Belief

With the world's major religions now playing a key role in international and political affairs, it is time to examine how many and various are the beliefs people have. Within leading religions we now see the development of dissent and extremism leading to dangers for us all. Against this background we are forced to examine what we each believe and how that fits with the emerging world picture. Some of today's most influential thinkers including writers Amy Tan and Philip Pullman scholar Karen Armstrong and the film maker David Puttnam have made thoughtful contributions to the growing debate on belief. These conversations, selected from Joan Bakewell's BBC Radio 3 series of the same name, constitute a broad and surprising insight into what thinking people believe.