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Episode details

Radio 4,01 Feb 2015,45 mins

Three-Parent Babies; Modern Sermons; Freedom to Offend

Sunday

Available for over a year

On Tuesday, MPs will debate and vote on a statutory instrument allowing the creation of babies using DNA from three people. The Church of England has said it would be irresponsible to change the law. Dr Brendan McCarthy, the Church of England's national adviser on medical ethics explains why. Kevin Bocquet reports on the new resource available to UK Churches to help them better understand mental health issues. The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned vicars against filling their sermons with 'moral claptrap' about being 'a bit nicer' to everyone. Father Brian D'Arcy goes though the dos and don'ts when it comes to writing to captivate the congregation. How far should freedom of expression allow the freedom to offend? That was the subject of a debate among leading religious thinkers in Cambridge this week. Trevor Barnes went along to listen to the arguments. Rosie Dawson reports on the role church magazines played in maintaining communication between home and the battlefield during the First World War. The Anglo Catholic Father Philip North will be consecrated as Suffragan Bishop of Burnley on Monday. Most of his peers will abstain in participating in the ceremonial ritual of 'laying on of hands' at York Minster as they have participated in the ordination of women priests and Bishops. We speak to Father North's Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev Julian Henderson. Contributors: Dr Brendan McCarthy Father Brian D'Arcy Ed Kessler Atif Imtiaz Rowan Williams Rt Rev Julian Henderson Producers: Zaffar Iqbal David Cook Editor: Amanda Hancox.

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