Beyond Belief

The Gospel According to Dylan. Sixty years ago, Bob Dylan was on stage at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester when a fan shouted "Judas!" from the audience. Giles is joined by Michael Gray, and writer, poet, philosopher, priest, and blues-singer, Malcolm Guite to discuss the spiritual side of Bob Dylan. He also speaks to Gospel legend, Regina McCrary about touring with Dylan at the height of his Christian period.
Producers: Katharine Longworth and Peter Everett

Giles Fraser gets under the skin of the religious significance of tattoos. We hear from Wassim Rassouk - the owner of the oldest tattoo business in the world and head of a family business going back 27 generations.
His panel are Revd Wendy Dalrymple, Canon of Ripon Cathedral who has Christian symbols tattooed on the entire length of her arms, tattoo artist and designer, Gabriel Wolff who specialises in Hebrew Calligraphy, and Maori tā moko artist Te Rangitu Netana.

Giles Fraser and the panel discuss religious views on military action and how conflict is justified theologically across different faiths and contexts. They reflect on the personal story of Michael Elstub, and his journey from military service to becoming a Quaker and peace campaigner.
Panel:
Mandeep Kaur MBE - Sikh Chaplain to the Armed Forces
Prof David Chandler - Professor of International Relations, Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster
Sheikh Dr Usama Hasan - Imam and counter-extremism practitioner
Major General Timothy Cross CBE - retired British Army officer and military logistics expert and lay minister in the Church of England
Producers: Katharine Longworth and Peter Everett

Giles Fraser explores Dr. Iain McGilchrist’s brain hemisphere theory, which argues that the left and right hemispheres of the brain perceive the world in radically different ways—and that modern society has become dangerously dominated by the left hemisphere’s analytical, fragmented, and controlling mode of thought. He describes how the two hemispheres of the brain perceive reality in fundamentally different ways. The left hemisphere, he argues, sees a fragmented, abstract world—focused on control and acquisition—while the right hemisphere perceives a flowing, interconnected reality, rich in context, meaning, and mystery.
We unpack this theory with our panel of experts: Dr. Philip Goff, philosopher and professor at Durham University. Philip is known for his work in panpsychism, a philosophical view which proposes that consciousness is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of the universe—not just something that emerges from complex brains, but something that may be present even at the level of basic matter. His research focuses on the philosophy of mind and the nature of consciousness.
Canon Dr. Joanna Collicutt, psychologist and theologian from the University of Oxford. Joanna brings a unique perspective that bridges psychology, spirituality, and pastoral care—exploring how religious experience shapes and is shaped by the human mind.
And Professor Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist and a leading figure in the emerging field of neurotheology—which explores the relationship between brain function and religious or spiritual experience. Andrew is Professor in the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences and Director of Research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in the United States.
Also on the programme, The Sacred podcaster Elizabeth Oldfield, shares a powerful spiritual experience—one that defied easy explanation and left a lasting imprint on her spiritual life.
Beyond Belief is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4.
Presenter: Giles Fraser
Producer: Bara'atu Ibrahim
Assistant Producer: Jay Behrouzi & Linda Walker
Editor: Tim Pemberton

In this episode of Beyond Belief, Giles Fraser explores the deeply personal and often transformative phenomenon of religious conversion in prison. From heroin addiction and violence to spiritual awakening, we hear the raw and powerful testimony of Tony Winter, whose journey to faith began behind bars & Maliki Clique aka Ali Abdul Raheem, a former US inmate whose conversion to Islam during incarceration reshaped his life and message to over 700,000 TikTok followers. Panellists Pastor Mick Fleming who leads the Church On The Street ministry based in Burnley, researcher Alex Beaumont from the University of Law, Manchester, psychotherapist Jackie Oglethorpe who's also Chair of Trustees at the Community Chaplaincy Association and Suleman Amad Project Manager Criminal Justice at Maslaha unpack the motivations behind prison conversions, discuss how prisoners find faith as a path to redemption and how to distinguish sincere transformation from strategic adaptation in the prison context?
Presenter: Giles Fraser
Producer: Bara’atu Ibrahim & Linda Walker
Editor: Tim Pemberton