Amol Rajan on his spiritual journey at the Kumbh Mela
BBC One showed a film last night with the journalist and presenter, Amol Rajan, on a pilgrimage to the largest religious festival in history, the Kumbh Mela, held at the Sangam, the confluence of sacred rivers in India. Born into a practising Hindu family, he describes himself now as non-religious, but the film showed his quest for healing from grief following the death of his father three years ago and a desire to return to his roots. He acknowledged a feeling that “there’s a deeper truth about religion and faith, which is that it seems to answer enduring human needs in a way that the secular imagination can’t”. The film showed him joining 500 million pilgrims in a makeshift city beside the rivers, all there to perform rituals and bathe in the sacred waters to purify and release their souls. Amol was shown how to create a ritual to release the soul of his father and ancestors from the cycle of life and death. Through the experience, he said he felt closer to his father and a sense of belonging and affinity among the pilgrims: “I’m as high as a kite and I feel the cosmic energy flowing through me right now”. Amal Rajan Goes to the Ganges, BBC iplayer
Church of England’s silence on grooming gangs ‘shows growing distance with working class‘
The Bishop of Blackburn, Philip North, has said that “fear-driven silence” had led him not to speak out about grooming gangs in his area, and he is now doing some soul-searching concluding that his excuse for inaction was “unconvincing”. In an article in the Church of England Newspaper, he said he had two reasons, the fear of damaging relations with the south Asian community in Lancashire and the fear that raising an issue impacting one ethnic group did not sit well with the church’s commitment to racial justice. He said Dame Louise Casey’s fearlessness in calling for a public inquiry had caused him to ask an uncomfortable question: “Why did I so readily believe the voices that claimed that calling for an inquiry was a collusion with the far right?”. He reflected that the church’s inaction on the issue stemmed from its growing distance from working class communities, where girls are vulnerable to organised grooming gangs. He said: “All too often, we are either silent or actively at odds with the issues that most trouble working class neighbourhoods: not just grooming gangs but the impact of immigration on community life, benefits dependency, the use of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, energy costs and so on. Being attentive to the needs of our working class communities does not mean that we have to agree with them all. It does, however, mean ensuring that voices that are often silenced are given proper attention in public dialogue and debate”. The article is here
Justin Welby speaks on loneliness of resignation and support for same sex blessings
The Church Times reports on a speech and question and answer session given by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to the Cambridge Union last month. He said that his resignation was “one of the loneliest moments I’ve ever had and the reverberations of that I still feel”. He could have handled the Makin report into the abuser John Smyth, differently. And he said Makin hadn’t seen emails from Lambeth and Ely, or letters to South Africa and the police where it made clear that the police asked the Church not to carry out its own investigations because it would interfere with theirs. He was asked questions about comments on the Rwanda scheme and closing churches during Covid. And he made clear that he had changed his mind on same sex blessings: “When they fall in love, and when they live out that love faithfully and with stability and caring for others, it is a huge blessing for them and for society; and I have seen that in so many places that, in the end, even I began to realise that I was being thick.” The whole event is on YouTube here
Japan’s Catholic bishops appeal for nuclear weapons to be abolished this year
Two days before the US bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan urged the international community to abolish nuclear weapons completely this year. In a statement, they said: “The only bishops from a country to have suffered atomic bombings in war, carry deeply engraved in our hearts the heavy history and pain that atomic bomb survivors and citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have suffered, and hereby declare our strong commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many lives were lost in the atomic bombings of 1945, and many people still live with the suffering and aftereffects of the bombings. This tragedy must not be repeated”. The bishops said nuclear deterrence is an ineffective means of resolving conflicts, and “plunges the world into a ‘security dilemma’ that pushes the world toward the brink of nuclear war. We cannot tolerate this kind of thinking,” they wrote.
Quakers “deep concern” at designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation
Quakers in Britain have voiced “deep concern” about the government’s plan to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. In a letter to the Home Secretary, Oliver Robertson, head of witness and worship for Quakers in Britain, said that nonviolent protest, and even acts of vandalism, should not be labelled as terrorism: “As Quakers, our faith sometimes leads us to act against unjust laws and actions, and be held accountable for that. There are Quakers who have participated in or supported nonviolent direct action for various causes, as part of living out their faith, but they have always done so with a firm commitment to nonviolence. Proscription interferes with our freedom of religion, as well as the freedom of conscience and the right to assembly that all people have, regardless of their motivation for acting.” The letter says that Palestine Action’s direct actions, such as those at RAF Brize Norton where RAF planes were painted red, have involved nonviolent interventions aimed at halting the UK’s role in supplying weapons to Israel.
Pope stands in solidarity with Christians in the Middle East
Pope Leo XIV has expressed his solidarity with Christians in the Middle East. At the general audience on Wednesday, he referred to the “vile terrorist attack” on the Mar Elias church in Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, saying it highlighted “the deep fragility” that Syria continues to live through after years of instability and violence. Once more, he called for the paths of diplomacy and dialogue to be chosen for Syria and an end to violence in the region. Later, he met 400 bishops and cardinals from 38 countries, affirming that priests must be celibate and bishops must take “firm and decisive” action to deal with sex abusers.
Report says faith is overlooked in UK care system, with harmful impact on children
A new report by the think tank Equi warns that faith is systematically overlooked in the UK care system, harming children, carers, and social cohesion. Faith, Family and the Care System: A Missed Connection?, produced with Savanta polling, highlights a child welfare crisis, with more than 107,000 children in care while foster carer numbers decline. The report says that although ethnicity and culture are considered in placements, faith often isn’t, despite 73 per cent of British Muslims and 40 per cent of the public saying it shaped their identity. It links the end of “faith matching”, the placing of children with people from the same religious background, in 2014, to identity conflicts and placement breakdowns. Muslim children remain underrepresented in the care system and Muslim communities are found to play a key role, by offering “kinship care”, looking after children within a family, saving the government an estimated £223 million. While British Muslims are more likely to consider fostering, many fear discrimination. The report urges the government to record faith heritage, consider it in placements, and partner with faith-based charities to recruit more foster carers. The report will be launched at a webinar at 11am today.
Government minister regrets cancellation of European Rabbis’ conference in Sarajevo
The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has expressed regret over the cancellation of a meeting of theConference of European Rabbis earlier this month. The Swissotel in Sarajevo cancelled after a government minister published an open letter saying it was morally offensive for Sarajevo to host a meeting which is giving support to Israel, which “commits genocide against the innocent civilian population of Gaza.” The Council’s chair, Borjana Krišto, said she expressed her sincere regret and invited Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference, to visit. He welcomed the sentiment but said any meaningful apology must come from those responsible and if they refuse, they should be sacked.
Majority of US religious groups back abortion
The US Society of Family Planning has reported that the number of abortions is higher in 2024 than in 2023 or 2022, despite the overturning of the Roe v Wade case in the Supreme Court. The number of abortions delivered via telehealth, prescribing abortion drugs by phone and delivered by post, has continued to increase since April 2022, when statistics began to be tracked. By the end of 2024, one in four abortions was provided via telehealth. “Shield laws” protect providers and facilitators of abortions from civil or criminal liability for actions legal in their state and an average of 12,330 abortions per month were provided under shield laws by the end of 2024. According to 2024 Public Religion Research Institute research, 68 per cent ofAmericans oppose laws that make it illegal to use or receive abortion drugs by post Majorities across most religious traditions say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Only four major religious groups lack majority support for legal abortion in all or most cases – Hispanic Protestants, Latter-day Saints, white evangelical Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Research is here
Community of St Anselm at Lambeth Palace, considers its future
The Community of St Anselm, the monastic-inspired community for young Christians, has celebrated its 10th anniversary at Lambeth Palace with a three-day event for 80 past and present members. The community, which was started and encouraged by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, brought together a total of 175 young people from many denominations and 36 countries to pray, study, live in community and share daily household tasks, alongside their working lives. The community has been considering its future after Justin Welby left. A small community will remain at Lambeth Palace through part of the transition period and then resume as a community in Autumn 2026 in a residential location not yet fixed. They will remain committed to prayer, learning, service and reconciliation and there will continue to be a dispersed community that meets largely virtually.
Truro Cathedral displays embroidered silk panels on the story of creation
Twelve enormous, embroidered silk panels that explore the story of creation will be displayed at Truro Cathedral from 8 July – 20 August. “Threads Through Creation” is the work of textile artist Jacqui Parkinson, who re-imagines the story from Genesis on panels 3 meters high by 4 metres wide, in layers of silk, vibrant colours, hand-dyed materials, metallic leathers and gold leaf. She says she tried to “capture the wonderful extravagance of the creation story and to delight people who view it”.
Films from the Religion Media Festival 2025:
Religion, Politics and the Media in America – interview with Sir Mark Thompson
Sir Mark Thompson, chief executive of CNN and former director-general of the BBC, told the Religion Media Festival that religion is important for journalists to understand and report well, not least because the overwhelming majority of people in the world have some level of commitment to it. A committed Catholic, he found religion “intriguing and fascinating” but not everyone in the media business agreed. Interviewed by the BBC’s home editor, Mark Easton, he said religion plays a much bigger part in American life than in Britain and more often, it’s woven into political discussion. The fact that really serious, powerful political figures in the United States are trying to advance a broad cultural or political point by getting involved in particular questions of doctrine, was a good example of why journalists should take it seriously. View the film here.
