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Defining church, US religious electorate, Prison Reform

A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week with William Crawley.

The word 鈥榗hurch鈥 was not used to describe hundreds of new Church of England congregations, initiatives and community groups set up over the last decade. Research by the Centre for Church Planting Theology and Research, at Cranmer Hall, Durham, found that in the past ten years, around 900 so-called 鈥渘ew things鈥 have been started in 11 dioceses. But none of the dioceses used the term 鈥渃hurch鈥 as its main description of those 鈥榯hings鈥. Rev Canon Professor Alison Milbank, theologian and author of The Once and Future Parish (2023), and Rev Canon Dave Male, the Church of England鈥檚 co-director for vision and strategy, discuss if this is simply about the choice of language or something deeper?

In light of the government's emergency measures put in place in prisons, we鈥檙e joined by the lead bishop for prisons, the Right Reverend Rachel Treweek, and David Spencer, Head of Crime and Justice at Policy Exchange, to explore the sentencing of young people and whether custodial sentences are helpful in the long term.

Following Kamala Harris鈥 acceptance of the Democratic nomination for president, we speak to theologian Brad Onishi, Professor of Religion at The University of San Francisco and co-host of the 鈥楽traight White American Jesus鈥 podcast, to get his view on how the two candidates appeal to the US religious electorate.

Presenter: William Crawley
Producers: Alexa Good, Bara鈥檃tu Ibrahim and Katy Davis
Studio Managers: Simon Highfield and Jack Morris
Editor: Tim Pemberton

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44 minutes

Broadcast

  • Sun 25 Aug 2024 07:10

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