Edward then discussed it with Sunday's favourite bishop, John Pritchard, the Bishop of Oxford, who heads the Church's body looking at such matters. 

John Pritchard, often heard on Sunday denouncing the government's welfare reforms, called on the government to train more R.E. teachers, and get more R.E. teachers into primary schools. 

A quarter of schools in England are C of E ones.

Sunday then turned to the Brazilian elections, looking specifically at the issue of abortion. 

I was interested in hearing how Sunday would report this, given Today editor's statement about the BBC having a 'liberalising groupthink' about such issues. Ed framed the story as being about how "Brazil's strict anti-abortion laws have come under scrutiny once again following the recent deaths of two women who sought illegal terminations". 

One of the two front-runners, Marina Silva [above] of the Socialist Party (pitted against Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party), is an evangelical Christian who opposes abortion but says she will hold a referendum on the subject. 

The BBC's Bruce Douglas noted, as I hoped he would, that opinion polls show 80% support for keeping abortion illegal, so that's a plus. 

His first 'talking head' was a woman from a reproductive rights organisation calling for reform. She made a substantive case for his side of the argument. His second 'talking head' was a pro-life pastor who says that Marina Silva is much more sensitive to the 'right to life' issues than Dilma Rousseff, and was largely quoted talking about the politics of the matter. His third 'talking head' was a journalist who had an illegal abortion herself and also wants reform, calling the 80% who support abortion "hypocrites." She got the closing word, left hanging (damningly) in the air. 

Because of that imbalance and that telling habit of giving the last word to the socially-liberal side of the argument, I'll pronounce that report 'somewhat biased' in the BBC's 'liberalising groupthink' manner.

Finally, it was onto military action against Islamic State and a discussion between the former head of the British Army, Lord Richard Dannatt, and a Manchester imam, Asad Zaman. The subject was 'the moral foundation for military action'. 

Lord Dannatt said we don't have to think too hard or long to see it is morally right, given what Islamic State have done. He says it's also legally right. 

Asad Zaman said "we've heard it all before". "We just seem to have an insatiable appetite for Iraqi blood", he ranted. He said we have no chance of defeating them and we've been kicked out before, "having slaughtered so many people". 

He also said we aren't "in any way" being threatened by Islamic State. When Ed reminded him about our hostages - one of whom has already been beheaded - he rushed out that 'our prayers' are with Alan Henning and his family and then sped on about how it's not our business.  

Lord Dannatt said he disagreed with virtually everything Asad Zaman said, but Ed stopped him from explaining why. 

Asad Zaman said that we need to understand the situation, which is (according to him) that "the extremist Shia Iraqi government, we, the Americans...the pro-Iranian Shia government that the Americans have planted within Iraq who have kicked the Sunnis and the Kurds out of the power-sharing and the resources of Iraq...(etc)", and empower the Sunni heartlands. He then went back to the Americans and the extremist Iraqi government again. 

Thus speaks the voice of moderate Sunni Islam in Manchester, denouncing the West in hysterical terms and seeming to play the sectarian card. Even Ed Stourton sounded a little uncomfortable. 

Iraq, Alevis in Turkey, Confucianism, domestic abuse, the Ordinariate, a 'super diocese', and Rotherham and Muslims

This week's edition of Radio 4's Sunday began with the subject of Iraq, launching it with the Archbishop of York's asylum calls for UK to grant asylum to Christians from Iraq. 

What followed, however, was an interview with Katie Harrison from the charity Tearfund. She has just returned from N Iraq and her testimony was a must-hear, which - just in case you didn't hear it - I'll partially transcribe, as what she was describing just beggars belief in 2014:

Many people were telling us of the horrors of sex-slave markets. So, apparently, what happens is that women are rounded up in a town and taken to the centre of the town. Married women go through this very enforced fast divorce from their husbands so that they become released for sale, and single women are examined by somebody who decides whether they are a virgin, and a virgin will command a higher price and there, in the town square, they're sold off to men who will buy them. They then go through this very quick compulsory marriage ceremony, which basically justifies the rape that will take place later that day, and for some women they will then stay with the person who has bought them, if he wants to keep them, or then, after he's raped them, he takes them back and sells them on again, for a cheaper price this time because they've been used.

Is that what some of those many hundreds of British Muslims who have gone to fight with Islamic State (those pious Muslim defenders of Islamic virtue) are up to? 

Edward Stourton asked Katie Harrison about the Archbishop's calls for them to be allowed to live in Britain. She replied that some do want safe havens away from Iraq but that others - especially the smaller faiths - would prefer to stay where they belong, in lands that are the cradle of their faith.

And talking of persecuted minorities, the next item examined another case of a majority Muslim population oppressing a religious minority. As the programme website's blurb puts it:

This week Recep Tayyip Erdogan became Turkey's 21st president. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul about the country's Alevi minority who claim they are being targeted by Erdogan and his supporters.

Sunday has been closely watching Turkey for some time (though less so in the past year). I used to feel that it was trying to 'understand' (in typical BBC fashion) the Islamist government of Mr Erdogan, but that 'understanding' has perceptibly soured over time, especially since the protests of last year.

The Alevi community is a minority Muslim group. They comprise some one-fifth of the Turkish population. 

Alevis differ from other Muslims in many regards. Men and women pray together through dance and music. They don't worship in mosques. They use pictures, especially of the Imam Ali (from whose name the word 'Alevi' derives - as, indeed, does 'Alawite' (President Assad's sect in Syria)). Sunnis see them as heretics, and many atrocities have been perpetrated against them over history, under both the Ottomans and the Turkish Republic. 

They tend, politically-speaking, to be secular and centre-left in orientation - and, thus, strongly opposed to Mr Erdogan's Islamist agenda. That has been noticed by Mr Erdogan, who has been accused of using sectarian language against them, describing them as "part of a plot" against him, and "terrorists". Alevi-dominated areas of Istanbul have been declared an "Earthquake risk", and Alevi houses could be destroyed en masse as a result. All of which feeds an existing hatred. Crosses have apparently been painted on Alevi doors, signifying death. 

To their credit, some Muslim leaders in Turkey have stood up to all this and denounced the "deep prejudices" held against the Alevis.

Now, what does all this make you think? It makes me think that the Alevis stand on a slippery slope, a continuum - a slope that slides perilously towards what's being done to other minorities in the region, culminating in the fanatical Sunni supremacism of Islamic State.

Sunday seems to have woken up to the dangers of Mr Erdogan's 'benign' Islamism.

Next came an interview with Martin Palmer examining the question, 'Is Confucianism experiencing a revival in China?'

The answer appears to be an emphatic, 'yes' - and Martin is in a position to judge as the Chinese government has just backed his new Confucian alliance. 

As you will doubtless be aware, Confucianism dates back to the 6th Century B.C. It believes in a moral, hierarchical order to the universe which is given by Heaven and which can be taken away by Heaven. 

As to whether it's a religion, Martin Palmer noted that, since 2006, 500 Confucianist temples have sprung up in China and that Confucius himself has been worshipped as a god for at least a thousand years. That said, he places greater weight on Confucianism as a moral code.

He made the striking statement that almost no one in China believes in Communism any more. They regard Marxism-Leninism as a busted flush. That said, they see the Communist system as having restored some order after the chaos of the warlord period of Chinese history. In other words, they see it in a Confucian way. 

Confucianism was attacked under Mao. For only the second time in its long history its books burned were burned, and its temples were either destroyed or taken over during the Cultural Revolution.

That's all changed now. The new Chinese president mentions Confucius in all his speeches, Martin Palmer said, and Confucian ideas back up his ideology. 

It helps, he added, that Confucianism is seen as less dangerous than Christianity (a foreign religion) - a factor that has helped Daoism revive too. 

Over 800 Confucianist institutions have been launched by the Chinese government across the world in recent years, 16 of them in the UK.

Sunday likes to back a good cause and so it threw its weight behind the Archbishop of Canterbury's backing of a new campaign which aims to draw attention to domestic violence within the church. Kevin Bocquet reported on the matter, and the campaign was duly publicised. Its web address is www.restoredrelationships.org.

We heard from a "Sally", a victim of domestic violence who felt unable to talk to the Church about it because she didn't feel they would want to know, in the sense that she felt the Church to be a haven for people from the cares of life and that she would be spoiling their happy refuge by telling them her story. 

Then we heard from the campaigners from Restored, founded four years ago to  provide detailed advice to churches on how to spot the signs and deal with the violence. Its co-founders, Mandy Marshall and Peter Grant, are starting to train clergy in the diocese of Salisbury next week. 

Both they and Davina James-Hanman from AVA (Again Violence and Abuse), another anti-domestic violence charity, pointed to the difference between traditional and progressive believers here. They regard traditional believers' belief in a woman's subservient, obedient position in marriage as a problem.

Were I not treading nervously around such an important topic I would probably tag Sunday's liberal, progressive worldview to that position and cry 'Bias!' [against traditionalist Christians] here.

Still, good luck to them.  

The next topic was more traditional Sunday territory:

The Ordinariate - an Anglican breakaway group that joined the Catholic Church in 2011 - is trying to attract more members in order to survive. We discuss what its role should be alongside the two Churches.

I once described myself as a would-be-Ordinariate atheist, so the fate of the Ordinariate - a gift from Pope Benedict - is of interest to me. I recall Damian Thompson getting particularly irate about Sunday's initial sniffiness about it, and heard some of that myself. 

Here, however, no such complaints could be made as Ruth Gledhill, former Times religious affairs correspondent turned writer for The Tablet and Christian Today, discussed it with Ed Stourton. Ruthie was delightfully upbeat about it, saying it's "doing well" and "surviving much better than some people thought it would". She also said that it's "something of a gift to the Catholic Church." Though still small, it now has 1000-2000 laity and 100 or so clergy - and those clergy are boosting Catholic numbers, recruitment-wise. 

She described them as "proper Catholics", but ones with elements of Anglican patrimony and liturgy and said that they fit in well with the modern world's "small is beautiful" ethic. 

Ed Stourton then interviewed The Ordinariate's Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton. Ed pursued  the "neither fish nor foul", "betwixt or between" angle with him [i.e. 'you're neither Anglican nor Catholic really']. Mgr Keith mentioned the position of the Maronites and Ukrainian Catholics to show the diversity of the Catholic Church. 

Ed then pursued the topic of married clergy. Mgr Keith is married. Would he like to see that adopted more widely?, Ed pressed. Mgr Keith replied that there are also married priests in the eastern part of the Catholic Church and the Ordinariate's employment of married priests may be something the Church might look at but he doesn't think it's something they should be fighting for.

Then it was onto "an exclusive" (though whether Bishop Nick's latest invite from Sunday is a huge exclusive may be open to debate!):

In an exclusive for Sunday, Bishop Nick Baines, the man tasked to look after the Church of England's new 'super diocese' of West Yorkshire and the Dales has been keeping an audio diary account of his first few weeks in the job.

I won't dwell on this, but Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds, is always engaging and for those will a taste for Anglican goings-on would have enjoyed this. 

His massive new diocese came into being this spring, and Sunday has followed its formation quite closely. It replaced the old dioceses of Bradford, Ripon, Leeds and Wakefield. It covers 2,500 square miles and serves more than 2.5 million people. It has four bishops, 500 clergy and 656 churches.

Finally came the question, "How should the community in Rotherham respond to this week's revelations of child sexual exploitation on a massive scale by men of predominantly Pakistani origin?" 

After hearing a brief selection of callers to the BBC's Asian Network (two of whom said that the Pakistani community has a problem and a third saying that women should be obedient to men), Edward Stourton interviewed Bradford councillor and imam Alyas Karmani [though Ed failed to mentioned that Mr Karmani is a councillor for the extremist Respect party] and BBC regular, community activist and Muslim convert Julie Siddiqi.

Mr Karmani mostly did what you would expect a Respect politician to do and said that inter-community sexual abuse is a matter for "any community" before blaming social conservatism and the "social construction of masculinity", "images", the "sexualisation of society" and "social media" #passingthebuck. Julie Siddiqi, less inclined to burrow her head in the sand, cited a Guardian article in which she'd been quoted, saying that "older male-dominated leadership" is a problem and that more women and young people should be engaged. Alyas Karmani responded by blaming "the agencies" and calling for a "multi-level" approach. Ed stuck with the issue of "empowering women", Julie said she wants cross-community dialogue beyond the gatekeepers and Alyas Karmani rounded the discussion off by saying that Muslims don't want special treatment, just fair treatment.

I'm not sure any of that got us very far at all, but then what did I expect?

Gay weddings, UK Muslims going to Syria, WWI, problems for the Catholic Church, Ramadan, the living wage and calls to scrap Christian assemblies in schools

This week's Sunday dwelt on many familiar themes - as you can see from the title of this post.

First was an interview with Rev Roberta Rominger, former general secretary of the United Reform Church, which looks set to become the first mainstream church to allow gay weddings to be carried out in their churches. Rev Roberta supports the idea. William Crawley asked her if she hoped such a move would encourage other mainstream churches to follow their example. 

Then it was onto the story of the 100+ imams and their open letter urging British Muslims not to travel to Iraq or Syria to take part in sectarian fighting and to offer help "from the UK in a safe and responsible way". Sunday sought to "find out what it means for Muslims who passionately want to take part in the humanitarian effort" by talking to one of the imams, Shahid Raza, and Atiqur Rahman, who has already been on a humanitarian convoy to Syria. They didn't agree over the issue.

Then came "the first part of [a] series examining religious responses to the outbreak of World War I", with Steve Evans reporting from Berlin on the reaction of faith communities in Germany 100 years ago. Germany was 2/3 Protestant and 1/3 Catholic back then. Both churches overwhelmingly backed the war, believing God was on their side. One guest said that the Protestants in particular saw the war as a way of getting their flock back. There were a few conscientious objectors, most of whom were Christians. The Jewish community volunteered for the army, wanting to become part of the German nation's war effort, but anti-Semitism soon reared its head in an ugly smear about them being under-represented in the trenches. The German military carried out a census among troops which proved that rumour to be a complete lie, but the census was then suppressed and the smear allowed to stand. 

Then came an interview with senior Vatican official Archbishop Rino Fisichella about the problems of recruiting young Catholics to a vocation in the Church in the wake the paedophile priests scandal. William Crawley focused on the issue of celibacy as a key problem, along with the scandals, the Church's "archaic" language and its old-fashioned values that belong to another age.

It was onto Ramadan next and a story that was bound to appeal to Sunday:

We hear from orthodox Rabbi Natan Levy who says he's frustrated at what he sees as a lack of engagement between Jews and Muslims in the UK, and is observing Ramadan to increase the understanding between the two faiths.

Rabbi Levy hopes to "turn strangers into friends". He is concerned about the "negative imagery" around Islam.

Then it was onto the living wage (last discussed on last Sunday's edition of the programme):

Nestlé has become the largest manufacturer to sign up to the living wage in the UK. It comes days after a report published by the Living Wage Commission urging action to tackle poverty. William Crawley speaks to the Commission chair, Archbishop John Sentamu.

The Archbishop, of course, supports the campaign. (No opponents were heard from this week).

Finally came the call to scrap Christian worship in school assemblies:

The National Governors' Association has called for the statutory requirement for non-religious schools to hold a daily 'act of collective worship mainly of a Christian character' to be scrapped. We report on the debate and ask why so many schools appear to be in breach of the legislation.

The NGA say the law is "meaningless" in a "multicultural society". 

Firstly, Kevin Bocquet reported from a multi-ethnic school in Manchester, when an assembly celebrating "diversity" was going on in conformity to the 1944 Education Act. The British Humanist Association's Andrew Copson (like the NGA) wants that law scrapped though. Various parents had their say (offering differing points of view), then the headteacher of the Manchester school, who doesn't feel it's outdated, and the churches oppose it too.  

Then came a discussion between Bishop John Pritchard and Gillian Allcroft of the NGA. Though Bishop John is keen for their to be a daily "space" when our Christianity heritage is drawn upon, both agreed that the word "worship" is a problem. The Bishop of Oxford wants it changed to "spiritual reflection". 

To summarise then (by repeating a paragraph from last week's post): Nothing much here then, is there, to undermined Damian Thompson's claim that "Radio 4's Sunday programme offers perhaps the most undiluted liberal bias to be found anywhere on the BBC"? I say not.

Yes, I know it's Tuesday but...

Continuing from where we left off with this week's Sunday on Radio 4.... 

Amen, brother. Amen.

Next up came one of the programme's regular discussions of Vatican matters. Ed Stourton talked to liberal papal historian Michael Walsh about the Pope's excommunication of part of the Mafia and about his sacking of several cardinals overseeing the Vatican Bank. I was struck yet again by how differently Ed asks questions about Pope Francis to how he asked questions about Pope Benedict. He's turned from a sniffy critic (of the last pope) into an adoring groupie (of this present pope). Gone are the disapproving, slightly sneering questions which seemed to invite his guest to lay into Benedict XVI and in their place came questions like this which seem to invited his guests to sing hosannas to Francis:

"He's certainly got a gift for putting a couple of sentences in his addresses that catches the headlines?"

 "But it's quite something, isn't it?"

"You make the point that it's a long-running saga and he's been on about this more or less since he was elected. This latest act does suggest a sort of steely determination to sort this kind of thing out."

"The picture that's emerging of his is of somebody...who is in administrative terms very experienced, very determined, very clear-thinking".  

That, I suppose, is what you'd have to call 'bias'.

Sunday, as so often, then stuck with Catholic matters [it doesn't have the reputation for being a liberal Catholic programme, an on-air version of The Tablet for nothing] and moved onto what the website blurb describes accordingly:

It's 50 years since permanent deacons were allowed to be ordained in the Catholic Church. Kevin Bocquet reports on what the diaconate has brought to the Church at a time when vocations to the priesthood are falling.

This was mooted by Ed as a triumph of his beloved Vatican II. Kevin Bocquet then reported from Biddulph in North Staffordshire, talking to the deacons of the Church of the English Martyrs there. 

Deacons officiate at weddings, baptisms and funerals, visit hospitals and prisons, and offer spiritual guidance, but they don't say mass and they don't hear confessions. They aren't paid. And they are allowed to marry. ["Bishop, you'll forgive me, but that begs the obvious question: If it's so good for deacons to be married, why can't we have married clergy?", asked Kevin]. 

Next up was another old Sunday favourite - women bishops. As the programme's blurb put it:

...we look at the psychology of change with Professor Marilyn Davidson from Manchester Business School. 

Well, that was a different angle! 

Finally, it was back to Iraq and an interview with Canon Andrew White, the Vicar of Baghdad. He said that many Iraqi Christians living in Baghdad left the city because it was too dangerous. They went to Mosul instead. Now Mosul is in ISIS' hands. Over 2,000 have now left Mosul. Only Kurdistan is now seen as a safe haven. He said that ISIS is out for the destruction of all Christians, even though Christians have been in Iraq longer than Muslims. The remaining Jewish community, mostly living in Baghdad, is living in fear and are having to keep their identity "very, very closed". Canon Andrew says he acts like this rabbi to that community, "living on a knife-edge there". Other minorities living in fear are the Mandeans, an ancient sect that follows John the Baptist, and the Yazidis, a sect close to Zoroastrianism. 

Canon Andrew White is a remarkable man with an unenviable job. Good luck to him.

Pope in the Holy Land, Oz refugees, Roger Scruton, aggrieved Muslims, 'Hallelujah', business ethics, Baha'i & homophobia and the C of E

Was this morning's Sunday as bad as I feared? Here's what happened.

1. Edward looks ahead to Pope Francis' upcoming historic and politically sensitive visit to the Holy Land with Vatican Correspondent for the Irish Times Paddy Agnew.

We got the background to the trip from Paddy Agnew: The Pope is going at the invitation of the Patriarch of Constantinople and visiting "Israel, Jordan and Palestine". He will go to the banks of the Jordan, the Church of the Nativity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Yad Vashem, and refugee camps "in Palestine". 

Ed wondered: What about the Pope's safety? What about anti-Christian attacks?

That was the cue for Paddy Agnew to talk about anti-Christian attacks by Jewish groups - "price-tag attacks by ultra-orthodox Jews". 

Ed asked him to explain the "price-tag attacks" some more, and Paddy said they involved the spraying of Christian sites with anti-Christian slogans.

The Pope is taking a rabbi and a Muslim professor from Argentina with him, old friends of his.

This was as bad as I feared.

2. Phil Mercer reports on the Australian Church leaders calling for a wholesale review of the way the government treats asylum seekers in the offshore processing centre in Papua New Guinea.

Given Phil Mercer's past bias on this issue, I expected the worst here. 

We heard first from a 21 year old Sri Lankan refugee telling his story of flight from Sri Lanka. Phil asked him about his "frightening" boat journey and about how he felt about his time in a detention centre ("very upset"). Phil was getting us primed emotionally.

Then came a Sri-Lankan born pastor who said he was "in no doubt" the Australian government's policy is "inhumane". Phil led him on, asking him if it "shames this wealthy country".

Then came Misha Coleman  from the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce saying the policy is "unfair", that people shouldn't worry about Muslims, and that there's been a"culture of fear" since 9/11.

The sop to impartiality came with the contribution of Gerald Henderson of the Sydney Institute, a "conservative think tank", who defended the policy on the grounds that it saves lives, saving the would-be immigrants from from drowning.

But then there was a prayer for refugees and Phil's closing lines left us with the message that the policy risks making Australia look bad.

A biased report for sure, but at least there was a creditable conservative voice included. That doesn't always happen in Phil Mercer's immigration reports.

This was almost as bad as I feared.

3. Edward talks to philosopher Roger Scruton about his new book The Soul of the World and asks him about his defence of the Anglican Church.

Edward invited Roger Scruton to attack "the usual suspects", Richard Dawkins & Co. 

"I have a great respect for Dawkins", replied Prof. Scruton.

Still, he disagrees with his "evangelical" brand of atheism, and rejects "triumphant" science and "nothingbutery" [the Mona Lisa is nothing but pigments, chemicals, etc.]

Ed asked him if his affection for the Anglican Church was "fairly conventional", but Roger Scruton defended stable belief and the Anglican Church's "respect for the mysteries" and "easy-going, relaxed attitude" towards spiritual beliefs.

I could have done with more of this.

4. As the National September 11 Memorial Museum opened this week Edward talks to Matt Wells about the row over a museum film some say unfairly links Islam and terrorism.

The row here concerns a film called, 'The Rise of al-Qaeda', and astonishingly some Muslim groups - and supportive politicians and academics - are up in arms about it because it uses the word "Islam". 

They dislike the fact that the film says that "Islamists" were behind the 9/11 attacks because the "Islam" part of "Islamist" could make people connect the two words together and make them think (Allah forbid!) that Islam is somehow associated with violence whereas, as we all know, Islam is a religion of peace. We heard from a Muslim activist making that very point (Islam is about peace) and claiming that the film could be "offensive to Muslims".

Matt Wells put that side of the argument and then challenged Joe Daniels, the 9/11 Memorial president over the issue, pressing him the "offence" issue. 

Matt then reflected that there are "acute sensitivities" among the Muslim community and "extremists who vilify the whole religion of Islam".

So far, so typical Matt Wells reporting; however, in a closing shaft of reason, Matt did say that he feels there's been an "overreaction here".

This was almost as bad as I feared.

5. As a nun continues to power her way through the Italian version of musical talent show The Voice, Father Ray Kelly, an Irish Catholic priest who's own interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Halleluja" went viral on YouTube last month, tells us what it's like juggling a vocation and a music career.

I've watched this video too, and it's delightful.

During a wedding ceremony, Father Ted Ray suddenly put on a background track and starting singing the Leonard Cohen song, with words adapted to welcome and bless the couple being married and, my goodness, what a wonderful singer he is! (Great song too, of course).

The couple didn't know he could sing, and it was a surprise to them.

They e-mailed him shortly after to thank him, and told him he was a huge hit on YouTube. 

The video achieved 34 million hits before being removed. (Why was it removed?)

Ed talked with him about the singing nun in Sicily who's doing well in a TV talent show there, then recalled The Singing Nun from the 1960s.

Sony and Universal are speaking to him and he's now in the process of finding a manager.

His bishop [Brennan?] asked him about how many hits he'd got, and replied "Ah bless!" when Father Ted Ray told him.

I do hope he'll record My Lovely Horse at some stage. 

6. How do you rebuild trust in business? Kevin Bocquet reports on a new plan to do just that with 'do unto others as they would do to you' at its heart.

Ah, yes, business ethics - that perennial Sunday theme! 

The Institute of Business Ethics has called for multinationals, etc, to sign up to a moral code - "global ethical standards, based on scripture". We heard from Simon Webley of the IBE arguing this case, but we also heard from Sunday morning Radio 4's 'only right-winger in the village', Richard D North of the Institute for Economic Affairs, "a free-market think tank", pouring sceptical cold water on the idea, along with a couple of other 'talking heads' who added further caveats.

The result was a surprisingly balanced report, even if the choice of theme in the first place suggests bias.

7. An Iranian cemetery which is the resting place of ten Baha'i women who refused to recant their faith in 1983 is being demolished by the country's Revolutionary Guard. Edward talks to a member of the Bhai community in Britain whose sister is buried in the cemetery.

We heard from the brother of one of the ten women (aged between 17 and 57) executed by the Iranian regime in 1983, martyrs who refused to recant. 

There have been over 200 executions of Baha'i in post-revolution Iran. There are employment bans, their kids are excluded from schools, etc. (Iran is an apartheid state!) The persection even seems to have intensified since cuddly President Rouhani came to power. 

We're lucky not to be Baha'i in Iran.

8. The Archbishop of Canterbury has published guidance on tackling homophobia in Church of England schools. But how does the church square this message with its opposition to same-sex marriage? Rev Jan Ainsworth and Bishop Alan Wilson discuss.

We heard first from Stonewall's Luke Trill, who welcomes Justin Welby's move, then came the debate with Rev Jan and Bishop Alan [strongly pro-same sex marriage.]

It is on areas of social attitudes that Sunday's liberal bias really comes into its own, as here. Edward Stourton pursued Luke Trill and Alan Wilson's point that the guidance doesn't square with the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage and that that opposition is a problem, and pursued it will some vigour, repeatedly re-asking it, interrupting and challenging Rev Jan and putting words into Bishop Alan's mouth. ("I think that's exactly right", said Bishop Alan at one point, reacting to an Ed Stourton question to him). 

Edward Stourton conducted this interview in such a one-sided way that bias is the only explanation.

This was even worse than I'd feared.

Still, the sun is out again, so enjoy your Sunday - even if you don't enjoy their Sunday.

'Sunday' in Belfast

This morning's Sunday on Radio 4 was an Easter Sunday special from Belfast, presented by William Crawley.

Its themes were (1) the criticism of the government for failing to include the Church in plans for the future of Northern Ireland, (2) the dangers of commericialisation at Easter, (3) the role of faith groups in Ukraine, (4) the rise of Islam in N Ireland, (5) food poverty, (6) the legacy on the ground of the Good Friday agreement, and (7) the question of whether there should be an amnesty for those involved in the Troubles - a range of familiar and expected Sunday topics, I'm sure you'll agree. 

Here's what happened (with the blurb from the Sunday website in bold italics).

1. Bishop Harold Miller of the Church of Ireland has said the absence of the church in the plan for the future of Northern Ireland is "regrettable" 

William introduced the Bishop of Down and Dromore as being critical of the government over this issue. Bishop Harold expressed himself far less aggressively than that might suggest, regretting the absence of the church's role, suspecting that it may be that - due to past history - the church is seen as part of the problem rather than part of the solution, and expressing the belief that the church can very much be part of the solution.

2. Also as the Church of England launches a twitter campaign #EasterMeans, Kevin Bocquet asks What is the meaning of Easter? 

Kevin reported (as the programme so often does now) from Manchester. Linda Woodhead of Lancaster University (a 'Sunday' favourite) was his expert 'talking head.' She wasn't particularly concerned about the issue of commercialisation of Easter [the actual theme of this report]. Kevin pointed out a "posh chocolate shop" selling a £75 Easter Egg before speaking to various vox pops in Manchester, asking them what they think of when they hear the word 'Easter'. The answers came: chocolate,, Easter Eggs, shopping, "having to go to church" and "Jesus" (a Catholic). Not many seemed to be intending to go to church. 

In the middle of the Arndale Centre he met Rogers Govender, Dean of Manchester Cathedral, who was cleaning the shoes of passers-by, in imitation of Jesus's washing of feet. The dean wasn't particularly bothered that people are shopping either, but Kevin kept worrying away about the billions of pounds that businesses make at Easter. Linda Woodhead said that religion has always been commercialised, reminding us about the money-making that surrounded relics and pilgrimage sites in the Middle Ages.

Larger shops are not allowed to open on Easter Sunday. Stephen Springer, a retail analyst, said that this irritates them, especially as online shopping is growing and proving both popular and profitable. Technology is undermining the ban. 

Finally, Fr Paul Canon from Salford, a Catholic, agreed that they have to interact with the secular society, and wasn't that bothered about commercialisation either. An active church will lead to its higher profile, he argued.

3. And from the Ukraine we speak to Sergei Golovin a scientist and pastor speaks to William ahead of his Easter service in Chernivtsi.

There must have been a last-minute change of plan here, as Fr Golovin was dropped and the Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes took his place. He's just come back from Ukraine. He says that people there are grateful for British & EU interest in them.

[Simon Hughes & Labour's Baroness Blood (below) takes this year's tally of party politicians to: Labour = 8, Liberal Democrats = 6, & Conservatives = 3.]

4. And we explore the rise of Islam in Belfast 

Oh yes, it's 'the world's fastest growing religion' time, and it's now growing in Northern Ireland, with the number of Muslims there doubling in the past decade. 

William went to meet a man who came from Turkey in 2009, settling in Belfast. He's happy, but... Prompted by William, he said that if he were more visibly Muslim he'd face more problems (he's relatively light-skinned) especially as his wife wears a headscarf and has had some problems). He says Muslims are "still outsiders" there. William suggested they might need a bigger mosque. They've been trying for one for years, came the reply. 'Will Muslims face problems if one is built?', William wondered.

Then he went to the Belfast Islamic Centre to meet a man who grew up as middle-class Irishman in Belfast, with links to Republican politics and a traditional Catholic upbringing. He has now converted to Islam, complete with beard and traditional Muslim clothes. "Have you experienced discrimination here?" asked William, pushing the same angle he'd been pushing throughout.

5. As new figures released by the Trussell Trust demonstrate the extent of food poverty in the UK William asks what that means for the people of Northern Ireland with Rev Kevin Graham from the Church of Ireland and Cormac Wilson - Regional Senior Vice President, Society of St Vincent de Paul.

Though the government strongly disputes the Trussell Trust's figures, that didn't stop the 'Sunday' website from asserting that they "demonstrate the extent of food poverty in the UK" or William Crawley from asserting, "This week we learned there's been a MASSIVE increase in people receiving food handouts", saying the numbers have "practically doubled".

Shouldn't 'Sunday' be less assertive when dealing with such a hotly-disputed political issue? 

Rev Kevin Graham said that 11,697 came to food banks in N Ireland, a five-fold increase. Cormac Wilson said "there's been a great increase in need". Kevin blamed static incomes, zero hours, welfare sanctions and the public sector pay freeze. "I would be in total agreement", said Cormac. Kevin wants fairer welfare reform, and William invited him to expand on what the government should be doing. He said they should bring in a living wage and social energy tariffs, "It's obviously a worsening problem," said William.

Someone from the government, someone sceptical of the Trussell Trust's figures or someone who doesn't think that there's a food poverty crisis in this country at all really should have been invited on for the sake of balance. [This being 'Sunday' though that was always unlikely to happen. It's an subject area where balance rarely ever seems to even enter into 'Sunday''s collective head].

6. In a special Easter programme from Belfast, William meets Baroness May Blood asking how Northern Ireland has changed since the signing of the Good Friday agreement. 

William talked to Labour peer Baroness Blood, beginning with the issue of peace walls. She hopes for "a Belfast without peace walls", One is very near to her home. It was built in 1994, the day of the IRA ceasefire, "The million pound wall", it's called, and - like other peace walls - it's now a tourist attraction. ("Troubles tourism", William called it. Baroness Blood didn't seem too bothered about that).

He talked to her on Good Friday. She says that politically, Northern Ireland is "not much advanced" since then. 

What of faith? "Faith doesn't seem to have the same respect" these days, she said. There are 29,000 people in the Shankill area. Only 3% go to church now. She said that's partly because the province is becomingmore secular, partly because of the growth of new, community churches, away from established churches. She says it's very rare to hear priests being called "reverend" now, and that they're usually called by their first names. (She still addresses them formally though). 

Will Easter Sunday ever happen, politically in Northern Ireland?, William asked. Not in her lifetime, she replied.

7. Two victims of the troubles Jude Whyte and Ann Travers debate on how best to deal with the past in Northern Ireland.   

The question here was: Should there be an amnesty? After all, sacrifice, forgiveness, reconciliation and a new beginning are the messages of Easter, said William. 

Both guests, well-known in Northern Ireland, lost relatives to terrorists in 1984. Jude Whyte is in favour of an amnesty, hoping it would pave the way for a truth & reconciliation forum. Ann Travers, in contrast, believes it's wrong to take hope away from victims and opposes an amnesty, saying it would send the wrong message to present-day terrorists. William conducted this section as fairly as you would expect of someone will a huge amount of experience of handling this issue.

Update: As is his way, David Vance at Biased BBC has a pithier take on today's edition of Sunday:

I was up early this morning and tuned into the SUNDAY programme on Radio 4 presented by my old pal William Crawley. There was a story about how ISLAM was the fastest growing religion in the UK,  a story about the terrible “poverty” facing the UK that requires Food Banks and the like and a story about the need for an amnesty for terrorists in Northern Ireland. That was in about 30 minutes. The bias is so easy, so institutionalised, that it just flows out naturally.