The Religion and Ethics Report - Separate stories podcast

Australia’s landmark ban on people under 16 using social media begins next month.  It’s the first time any government in the world has used a ban to shield children from social media, particularly online predators who use the platforms.  But is the new law comprehensive?  GUEST: Melinda Tankard-Reist is a member of the government’s Stakeholder Advisory Panel and heads the advocacy group Collective...

One of the Trump administration’s most divisive policies is the mass raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, or ICE.  About 65,000 people, not all undocumented migrants, are now in detention.  Some of the most dramatic confrontations have occurred in Chicago, where religious leaders have been protesting.  One of them is Baptist minister MICHAEL WOOLF of the Lake Street Church in Evans...

Pope Leo flies east next week on his first overseas visit as pontiff. He goes first to Türkiye, a country where the Christian population has dwindled to less than one per-cent.  He’ll meet the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholemew, who leads most of the world’s Orthodox Christians, and with the controversial president of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  Erdogan’s been styling himself as a new sultan of...

For Donald Trump’s administration, there are a few more inviting targets than America’s universities.  Ivy League institutions, including Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, have lost federal funds and been subject to more direct government control.  The administration claims it is trying to combat campus domination by the ideological left.  Philosophy professor YUVAL AVNUR of Sc...

Pope Leo flies east next week on his first overseas visit as pontiff. He goes first to Türkiye, a country where the Christian population has dwindled to less than one per-cent.  He’ll meet the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholemew, who leads most of the world’s Orthodox Christians, and with the controversial president of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan’s been styling himself as a new sultan of...

The second richest man in the world and tech bro extraordinaire, Peter Thiel, has lately been giving lectures on Armageddon and the Antichrist to rapt audiences.  These lectures attempt to fuse beliefs about technology and religion.  Adrian Daub was unable to get one of the sold out tickets, but has been following these lecture tours with great interest. GUEST: Professor Adrian Daub, a German lite...

Hollywood comes to the Vatican this weekend, as Pope Leo hosts a bevy of actors, actresses, directors, and producers, including Australian Cate Blanchett. The first American pope has also released a list of his favourite movies, all of them Oscar winners.  The Vatican correspondent for Reuters JOSHUA MCELWEE will be close to the red carpet.

There has been an escalation of Israeli settler violence against Palestinian villagers, which include destruction of olive trees and armed incursions, often by minors. But there's help at hand for these olive farmers bringing in their harvest, which began in earnest at the beginning of October. It comes from Rabbis For Human Rights – an Israeli organisation who gather groups of Israeli volunteers...

While the shaky ceasefire in Gaza dominates the news from Israel, according to the UN, radical Jewish settlers in the Palestinian West Bank have committed more than 700 attacks so far this year on Palestinians and their property. But one group of Israelis is standing with the Palestinians, especially the farmers trying to harvest their olives, which are a key source of income. Rabbis for Human Rig...

A group linked to the Al Qaeda Islamist network is closing in on the capital of Mali, in north-west Africa. This group, known as JNIM, now controls swathes of territory in the Sahel, a region that stretches across several countries in the Sahara. If JNIM takes the capital, Bamako, it would be the first time an Al Qaeda affiliate has seized power in a country. What would that mean for Africa and th...

One of the geopolitical tactics Russia has used in its war with Ukraine has been to divide opinion among the world’s Orthodox Christians.  Vladimir Putin is not the first Russian leader to style himself as a champion of Orthodox communities but in Greece and the Middle East, he’s tried to marshal sympathy among Christians. Dr MANOS KARAGIANNIS specialises in international security at Kings College...

A group linked to the Al Qaeda Islamist network is closing in on the capital of Mali, in north-west Africa.  This group, known as JNIM, now controls swathes of territory in the Sahel, a region that stretches across several countries in the Sahara.  If JNIM takes the capital, Bamako, it would be the first time an Al Qaeda affiliate has seized power in a country.  What would that mean for Africa and...

The early 1990s was, for Catholics, a time of political ascendancy – a Catholic prime minister, governor-general, and five of the seven high court justices.  One of them was Sir Gerard Brennan, whose most famous judgement was the Mabo decision granting native title to indigenous Australians.  How did his religion influence his decisions as a judge?  His son, Jesuit priest Frank Brennan, has releas...

While the tragedy of Gaza never seems to leave the headlines, the war in Ukraine dips in and out of the news.  That’s despite the past six months seeing the most intensive fighting of the conflict.  Tetiana Stawnychy heads the Ukraine operation of the aid agency Caritas.  She’s in Australia meeting supporters and explains what day to day life is like in the capital Kiev, and the complexities of th...

While the tragedy of Gaza never seems to leave the headlines, the war in Ukraine dips in and out of the news. That’s despite the past six months seeing the most intensive fighting of the conflict.  Tetiana Stawnychy heads the Ukraine operation of the aid agency Caritas . She’s in Australia meeting supporters. The early 1990s was, for Catholics, a time of political ascendancy – a Catholic prime min...

Fiji is facing an HIV crisis, with one of the fastest growing rates of infection in the Asia-Pacific.  The number of people with HIV has more than tripled in the past six years. It now stands at just over 6,000.  The Uniting Church’s overseas agency is working with local health authorities.  GUEST: Alice Salomon is the head of United advocacy and she’s just back from the capital, Suva

King Charles and Pope Leo will have their first meeting this week at the Vatican.  But it will be much more than a meeting of two heads of state. For the first time in 500 years, the leader of the Catholic church and the supreme governor of the Church of England, which broke away from Rome in the 1530s, will pray together publicly in the Sistine Chapel.  They’ll devote their prayers to their share...

How can Christians and other religious believers live out their faith when many of its principles conflict, not only with new social norms but the laws of the land?  Patrick Parkinson is the former dean of the Queensland University law school and an internationally recognised expert on child protection.  He tries to chart a course in his new book, Unshaken Allegiance: Living wisely as Christians w...

King Charles and Pope Leo will have their first meeting this week at the Vatican. But it will be much more than a meeting of two heads of state. For the first time in 500 years, the leader of the Catholic church and the supreme governor of the Church of England, which broke away from Rome in the 1530s, will pray together publicly in the Sistine Chapel. They’ll devote their prayers to their shared...

A former legal adviser to the Palestinian Authority, Victor Kattan, examines the reality of the Trump plan for Gaza. He also discusses why an almost 100-year-old case of British war crimes in Palestine could haunt events today. GUEST: Victor Kattan is Assistant Professor in Public International Law at the University of Nottingham and wrote a piece for the Religion and Ethics website on British war...

Victor Kattan, former legal adviser to the Palestinian Authority, examines the reality of the Trump plan for Gaza. He also discusses why an almost 100-year-old case of British war crimes in Palestine could haunt events today. Pope Leo XIV has issued his first major statement since assuming office. In a “papal exhortation” titled I Have Loved You , he echoes Francis’s concern about deepening econom...

Sarah Mullally may be a historic choice as the new Archbishop of Canterbury but how will she deal with the chasm that has opened in the world-wide Anglican Church in recent years?  The church of 85 million followers is deeply divided over sexuality and gender.  Is there also a lingering opposition to women as bishops and even priests?  GUEST: Australian priest Andrew McGowan is dean of the Berkele...

Pope Leo XIV has issued his first major statement since assuming office. In a “papal exhortation” titled I Have Loved You , he echoes Francis’s concern about deepening economic inequality.  At a time when tech moguls have amassed extraordinary fortunes, Leo has some tough words about hoarding wealth.  GUEST: Dr Sandie Cornish is Senior Lecturer in the School of Theology at the Australian Catholic...

The headlines scream about a university sector in crisis.  Are they credential factories or places of pure intellectual inquiry?  For historian Peter Harrison of Notre Dame University, the sector should reach right back to the ancient wisdom of the Greeks for inspiration.  GUEST: Peter Harrison is the author of the new book, Some New World .  He’s also delivering the 2025 New College lectures at U...

The world’s 85 million Anglicans have a new spiritual leader, and she’s made history.  Dame Sarah Mullally is the new Archbishop of Canterbury.  The one-time nurse is the first woman to hold the position.  But she faces formidable obstacles.  Many Anglicans, especially in the Africa, where the faith is booming, disapprove of women priests and the growing liberalism in the church towards homosexual...