Speechification

In New York State there's a community—called Lily Dale—established in 1879 by Spiritualists. Yes, Spiritualists. As a consequence the town is full of mediums. This lovely half-hour doc by Frank Falk was originally made for CBC Canada and went out in a religion slot on The World Service at the crack of dawn this morning (MP3).

And I've just noticed that's two CBC programmes in a row! Pic by Ross G.

A wonderfully atmospheric doco on the lamed vav tzaddikim, the 36 beings who keep the world turning according to Jewish tradition. There's a lovely associated photo gallery here, featuring photos by Todd Weinstein, and nice sound work from sound engineer Russell Stapleton.

ABC Radio National: Radio Eye: Double Life [mp3]

I'd never come across Something Understood before, probably because it's broadcast at 6am and 11.30pm on Sundays, but it seems like rather a good idea, despite its new-agey premise. Every week, "the programme examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry". This week: aging. Lovely stuff. [MP3]

Terrific one-hour feature from Radio 3's Sunday Feature slot about the history of religious tolerance, its roots in Holland and in John Locke's luminous 'Letters Concerning Toleration' (well worth a read, by the way). There's a large minibus- or a small coach-load of grade-A scholarship on show here: very topical too. And, while we're talking about Locke, here's an In Our Time from February about John Locke and the Social Contract. (/programmes, MP3).

A particularly good Moral Maze from a stage at The Cheltenham Science Festival (which sounds like a riot). Rancorous and funny by turns. And Melanie Phillips is always a laugh isn't she? Had me shouting and grumbling at the radio throughout (MP3).

I'm a little late with this, but things pertaining to Sir Arthur C. Clarke tend to have a timeless quality. Just after his recent death, ABC Radio National's Late Night Live show re-broadcast an interview with Clarke from 2001. It's a gentle listen, as host Philip Adams carefully and respectfully coaxes memories out of Clarke - on such matters as working with Stanley Kubrick, science and religion, marriage, writing, pondering death and satellites, and so on. We also discover that 2001 is one of the Pope's favourite movies. All of this quietly and humbly revealed in Clarke's warm Somerset burr, still detectable over a crackly line from Sri Lanka to Sydney.

Late Night Live: Arthur C. Clarke [mp3]

Radio 4 has a set of prejudices left over from the Reith days. Not bad prejudices, admirable actually, but not mainstream. A set of priorities that gives Radio 4 its character. Sport's not that important, books and religion are, and Christianity is still part of the fabric of weekly life. Personally I find some of the religious stuff a bit irritating, the sappiness of Thought For The Day is always the final straw that gets Today turned off in my bathroom. But, anyway, anyway, what I'm building up to saying is that this week's Analysis represents the best of these prejudices. It's thoughtful, intelligent radio that examines religion as a human, social, cultural phenomenon, not just to be accepted but to be thought about. It looks at religion through the lens of science, not to determine its 'truth' or otherwise, but to see how what we can learn about it, to think about why we're drawn to it. Radio 4 has a bias towards examination. I like that. Thanks to Matt. MP3 here.

Tom Mangold's warm, grave voice rushes me back to a childhood of very serious and grown-up Panoramas (he was on the show for 26 years). He presents this programme - from the Beeb's religion department - about a remarkable man, Jim McCloskey, a Newark presbyterian who works to get wrongly convicted people released from New Jersey's jails (MP3).

St Augustine never saw a bible in his lifetime. There's a fact to get your teeth into. This really fascinating Radio 3 four-parter (four experts: one essay each - and one of them's the Archbishop of Canterbury!) about Augustine is full of such mind-blowing information, especially the fourth part - presented by Dr James J O'Donnell, one of Augustine's biographers - which I'm featuring here for the podcast (MP3). Part one, part two and part three are here too. Wonderful.

Steve Evans talks to religious people about business, including an American evangelist whose Dallas construction firm actually belongs to God (MP3). This is the Christmas Day edition of Business Daily on the World Service.