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Paris Olympics; Kamala Harris; Living Funerals

Controversy over the Paris Olympic opening ceremony.
How will Kamala Harris's religious background play with US voters? People now deciding to hold living funerals.

As athletes compete during the first weekend of the Paris Olympics, we speak to the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield about the interplay between politics and religions at this year's games. Lina Boussaha is a French Algerian footballer who now plays for the Saudi Arabian team, Al Nassr, in order to be able to wear a hijab. She tells us how she's feeling watching the Olympics from afar.

The new Democratic Presidential candidate has a mixed religious background - as a child Kamala Harris worshipped in both church and Hindu temples, her husband is Jewish and she regularly attends Baptist services. We explore how her faith will play with voters, with the American theologian Dr Kelly Brown Douglas.

The practice of holding ‘living funerals’ for the terminally ill has become widespread in this country. We hear from bereaved father Nigel Hale, hospice counsellor Jane Murray, Rev’d Canon Yvonne Tulloch- who runs a grief-counselling charity and Amanda McDonald, who attended her own funeral and then recovered.

Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producers: Bara'atu Ibrahim & Robert Cave
Production Coordinator: Paul Holloway
Editor: Miriam Williamson

Available now

44 minutes

Broadcast

  • Sun 28 Jul 2024 07:10

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