As a recent BBC series confirms, the idea of a spiritual journey has survived the decline of organised religion

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s England, the arrival of spring was taken by many as a cue to take to the road. As the prologue to The Canterbury Tales begins: “When in April the sweet showers fall/And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all/…Then people long to go on pilgrimages”.

Given Britain’s increasingly damp climate, contemporary pilgrims are as likely to encounter persistent rain as the occasional sweet shower. But the participants in the BBC’s sixth Pilgrimage series, which ended on Friday, were largely blessed with fine days as they travelled by foot and bus across North Wales. Travelling the Pilgrim’s Way, the group of minor celebrities followed a Christianity-based route-map of shrines and churches, but also stayed at an eco retreat and a Buddhist meditation centre.

A region known as ‘God’s land’ offers a glimpse of the future if Indian prime minister’s BJP party retains its power

For centuries it has been known as the “land of the gods”. Stretching high up into the Himalayas, the Indian state of Uttarakhand is home to tens of thousands of Hindu temples and some of the holiest Hindu pilgrimage sites.

Yet as Hindu nationalism has become the dominant political force in India under prime minister Narendra Modi over the past decade, the government is accused of weaponising Uttarakhand’s sacred status for politics, making the state a “laboratory” for some of the most extreme rightwing policies and rhetoric targeting the Muslim minority.

Troops took Layan Nasir away at gunpoint from her home in the West Bank and her parents haven’t been told where she is

The Israeli troops arrived at about 4am last Saturday to take 23-year-old Layan Nasir away at gunpoint from her parents home in the West Bank town of Birzeit. There was no arrest warrant or charges, and her parents haven’t been notified where she is held.

The only Palestinian Christian woman currently in Israeli detention, her case has been raised by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. “I’m shocked and deeply concerned,” he said in a post on X. “Please pray for Layan’s safety and swift release.”

The attack, blamed on a suicide bomber, killed 85 people, wounded 300 and devastated Latin America’s biggest Jewish community

A new ruling by Argentina ’s highest criminal court has blamed Iran for the fatal 1994 attack against a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, declaring it a “crime against humanity” in a decision that paves the way for victims to seek justice.

That massive blast at the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), was blamed on a suicide bomber driving a stolen van loaded with explosives. It killed 85 people, wounded 300 and devastated Latin America’s biggest Jewish community.

While some were freed or escaped, the authorities’ waning interest and ongoing mass abductions by militants has left campaigners and families of missing pupils in despair

When her Boko Haram captors told Margret Yama she would be going home, she thought it was a trick. She and the other girls kidnapped from their school in Chibok , in north-east Nigeria’s Borno state, had been held for three years and had been taunted before about the possibility of release.

Conditions where they were being held in Sambisa Forest were harsh. Food and water were limited, the work was hard and the surveillance from the Islamist militants was suffocating. But then came the day in May 2017 when the girls were escorted to a Red Cross convoy on the edges of the forest.

Muslims mark the start of the three-day festival that signals the end of the holy month of Ramadan

Thousands of Muslims in Rafah attend Eid prayers outside ruins of mosque

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Millions of Muslims across the UK celebrated Eid on Wednesday after the first sighting of the new crescent moon, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

The Baitul Futuh mosque in London, one of the largest in Europe, welcomed more than 5,000 people to pray and celebrate the three-day festival, one of the most important holidays in the Islamic calendar.

Viewers association has called for Amica Chips to suspend the campaign over a lack of respect towards practising Catholics

An Italian TV advert that depicts nuns eating crisps instead of altar bread while receiving holy communion has been accused of blasphemy by an outraged association of Catholic TV viewers.

The 30-second advert for Amica Chips – one of Italy’s top crisps brands – takes place in a monastery and opens with nuns preparing to receive holy communion. Their mother superior realises that the tabernacle is empty of hosts, and so fills it with crisps.

Co-director and star Peter Facinelli must rescue his family trapped by a wildfire, but while he digs deep to save them the film dodges the really big question raised here

It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that eco-thrillers are films that preach to the converted. So, fair dos to this environmental drama for also preaching to another cohort of the converted: Christians. The script shoehorns in a few prayer scenes to appeal to viewers of faith – though cynics might think it is a shameless attempt to cover all audience bases. The story follows a family caught up in a wildfire raging out of control in California, shot in a throwback style to vintage disaster movies of the 80s – though clearly on a tight budget that really shows in some cheap smoke-machine effects.

Dave (played by co-director Peter Facinelli) is a builder who lives with his eight-months-pregnant wife Sarah (Fiona Dourif) and their teenage son in a house in the California forest; his elderly dad is in a mobile home in the garden. None of them are too concerned when a wildfire tears through a neighbouring community. Still, their home isn’t insured, so Dave drives off to the hardware store for supplies. He’s out when the evacuation order is issued for their area. Somehow Dave must dodge the police roadblock to reach his family and get them to safety (while finding time to squeeze in the odd plea to Him upstairs for help).