Ruth Peacock

Ruth is the leader of the Religion Media Centre project and oversees its work. After studying theology and teaching RE, she trained as a journalist on a local paper, freelanced in print and radio and then joined the BBC, working in many news departments, including the main newsgathering desk. She also worked on the BBC’s move into the new W1 building and studied organisational change.

Written Content

Religion news 23 January 2026

Oxford Catholic chaplain’s inappropriate behaviour ‘reported to police’; £92 million heritage church repair fund, but VAT will be charged; Three arrested after Minnesota church service disrupted; Commons speaker hosts Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony

Religion news 22 January 2026

Pope urges media to amplify reconciliation and peace; Princess Royal joins faith leaders lighting candles for peace and unity; Fr Damian Howard steps down from Oxford chaplaincy role; Norfolk church rebuild approved despite fears of revival surge

Religion news 21 January 2026

Woolf Institute launches Commission on Interfaith Relations and Global Conflict; Call for bursaries and courses for RE teachers; Minnesota pastor condemns ‘shameful’ demonstration in church service; Trump’s lawyer floated US asylum for British Jews

Religion news 20 January 2026

Three US cardinals appeal for ‘moral foreign policy’; US churches highlight non-violence on Martin Luther King day; Church leaders in Jerusalem condemn Christian Zionism; Board of Deputies president says extremist settler violence must end; 150 people abducted from church services in Nigeria

Religion news 19 January 2026

Archbishop for US Military says talk on Greenland “tarnishes” United States: UN 80th anniversary celebrated at Methodist Central Hall; ‘Herd immunity’ to Christianity in Britain in decline?; Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ banned at Polish weddings

Religion news 16 January 2026

British Sikh ‘unique fear’ amid rise in far right rhetoric and hate crime; Profound impact of ICE campaigns on Minneapolis churches; Catholic bishops in Wales call for day of fasting against assisted dying bill; Report finds growing number of British-born imams

Religion news 15 January 2026

World Watch List charts increasing Christian persecution in 2025; Government ‘should U-turn’ on proposed Islamophobia definition; CofE same sex clergy marriage and blessing services decisions delayed; Call for BBC to strengthen commitment to religious broadcasting

Religion news 14 January 2026

US bishops urge Christians to stand up for immigrants whatever the cost; Bishop of Greenland adamant that the country is not for sale; Scottish grandmother in court over abortion buffer zone charges

Religion news 13 January 2026

Call for faith to unite communities as forces of division ‘grow louder’; Chief Rabbi ‘not proud’ of settler violence; Jewish MP banned from visiting Bristol school; Bishop of Oxford condemns Grok’s ‘truly appalling’ deepfake tech

Religion news 12 January 2026

Iran protests driven in part by ‘opposition to imposed state religion’; Report warns of growing politicisation of religion in Britain; Pete Meadows, evangelical ‘elder statesman’, has died aged 84