God Forbid

UK comedian David Baddiel is terrified of death and deeply moved by Jewish tradition - but he's convinced God does not exist.

We’re all entitled to feel offended, but what happens when outrage is weaponised towards more cynical and sinister ends? 

Domestic violence is a whole-of-society problem. But how are faith communities dealing with the current crisis? 

It was an ancient preoccupation, and now it's a modern obsession. So how has something as universal as sleep remained so mysterious? And what can the cultural and religious history of sleep, dreaming and insomnia teach us today?

Across faith traditions, the pilgrimage is a sacred journey of spiritual transformation, steeped in history and geography. Pilgrimages can be powerful life-altering experiences, but they can also be dangerous. 

Our species has plenty of experience with death, but in many families the topic remains taboo.

From hymns and oaths to the eternal flame - the Olympic Games are full of religious symbolism. Ever since the ancient Games in Olympia, ritual and moral virtues have played a part. 

Can religion provide a pathway for a better tomorrow? Can it aid us in bringing peace where everything else seems to have failed?

Could kindness be an act of defiance or resistance?

Over the COVID years, the Diversity Council Australia found one in two Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people experienced at least one incident of racial harassment or discrimination at work. Other studies have found racism to be a deeply set feature of our society.  

Today, 8 billion of us share this remarkable planet.  Yet there are declines in fertility rates across the globe. Demographers say this is more the rule than the exception.  What's causing this decline, and can we do anything about it? And what about the planet? Where does it fit into this population debate?   

How is it that the physical brain can give rise to our subjective, intangible conscious experience? Why and how are we aware of being aware? It remains one of the great philosophical and scientific questions, and our God Forbid panel are here to discuss it.

More than half of Australians believe in life after death. Some even believe we can communicate with the dead.  In the nineteenth century, the Spiritualist movement claimed to speak with the dead through mediums and seances. This  American movement attracted many women; and at a time when they had few rights, Spiritualism gave women a voice as mediums who could take messages from the dead to the l...

Freud said humans are instinctively aggressive, and as a result, war is inevitable.  But could peace be inevitable too? Today, there are more than 100 armed conflicts of one kind or another taking place around the world. In the first decade of this century – war killed around 20,000 people a year.  It’s now ten times that number,  and it’s happening around the world – it’s not just because of Gaza...

Many of us regard our pets as part of the family,  but can an animal be its best self in a human home?   For much of human history, we’ve kept animals primarily to do jobs – to hunt, herd, plough and pull carriages... or just to keep mice out of the hay shed. The idea of keeping an animal as a "pet” - an emotional companion is relatively new.  And religion, it turns out, played a part in that hist...

Falling in love is one of life’s great thrills, but it leaves you open to heartbreak – one of life’s great miseries.  Romantic heartbreak has inspired countless works of literature, art and music through the ages. It’s a uniquely painful yet universal experience – so, how do you get over it? Do science, faith and philosophy provide some answers?

As the US election approaches, presidential candidate Donald Trump has been doubling down on the religious language - selling bibles, preaching retribution and styling himself as a persecuted saviour. Trump enjoys the support of the overwhelming majority of white evangelical voters, but will that be enough to return him to the White House?     Guests:  D Stephen Long, theologian, Cary M. Maguire U...

Today, billions of people adhere to one of the “Big Five” major religions, but there are many more religions from history that have died out. Conquests, cultural change and conversions have all caused religions to shift, shrink and disappear. But when can we truly declare a religion “dead”? And could the religions of today die out in the distant future?  Guests:  Aslan Pahari, Video presenter/prod...

Jesus was famously a carpenter, and many religious texts associate carpentry with wisdom, humility, and devotion. So, is there something divine about working with wood? Woodwork is the most ancient of crafts. It can offer both solitude and companionship, teach us lessons about patience and failure, and connect us to place, people and stories.  Guests: Phoebe Everill, furniture maker and woodwork t...

The federal government is unwilling to progress promised religious discrimination reforms unless it secures bipartisan support from the Coalition. Can a compromise be reached, or is this debate likely to be shelved again?  Guests: Chris Bedding, is Executive Officer of Faith Workers Alliance and a priest of the Anglican Church in Perth David Robertson, Presbyterian minister, director of the ASK pr...

Why do we choose to endure hardship? Can sacrifices - sacred and secular - make us better human beings?  Guests: Justine Toh, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity.   Adis Duderija, Senior Lecturer in the Study of Islam and Society in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science at Griffith University.   Brock Bastian, Professor at the Melbourne School of Psycholog...

What is it like to grow up in a strict religious or cultural household - and what happens when you no longer agree with your parents’ worldview?  Guests: David Newheiser, Senior Research Fellow, Religion and Theology, ACU, author of Hope in a Secular Age Laura McConnell Conti, grew up in a fundamentalist Christian group known as The Truth Professor Manjula Datta O’Connor, psychiatrist and author o...

The modern welfare state emerged in Australia some 100 years ago, but it remains a subject of intense ideological, philosophical and even religious debate. Guests: Verity Archer, ​​lecturer in social work, community and human services at Federation University Eve Vincent, anthropologist at Macquarie University, author of Who Cares? Life on Welfare in Australia John Falzon, Senior Fellow Inequality...

Evolving digital technologies have supercharged our anxieties around privacy and surveillance. These concerns may feel new, but they have always existed. Privacy is central to human dignity, intimacy and wellbeing - but in a world of ever-evolving technologies - is privacy in its death throes?  Guests:  Anita Allen, Professor of Law and Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania  Hugh Breakey, Profess...

For as long as we have had language, we have told stories - and some of the oldest stories, are fairytales. What can they teach us about the world, and why do they still appeal? Guests:  Marguerite Johnson, classicist, historian and Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland.   Tom Wright, theatre writer and Artistic Associate at Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney   Michelle Smith, Associate...