Righteous Targets for Violence (with Hugo Rifkind)

Righteous Targets for Violence (with Hugo Rifkind)

From Strong Message Here by BBC Radio 4

April 9, 2026 · 38 min

About this episode

Hugo Rifkind joins Armando to discuss the intersection of religious language and politics, touching on various contemporary issues and historical perspectives.

Hugo Rifkind joins Armando for a chat about the religious language in politics. After a quick detour round the far side of the moon, we find out Trump's favourite bible passage (sort of), why the Pope has rebuked Pete Hegseth, and if invoking a higher power can be used to dodge accountability. In the extended version, we also look at how parties in the UK trade in religious language, why how AI is getting hiring humans, and answer the age-old question - which Easter has been best, militarily? Got a strong message for Armando? Email us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk Sound editing: Chris Maclean Production Coordinator: Asha Osborne-Grinter & Caroline Barlow Executive Producer: Pete Strauss Recorded at The Sound Company Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

People in this episode

Host: Armando

Guest: Hugo Rifkind

Topics covered

  • religious language in politics
  • accountability
  • AI in hiring
  • UK political parties
  • military history of Easter

Keywords

  • religion
  • politics
  • Trump
  • Pope
  • AI
  • Easter
  • accountability

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC Radio 4, The Sound Company, BBC Studios

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