public religion

BBC chief Mark Thompson has given a robust defence of the Corporation's engagement with religion. Those who say the BBC is anti-Christian, or alternatively that it is broadcasting religious propaganda, are wrong, he says.

Civil rights organisations and national leaders are expressing alarm at a United Nations General Assembly resolution that demands respect for religion but which critics say has been used to justify suppression of religious minorities.

The growth of Islam in Europe is challenging deeply-held notions that faith is a private matter which should be banished from public life, a prominent sociologist of religion has told a gathering of European Christian leaders - writes Stephen Brown for Ecumenical News International (ENI).