Sunday

A follower of the Bahá'í faith who is being held by the Iranian regime has published a vivid and shocking memoir of her time in prison. Mahvash Sabet is an award-winning educator and poet. She has been in and out of detention since 2010, suffering solitary confinement and psychological torture. Bahá'ís are Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority and are regarded as a threat to the state. Alongside the harshness in jail, Mahvash writes about resilience and friendship. One of those she shared a prison ward with for almost a year is Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe - who was herself imprisoned and held hostage by the Iranian State for six years. Julie speaks to Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe and Bahiyyih Nakhjavani who translated the memoir Open Wide the Doors into English.
In the occupied West Bank, thousands of ancient sites remain unexcavated. Israel has recently expropriated Palestinian land to develop two of them. Palestinians say archaeology is being used to deepen Israeli control of the territory. Israel says it's protecting and preserving its heritage. But a UNESCO move to add Sebastia, near Nablus, to both its World Heritage List and its List of World Heritage in Danger, has brought the dispute into sharper focus. Palestinian officials have welcomed the decision. Israel's foreign minister has condemned it as an attempt to 'change history'. Our global affairs correspondent Sebastian Usher reports from Sebastia.
Until a couple of weeks ago, Emma Roberts was getting on with her life as a Quaker chaplain in Swansea. Then almost overnight, she became an internet sensation - due to her likeness to the new prime minister, Andy Burnham. She already had a social media presence on her YouTube channel Quakerology. Now she's viral on TikTok, with a new persona: 'Mandy Burnham'.
Presenter: Julie Etchingham
Producers: Katy Booth and James Leesley
Studio Managers: Nat Stokes and Matthew Dempsey
Editor: Tim Pemberton

US President Donald Trump says an agreement has been reached for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. The deal faces big obstacles, and behind the negotiations lies a deeper question - for a movement that has long-framed armed resistance as a religious duty, can Hamas actually disarm and survive ideologically intact?
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, has just completed a 10-day tour of West Africa, her first major trip abroad since taking up the role. It’s a region that’s also home to some of her fiercest critics, including some conservative Anglicans who oppose the appointment of a woman to the see of Canterbury. We assess how the archbishop had been received in West Africa.
Plus, we hear from two nuns behind a hit podcast which has taken off on TikTok, and an author whose novel A Short Stay in Hell is riding a wave of popularity.
Presenter: William Crawley
Producers: James Graham and James Leesley
Studio Managers: Isabelle Whitehead and Kelly Young
Editor: Catherine Murray

There have been many tributes this week to our dear colleague Edward Stourton, who died last weekend at the age of 68. They've come from across the media, from the churches and faith communities he covered for so long, and from listeners who simply trusted his voice on a Sunday morning. William Crawley looks back at his extraordinary contribution to religious broadcasting.
Also in the programme, Andy Burnham's first visit as prime minister was to a Catholic run homeless shelter in London called the Passage. He made his first pledge as PM to end rough sleeping. People familiar with his work as mayor of Greater Manchester will know it's a promise he made when he was elected in 2017. Emily Buchanan visits a project set up by a Christian charity in the city to hear about his track record there and his ambition for the country.
Every day, dozens of Palestinian patients from the occupied West Bank cross into Israel for desperately needed specialised medical care they can’t get at home. Waiting to drive them to hospital are Israeli volunteers who have increased in number since the October 7th attacks in 2023. Since the war started, it’s become an increasingly rare space for Israelis and Palestinians to speak and build trust. A meeting of two worlds amid the trauma of war. Naomi Scherbel-Ball has been joining the patients and volunteers for the journeys from the checkpoints to hospitals in Israel.
Presenter: Emily Buchanan
Producers: Katy Booth, Rosie Dawson, Catherine Murray, Dan Tierney and Carmel Lonergan
Studio Managers: Lynsey Akehurst and Catherine Everatt
Editor: Tim Pemberton

As Andy Burnham prepares to become the UK's new Prime Minister we look at how his Catholic upbringing shaped the values behind his politics. William Crawley discusses the interplay of faith and politics with Nick Spencer, senior fellow with the think tank Theos, and Francis Davis, visiting fellow Kellogg college, Oxford, who has written widely on Catholic social teaching and the role of faith in public policy.
Artificial intelligence is quietly finding its way into church life. But is it always clear when a prayer, a sermon or a piece of pastoral advice has been shaped by a machine? The AI Christian Partnership want churches to be upfront about it, and they've just published new guidelines.
Plus, it's World Cup final day, and this year's showdown carries an extra layer of meaning for people of faith. Argentina and Spain don't just share a footballing rivalry, they also share the Virgin Mary, in different guises. What does this tell us about faith and national identity?
Presenter: William Crawley
Producers: James Graham and Rosie Dawson
Studio Managers: Lynsey Akehurst, Patrick Shaw and Helen Williams
Editor: Catherine Murray

This week marks 90 years since the start of the Spanish Civil War.
In July 1936, a rebel general, Francisco Franco, led a military coup against Spain’s Republican government.
It triggered a conflict that tore the country apart, drew in fighters and writers from across the world and claimed half a million lives.
William Crawley explores how Spain remembers, and how it still argues about, its bloodiest modern chapter. 
And he'll ask why Pope Leo’s visit to the Sagrada Família last month passed over the war in silence. 
Presenter: William Crawley
Producer on location: Dan Tierney
Sound engineer on location: Ash Jones
Production Co-ordinator: Hattie Valentine
Studio producers: Catherine Murray & James Leesley
Editor: Chloe Walker
Studio Managers: Nat Stokes & Ben Houghton