Everyday Ethics

Father Brian D'Arcy turns 80 today. He's Ireland's best known priest, a journalist, a broadcaster, and someone who has never shied away from speaking his true feelings about some of the most important religious, political and social issues.Brian sat down with Audrey Carville to talk about love and loneliness, look back at some the moments that changed the course of his life, what happened after he spoke out against clerical abuse on The Late Late Show, how he's not afraid of dying, and his biggest regret … going home instead of staying an extra day in Vegas to meet Elvis!

After 19 years, the Stormont government finally has an anti-poverty strategy.

What relevance does an event which took place 1700 years ago this week have for people today?The event was the gathering of the Council of Nicea- a meeting of Christian bishops by the Roman Emperor Constantine the First. It met in what is now the Turkish city of Iznik from May until the end of July. It was an ecumenical meeting - the first of many to achieve agreement among all the branches of Christianity and it was as much political as it was religiousIts most significant achievement at the time was the agreement on the wording of a Creed - something which many Christians still say during their services today.So why does any of this matter in 2025 and does the wording of that Creed still hold true in today's world?

Special episode from Rome on the election of Pope Leo XIV.

Pope Francis is dead. The throne is vacant. The voting will soon begin. What does the death of Pope Francis mean for the Catholic church at home and abroad? What will be the big issues facing the cardinals, who will soon gather for the papal conclave?Audrey Carville hears from the former Irish President Dr Mary McAleese about Pope Francis and the challenges for his successor. Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar reflects on Pope Francis's visit to Ireland in 2018 and the reframing of the relationship between the State and the Church.And, Dr Nicola Brady (general secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland), Michael Kelly (director of public affairs at the charity Aid to the Church in Need) and leading human rights defender Baroness Nuala O'Loan join Audrey to discuss the issues that could decide who will succeed Pope Francis as leader of Catholicism.Marie Collins survived the abuse inflicted on her by a Catholic priest in Dublin. Pope Francis appointed her to his Pontifical Commission on the Protection of Minors in 2014 but she resigned from it in 2017. How does she assess how he acted during his papacy? And three expert Vatican observers analyse the enduring legacy of Pope Francis

Is it impossible for a person of faith to navigate their lives without questioning their beliefs? Do the doubters long for the faith of the believers? Is faith the enemy of reason and does certainty come at the expense of rational thought? Audrey Carville will be exploring these questions and more with her guests: theologians Dr Joy Allan and Dr Elaine Storkey, Corrymeela Community leader Rev Dr Alex Wimberly, and Father Martin Magill from St John's Parish.Bishop Donal McKeown will be talking about reaching a big milestone. Has President Nixon's political legacy been unfairly overshadowed by Watergate? And why does Easter Sunday fall on a different date every year, and why have efforts over the years to fix it in the calendar been thwarted?

In a world that seems filled with chaos at the moment, a world where it seems power and money walk hand in hand, is there a space for morality? For ethical choices to be made and conversations be had? Or are we witnessing a moral decline? How can competing moralities co-exist peacefully in increasingly diverse, and politically entrenched, societies? Audrey Carville is joined by Queen's University's Dr Suzanne Whitten, a philosopher, and John Barry, professor of green political economy, and Presbyterian minister Rev Dr Norman Hamilton.

If a doctor or a nurse makes a mistake with your care, or the care of a loved one, you would expect to be told about it. But putting in place a process where there is a duty of candour within the health service is proving extremely difficult. Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK or Ireland not to have one. The Hyponatraemia inquiry into the deaths of five children in hospital put the focus on the need for it. The inquiry chair Mr Justice O'Hara said some of the witnesses had to have the truth dragged out of them. The health minister says he hopes to introduce one in before the next Assembly election, but why is it so challenging? Audrey Carville is joined by Deirdre Heenan (professor of social policy at Ulster University) and Peter McBride (an independent consultant who has been working with the Department of Health on building a framework for a duty of candour).

After 15 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit, in an exclusive interview Audrey Carville talks to Paddy Armstrong and his wife Caroline Armstrong about his life, now.

Were the secularists right in their declaration that religion is in the museum of history or is religion far from dead in 2025? It's a question provoked by a recent lecture given in Maynooth university in County Kildare by one of the best-known theologians from these islands. Dr Anna Rowlands, who is professor of Catholic social thought at Durham University and a recent advisor to the Vatican, told the gathering that not only is the political significance of religion rising, but new forms of religious and post-religious practice are emerging in both the global north and south. She joined the Sunday Sequence debate chaired by Audrey Carville. Also in the discussion is the theologian Professor Laurence Kirkpatrick and human rights defender Baroness Nuala O'Loan.

It's nearly 40 years since Maggie Thatcher declared the end of society. "There is no such thing. There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business. 'It is I think one of the tragedies in which many of the benefits we give, which were meant to reassure people that if they were sick or ill, there was a safety net and there was help, but somehow there are some people who have been manipulating the system. When people come and say 'But what is the point of working? I can get as much on the dole' Her words have come to mind again in recent months, with much of the focus of Westminster on cutting welfare payments. Across the UK, one in 10 people are on sickness or incapacity benefit, up to 3000 people go on the sick every day- half of those are for mental illness. The cost of these payments is £65bn a year. Almost 10 million people of working age aren't looking for work and Sir Keir Starmer has described this as 'unsustainable, indefensible and unfair' The Westminster government says that the case for cutting welfare is a moral one. Is it? And as those on benefits struggle to cope with what they have, is it pushing people further away from each other- thereby killing any notion of society? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick- lecturer at Ulster University, currently researching the social security system and socio-economic rights, Anne McElvoy is executive editor of Politico and Alex Kane is a columnist and writer

Do you think women and men are equal in today's society- do they have equal opportunities in education and career development, do they have equal pay for equal work, are there particular obstacles that women face that men don't? What about in the home? In your home- do you split the tasks 50:50? Until women are no longer seen as the primary carer of children or older family members, will there ever be true equality? What about equality in faith. It hasn't always been the case that women and men are treated equally as worshippers in faith. Decades ago, women weren't allowed to participate in the same way that they do now- as readers, or cantors, or collectors. In many Churches men and women were kept apart, in separated aisles,.for fear of temptation or distraction. And of course what about the call to serve? The Catholic Church still will not allow women priests. Anglican and Presbyterian Churches do- but amid some entrenched opposition- to the extent that people have left their Church in protest. And does the Church's treatment of women play a part in how women are seen and treated across wider society? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Presbyterian minister and university chaplain the Reverend Cheryl Meban, theologian Dr Elaine Storkey, retired school principal and self described practising and questioning Catholic Michele Marken and Naomi Green, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.

How do beliefs jump from one generation to the next? Passing on your belief system - whether religious or otherwise - can be a really important priority for parents. Do churches offer much preparation or training to help people share what they hold dear? And do they support parents and grandparents who discover that children have perhaps turned their back on religion? If it takes a village to raise a child, does it take a village to school them in morals, ethics and spirituality? Teasing out some answers to these questions in the studio with Claire Graham are Roz Stirling who runs retreats and for a long time led the youth work strategy for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland; Boyd Sleater, coordinator of Northern Ireland Humanists; Lindsay Allen, a parent of two boys and a retired Baptist Pastor; and Fr Martin Magill, a Catholic Priest in west Belfast and a co-founder of the 4 Corners Festival.

Three years ago tomorrow, before dawn broke, Russia began its full scale invasion of its sovereign neighbour, Ukraine. On Tuesday, US and Russian officials held their first high-level, face-to-face talks since the war started but Ukraine was not invited, prompting fears in Kyiv that the country invaded by Russia was being sidelined. At the same time as the meeting in the Saudi Arabian capital, the US administration was letting the EU know that it could no longer rely on the US to help defend it. Has the past week been the bleakest in Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain? Dr Alexander Titov (lecturer in Modern European History at Queen's University, Belfast), Cal Thomas (commentator and former Fox News pundit) and Catherine Clinton (Denman Professor of American History at the University of Texas) joined Audrey Carville to discuss this dramatic and rapid change in the world order, and ask if there's any period in history that can guide us to help build peace at this time.

Earlier this month a couple in their early 50s were found dead in their home in Glenbeigh in County Kerry. It is thought they had been dead for several months. And Hazel and David Byrne were not the first couple whose deaths went unnoticed on this island in recent times. Over the past three years, there have been at least seven cases of men and women being found, months after they had died.How could this happen? Where is the community? Has community broken down? How has it changed and what the impact?Audrey Carville was joined by Michael Harding (an author and columnist), Liz Kennedy (a journalist and arts critic) and Niamh Hourigan (a professor of sociology at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick).

It's the month of love. February 14th looms ever larger. St Valentine' Day, the commercial world's dream day when they make millions out of our willingness to declare our love for that special someone. We could do it any day of the year but, it seems, everything has to have a date! Are you still in love with that person you made a pledge to all those years ago? Married or not, how do you keep your relationship from drifting into hostility or worse still- apathy? On the path from love to marriage to divorce- can a split be prevented. Or, in some cases, is it the best thing? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Claire Auchmuty, who is a relationship and divorce coach, Emily Beven an associate at Stowe Family Law and Philip Jinadu- director of Care for the Family.

This week the PSNI laid down a challenge to men and boys everywhere. Check your behaviour towards women and girls. Step away from negative attitudes. Challenge your mates. And have the confidence to step in safely and put a stop to potentially abusive behaviour. The Power to Change campaign comes as figures show that between January 2019 and December 2024, thirty two women and girls were killed by men. And there were 92 attempted murders from December 2018 to November '24. In the Republic, 1,250 attacks in the home were reported every week last year. Will initiatives such as this PSNI plan bring real difference over time? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Kerrie Flood, CEO of Fermanagh Women's Aid, Wicklow secondary school teacher Eoghan Cleary and journalist Amanda Ferguson.

The past week saw an extraordinary admission from a major media company. News Group Newspapers, owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, admitted that one of its papers- had been involved in incidents of unlawful activity. This related to its intrusion into the life of Prince Harry and took place over a period of 15 years from 1996. News Group also apologised to the Prince. It said it was private investigators rather than its journalists who were involved. The impact of this on journalists of long standing, working for media with strong reputations, will surely reinforce the mistrust that increasing numbers have in journalism. And yet with increasing numbers getting their news on social media sites- much of which is unchecked, and in some cases deliberately false, why are these platforms trusted more? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Paul Tweed, a lawyer specialising in defamation and by former BBC journalist and editor Mihir Bose.

So much has been written and said about Mr Trump and how he will govern the country for the next four years.We brought together four people - Corina Lacatus from Queen Mary University in London, Julie Norman from University College London, Jane Kinninmont from the European Leadership Network and former US Secret Service Agent Barry DonAdio

On January 9, the man who has been described as the best post-presidency President was laid to rest. Jimmy Carter died last month at the age of 100. He served as 39th president of the United States from 1977-1981. On the twentieth of this month Donald Trump will be sworn in as the country's 47th President. So from George Washington to Mr Trump, who has been the greatest President of all time? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Dr Sarah Thelan who teaches 20th Century US political and cultural history at University College Cork, Denman professor of American History at the University of Texas Catherine Clinton and journalist, author and former long time pundit for Fox News, Cal Thomas.

There's three sleeps left until Christmas Day. If you're lucky enough, you might get a present or two, have a wonderful feast for dinner, and a safe and secure bed to sleep in that night. Spare a thought for those who don't have those same comforts, the same ability to provide the best Christmas possible for their loved ones. What have you done in the run up to this year's celebrations to help them? Have you made a donation? Have you volunteered to help out with food banks? If yes, is this something you do all year round, or does it only happen at Christmas time? Do we only care at Christmas time, and is our giving partly to assuage our guilt for our own riches? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with the CEO of Positive Futures Agnes Lunny, Professor Deirdre Heenan and the commentator Michele Marken.

Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things. The Roman historian Cicero penned these words over 2,000 years ago It remains true - what or who would we be without our memories? They form a fundamental part of who we are. But what happens when they begin to slip- whether through injury, trauma or illness? What does this mean for our individual identities, and what can we do to keep the past a vibrant part of our present lives?

Is religion at the root of the misogyny that women experience in the world today? If gender discrimination is rejected in every other arena, why is it accepted in religion? God is personified as male. His representatives at the highest levels of religion are men. Many denominations and faiths do not allow the full or any ordination of women into the clergy. But is the question more complex than it appears? Misogyny doesn't exist in limbo, it's argued that it's embedded in the beliefs and values systems of many religions. Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with the Reverend Christina Rees, Professor Lawrence Kirkpatrick and rights advocate and commentator Koulla Yiasouma.

It was described as the wealth of fossil fuels battling with the science. The science that tells us that if we continue to burn oil, gas and coal, we will destroy the planet we call home. When the COP29 conference ended in Baku in Azerbaijan last weekend - a place that oil has been very good to - many reached the conclusion that science lost the battle. At stake was the money needed to help poor countries move to a low carbon economy, adapt their infrastructure to mitigate extreme weather and save their people from harm. Everyone agreed around one trillion dollars a year was needed by 2035 to do this and for the world to keep temperatures within the 1.5 degree limit. A deal was done; the wealthiest countries agreed to give 300 billion. Many described it as a betrayal- Christian Aid said people of the global south came to the talks needing a lifeboat - but all they got was a plank of wood to cling to. For others, they compared spending on saving lives to spending on wars: the developed nations spend 1.7% of global GDP on wars...1.4% on climate protection. In fact, the seven countries who have produced the most greenhouse gas emissions are also the states with the biggest military budgets. What are the ethics of this and are people's lives being sacrificed for profits from weapons and war- both through war itself and the increasing destruction to the planet? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Éamon Ryan, Ireland's minister for the Environment - a member of the Green party- and the EU's lead negotiator at the COP29 talks, Jane Kinninmont,director of policy and impact at the European Leadership Network which focuses on European security and Siobhán Curran, Head of Policy at the charity Trócaire

In the past week, BAFTA said the convicted criminal Huw Edwards will be allowed to keep the seven individual awards that he won in the 40 years he worked for the BBC, fronting some of the biggest news stories during that time.Edwards was given a six month suspended sentence this year after he admitted accessing and making indecent images of children as young as sevenWhile BAFTA have decided that he can keep them, but that from next year they will revoke prizes if a recipient is subsequently jailed for at least three months - suspended or otherwise - or have been proven to have cheated in their work.The narrow question this morning is should BAFTA have applied this rule retrospectively in the face of such a serious conviction for Edwards? Or if he was never viewed as a role model, should the work that he did be separated from the character of the man who did it? When is it legitimate to remove someone's honours?The wider question is whether in today's world, where we have seen distinguished art institutions refuse money from companies with image problems, to social media activists removing a platform from 'unfashionable' speakers, are we witnessing a new secular puritanism?Is this a new and welcome moral clarity or a narrow-minded and self-defeating intolerance of life's ambiguities and those not fully signed up to an approved point of view?Audrey Carville is joined by Professor of Sociology at Queen's University Gladys Ganiel, author and journalist Mihir Bose, and former Presbyterian Moderator the Reverend Norman Hamilton.

This week's resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury has once again cast a spotlight on how the Christian Church as an institution deals with people in its ranks who abuse children in the most horrific of ways. Why is it so difficult for people at the top of religious institutions to instantly know that child abuse is a crime which must be reported to the police? Why are the abusers, rather than the victims, protected? How can the faithful have faith...does the revolution for change have to start at the bottom? Questions not just for the Church: from the BBC to the Post Office to the Metropolitan Police. Is the knee jerk response from institutions at the heart of society self protection? Audrey Carville is joined by theologian Dr Elaine Storkey, Queen's University academic Dr Leon Litvack and political communications consultant, author and former EU diplomat David Harley.

The American people have spoken but what have they said and what will it mean for their country's place in the world and for Europe, the Middle East and the rest of the planet. Are we, in the west, witnessing a new age of sometimes extreme, conservatism where the rich get richer, the poor poorer and the sick and oppressed find few to help them or, could it be that not a lot will change and life, for most, will continue as before? Presenter Claire Graham in conversation with the author, columnist and former Fox News correspondent Cal Thomas, Marion McKeone from the Sunday Business Post and conflict resolution specialist Sara Cook, who's from Indiana but lives in Belfast.

To what extent is Artificial Intelligence part of your life? It has been part of our lives for years, but we are currently witnessing the astonishing strides that it has been making in more recent times. From excelling in complicated tasks to groundbreaking scientific research AI is reshaping our world. (We talked on last week's programme about its developing role in predicting health prognoses and our mortality. That discussion is still available on BBC Sounds) What about its growth in the world of education, the literary world, and its impact on the human brain, particularly those of our younger generations? Will we ultimately have less appreciation and understanding of what's happening in the world around us and how we interact with each other? Will it turn our brains to mush or will it make us smarter? Audrey Carville has been in conversation with Katy Hayward, professor of political sociology at Queen's University Belfast, theologian, author, and lecturer, Professor Stephen Williams who co-edited the book The Robot Will See You Now; and Dr James Sumner who lectures in the History of Technology at the University of Manchester.

The ability to predict our prognoses is as old as medicine itself. But do the remarkable advances in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning mean that we are now being promised answers to one of life's ultimate questions - when will I die? Analysing our health information, various algorithms do now exist to predict mortality. It's an ethical minefield - both for medical practitioners and ourselves. Could care be curtailed based on predicted life expectancy? Would there be an onus on informing partners or employers about specific health conditions and our prognosis? Could these algorithms worsen health inequalities in our society? Audrey Carville was joined by Manu Thomas (an advanced clinical practitioner, now managing director of Pentafold, a software development company specialising in AI and Data Science), Dr Sara Lorimer (lecturer in Cognitive Psychology at Ulster University), Dr Nisha Sharma (consultant radiologist and director of the Breast Screening Programme for Leeds and Wakefield) and theologian Professor Laurence Kirkpatrick.

George Eliot famously wrote: 'our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them'. With that in mind, how do you want to be remembered when you die? Is it a better question than asking what do I want to do with my life? What do I want my life to look like in five years? How can I achieve the success that I crave? Are those questions too focused on self? Do they neglect to consider the potential impact we might have on those around us? Perhaps asking how you want to be remembered puts the focus on our values and how we would like to make others feel? Audrey Carville was joined by writer Deborah Sloan, academic Dr Leon Litvack, and political and communications consultant Quintin Oliver.

Professor Raphael Bengoa returned to Northern Ireland on Tuesday. Eight and a half years after his team's 25 thousand word report, the need to transform health and social care in Northern Ireland is even more pressing. Politicians in the NI Executive accepted the report at the time, which explained how health services could be delivered differently and more effectively. Per-capita, the size waiting lists for people waiting more than 12 months for inpatient and outpatient appointments in Northern Ireland tower above similar figures for England, Scotland, Wales or the Republic of Ireland. What's blocking progress or slowing down reforms. Prof Joanne Murphy (University of Birmingham), Ann Watt (former civil servant and director of Pivotal think tank) and Dr Ursula Mason (chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners in NI) joined Audrey Carville to discuss change management, cultural change, and balancing competing priorities with a limited budget.

One year ago, news began breaking about an attack on Israel by the Islamic group Hamas whose fighters invaded southern Israel and murdered around 1200 people - children, women and men. They also captured around 240 others- children, men and women- and kept them hostage. It was the biggest killing of Jews since the Holocaust during World War Two. Israel's response was brutal- in the past year they have bombed Gaza- bombed refugee camps, schools, hospitals, homes- and in the process killed over 41,000 children, women and men. In the past few weeks, the war has escalated...another Shia militant group, backed by Iran- Hezbollah- have increased their attacks from Southern Lebanon into Northern Israel, and in response Israel has launched a ferocious response on Lebanon- they killed Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah and they've been blamed for exploding pagers and walkie talkies being carried by Hezbollah members. The Lebanese health ministry say nearly 2000 people have been killed there in the past three weeks. And then Iran got directly involved- they fired 1800 rockets at Israel- most of which were intercepted by the Israeli missile defence systems. How Israel will respond to that is not yet clear. So this is the scenario that is facing the Middle East right now. What might happen next? What can the United States and Europe do to stop it? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Gershon Baskin, who has been advisor to both Israeli, Palestinian and international prime ministers on the peace process, Dr Yvonne Ridley is a journalist and author - she was taken hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, and Dr Leon Litvack is from Queen's University.

What drives someone to change their faith? It can't be an easy decision- or can it? It certainly arouses deep emotions among others- what should be a private matter rarely is, it tends to provoke a reaction but is the new belief believable? Is it masking a previously bad life? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Rabbi Jonathan Romain who recently conducted some research on religious conversions, and theologians Professor Tina Beattie and Dr Elaine Storkey.

Is it easier to remember than to forget? What would happen if we did forget our past? Would we be consumed by guilt? Would we be free to heal? Would it be liberating? By 'our past' we don't just mean our most recent past. We mean remembering world wars, remembering revolutions, remembering civil wars. We commemorate a lot in this part of the world, we've just emerged from a decade of remembering. We say it's about respect for those who are gone and what they left behind for future generations. But is it really? Do we ever face up to the hard questions that lie behind those events? Are we willing to examine the valour and nobility of the so-called other side? Does commemoration keep us tied, in an unhealthy way to the past? Would it be healthier to learn to forget in a respectful way? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Wallace Thompson of the Evangelical Protestant Society, Professor Deirdre Heenan from Ulster University and by theologian Professor Laurence Kirkpatrick

Morals and values - Are they inextricably linked to faith? Have they changed over time, as society changes? What about those who find themselves on the outside of society because their values don't match the majority?

Presenter Audrey Carville meets Ravinder Naga falsely confessed to stealing money from his mother's post office to protect her from going to prison. He recently had his conviction quashed- he's the latest victim of the Post Office Horizon scandal to be cleared through the court system.

We often hear people talking about their need for "me time" and, in the busy world of work and family, that is indeed a genuine need, but further up the age brackets there's often very little but "me time" with older people feeling increasingly lonely, isolated and disconnected from a world that seems in a dreadful rush, a world where people spend so much time on their phones or tablets rather than engaging with the people next to them, a world where someone can very quickly feel that they don't really belong anymore. Research carried out by Trinity College in Dublin has highlighted growing numbers of older people in particular expressing a 'wish to die' because they felt socially isolated. Is there, sadly, an inevitability to that, or can we change as a society to become one where inclusion is truly multi-generational? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Dr Mark Ward from Trinity College Dublin, retired school principal Michele Marken, Kellie Turtle from Age NI, and senior lecturer in social policy at Ulster University Goretti Horgan.

Would there be less chaos, less anxiety and less fear in the world today had the Western powers of the United States, France and Britain left Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi in place? Today millions of people are displaced around the world, far right and white supremacist groups continue to grow in strength and some Muslim men continue to be radicalised. Could much of this have been prevented had the West stayed out of Iraq and Libya? Audrey Carville talks to Patrick Cockburn (a journalist who reported extensively from the region), Jane Kinninmont (an expert in the politics of the Middle East) and Mahjoob Zweiri (director of the Gulf Studies Centre and Associate Professor in Contemporary Politics of the Middle East at Qatar University in Doha).

Is immigration good for the economies of these islands? The hundreds of thousands of people from other countries who come to these parts every year are given work visas by the Government at Westminster, or are free to travel and work thanks to the EU. Do they compete with the native population for work, or do they lead to more jobs being created? What is their impact on wages? Realistically, are more people needed given the falling birth rates in this part of the world? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with the financial commentator Karl Deeter, Mary Lafferty, who runs a project which works with asylum seekers, Queen's University academic Professor John Barry and Presbyterian Minister the Reverend Cheryl Meban

Ten years ago Martina Purdy left the BBC to become a nun. She talks about having a great job and all the good things in life at that time but gradually feeling "choked" by the weight of her possessions. There's been many a twist and turn in the decade since and things haven't always gone to plan for her but does she still believe it was it the right decision?

Did you enjoy the Olympics opening ceremony? The four hour extravaganza was remarkable in its ambition and execution- and delighted billions around the world who tuned inBut one group wasn't terribly happy with one part of it. Christians were apparently outraged by a scene that evoked Leonardo daVinci's The Last Supper painting, with drag queens, a transgender model and a singer made up as the Greek god of wineThe organisers apologised saying the scene was intended to interpret Dionysus and raise awareness of violence between human beings- and that any interpretation of it being a parody of the Last Supper was unintentionalA delegate of the bishops of France for the Games said some French athletes had trouble sleeping because of the controversy.France has a rich Catholic heritage but also has a long tradition of secularism and anti-clericalism. Blasphemy is legal and is considered by many to be an essential pillar of freedom of speech.What does this tell us about Christianity's ability to see beyond the obvious, to sometimes laugh at itself, or is the whole episode another example in the so-called culture wars between Conservatives and Liberals in the world right now?Audrey discusses with theologians Dr Elaine Storkey, Dr Tina Beattie and Professor Laurence Kirkpatrick.

Freedom - Neuroscientist, author and broadcaster Hannah Critchlow joins presenter Audrey Carville to discuss the science of choice and free will. Do they really exist or are we programmed to conform? What happens in our brains when we make a decision and how much does our environment influence the decisions we make? Do our early years inform what kind of decision maker we are and why are some people decisive and others procrastinate? Also our right to vote is a fundamental aspect of freedom and the foundation of a democratic society. Professor Thomas Gift has led extensive studies analysing US politics and America's role in the world, he joins Audrey to discuss what factors affect our decision making and whether we vote differently if we fear our freedom might be compromised. And why can some people achieve the seemingly impossible, does mind over matter really ring true? Only 20 people have ever made it to the end of the Barkley marathons in Tennessee. The ultramarathon spans 100 miles and competitors are given 60 hours to reach the finish line. Earlier this year Jasmin Paris became the first woman to complete it. She joins Audrey to discuss risk and reward & just how much the mind takes over when the body wants to quit?