The RE Podcast

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This weekend, 5th / 6th July (10th Muharram), sees many Shia Muslims all over the world mark the Day of Ashura.  A commemoration of the martrydom of Muhammad's grandson, Husayn who died standing up for justice. In 2025 this fight is still poignant. Zam Hussain has already done an episode on Ashura which if you haven't listened then please do.  But this week he joins us to tell us ...

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This week, I speak with Alexandra Brown, RE Teacher, speaker, poet, and researcher.

Her unique intersection between race, gender, neurodiversity, and sexuality has caused many people to put up barriers as she attempts to put her research into practice.  At great personal cost, she has had to navigate these barriers.

Alex speaks to us with humility and passion, from a place of pain and triumph...

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If you are like me and really struggle to engage in and with REsearch, or know someone who does, then listen to this episode.  I have left in parts I usually edit out to give you a sense at how vulnerable I was making this episode, and you will here at the end my leg bouncing with nerves.  I have ADHD, so I really struggle to read things, remember things and organise new information.  Liste...

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This year we lost an legend. Words will never be able to capture everything that Dawn was to the RE Community or to her friends and family. But I hope this episode goes some way to pay tribute to the incredible person who was Dawn Cox ,and to say thank you.

We hear written and spoken tributes from Rachael Jackson Royal, Katie Freeman, Nikki McGee, Claire Clinton, Matt Pitcher, Jen Jenkins, R...

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Think RE is irrelevant in the 21st Century or think it is only for religious people or can only lead to a career as a vicar or an RE teacher? Think again.  RE A-level is dynamic, challenging and essential for life in modern Britain! Just listen and find out.

If you are a parent of a student who wants to take RE A-level, or a student who is thinking of doing it or are not sure, or you are a s...

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If you have not ever heard of this trial or it's significance to the RE classroom then don't miss this episode.  It underpins our teaching of fundamentalism, science and religion, diversity of worldviews and curriculum freedom.  It also shines a light on global issues and polarisation.

As we approach the 100  year anniversary of this trial (10th July 1925) listen to Ruth Marx speak...

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In 2020 while the world went on lockdown, something incredible emerged to support us teaching remotely - Oak National Academy.  Teachers from all over the country created online lessons along with videos which students could watch, pause, re-watch and learn.  These were lessons created by teachers for teachers for all Key Stages for all subjects.  When the world went back to normal, Oak Nat...

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Calling all teachers of Religion, Crime and Punishment. This weeks guest is Dr. Evelyn Svingen who's specialist subject is criminology.  We discussion reasons for crime, aims of punishment, types of punishment, the history of punishment, the death penalty, women in prison,  and the relationship between foriveness and retribution.

Evelyn mentioned lots of amazing resources to explore; 

I ...

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I LOVED this chat with Dr. Martin Pickup so much.  He is an associate professor in Philosophy at the University of Birmingham and Director of the Birmingham Centre for Philosophy of Religion.  His particular specialism is metaphysics and the Philosophy of Religion so we had a lovely chat about these two things; specifically What metaphysics, how it's changed over time and how this has ...

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As we continue to recognise diversity in faith traditions within our worldviews curriculums, I interview Dr. Rhiannon Grant about diversity in the Quaker tradition. Senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, her specialism is modern Quaker thought.  

Following on from the episode with Matthew Guest on Quakerism more generally, this focusses on how Quakers have changed overtime, non-the...

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*Please tweet along with us LIVE this Sunday as we watch the first episode of the new BBC Pilgrimage series BB2 Easter Sunday 9pm*

Welcome to this very special Easter Episode of The RE Podcast where I am on location in London at the press screening of the new BBC Pilgrimage series set to air on Easter Sunday 2025 (20th April).

I chat to 6 of the 7 pilgrims who made the 300km pilgrimage across...

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If you have never been to Strictly RE before, then it is the biggest RE Conference in the country, organised by NATRE and RE Today, where RE teachers from all over the country, from all settings join together and geek out on all things RE.  There are keynote speeches, panel discussions, seminars, resources room and most importantly OTHER RE GEEKS TO TALK TO. 

This year was the first face to ...

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A pentecostal and a person from the charismatic movement were in a room... it sounds like the beginning of a joke doesn't it? But I wonder what might surprise them about the other?

In this week's episode, Wolfgang Vondey generously enlightens us on that. We define what we mean by Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement and look at the etymology of these terms. We identify what ...

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I've had this episode ready to release for a while and I have been so looking forward to it.  I knew so little about the Tao until this chat but was entirely curious about it. So I invited Bob Martin to awaken me, all the way from South America!

We discuss the best terminology and spelling, what exactly The Tao is and how it differs from other eastern philosophies like Buddhism or Confu...

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On the 13th February the General Synod met and discuss 'Living in Faith and Love' which is mentioned in today's episode (link below).  A decision still had not been made on and three more months has been requested.  

What stance should the Anglican Church take on homosexuality?

Dr. Susannah Cornwall from the University of Exeter Theology and Religion Faculty takes us through th...

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To continue with the theme of inclusive education, I speak to Dr. Wouter Peeters about the moral importance of EDI.  This is a great episode for RE teachers, for EDI leads in schools and SLT.

https://www.wouterpeeters.info/

We discuss; 

• the purpose of EDI initiatives in terms of Human Rights 
• the benefits to society and individuals in terms of self actualisation
• the challenges to EDI and how...

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This week I continue my conversation with Dr U-Wen Low from the University of Birmingham about how to read the stories in the new Testament without a colonial lens. We focus in this episode on the book of revelation.

The episode is going to take a hermeneutical look at the book of Revelation (singular) and what it could really be saying and how it might have been misunderstood. But don'...