The Religion and Ethics Report - Separate stories podcast

One in three girls around the world routinely experience violence and many are forced into marriage, according to the United Nations. October 11 is International Day of the Girl Child. To mark the day, the Christian aid organisation World Vision has launched an Australian initiative called “1,000 voices for 1,000 girls” .  The world’s 85 million Anglicans have a new spiritual leader, and she’s mad...

One in three girls around the world routinely experience violence, according to the United Nations.  And child marriage remains a problem for many girls, some as young as 9 years old! October 11 is International Day of the Girl Child.  To mark the day, the Christian aid organisation World Vision has launched an Australian initiative called “1,000 voices for 1,000 girls” .  GUEST: Mel Carswell is W...

The leader of the world’s 17 million Mormons, Russell M. Nelson, has died, aged 101.  The former heart surgeon didn’t assume the role of prophet until he was in his nineties and, yet, in death, he’s being described as a transformational figure in the Church of Latter-Day Saints, as Mormons are known formally. His death came the same day that four members of the church died in an attack on a church...

Why would a liberal Muslim who spent his teenage and college years arguing against the power of Christianity in American politics now pine for the old-fashioned religious right?  Why would he look kindly on a Republican president who started a war in Iraq and call it a “religious crusade”?  In an essay for The New York Times , published over the weekend, writer ZAID JILANI explained this radical c...

The streets of London recently filled with thousands of protesters taking part in so-called “Unite the Kingdom” rallies. Many objected to large-scale immigration.  Some used Christian symbols to bolster their cause, prompting a former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to warn against co-opting the cross for nationalist campaigns.  Has the Christian nationalism that defines much of the Amer...

The leader of the world’s 17 million Mormons, Russell Nelson, has died, aged 101. The former heart surgeon didn’t assume the role of prophet until he was in his nineties and, yet, in death, he’s being described as a transformational figure in the Church of Latter-Day Saints, as Mormons are known formally. His death came the same day that four members of the church died in an attack on a church in...

Long before Donald Trump up-ended traditional conservatism in the US, another charismatic figure was re-shaping the Republican Party. Writer William F. Buckley was the first editor of National Review, perhaps the most influential political magazine of the 20th century. Ronald Reagan was a particular enthusiast for its ideas. But there was another force in Buckley’s life, and it often conflicted wi...

History was made this week in Westminster Cathedral in London.  For the first time more than three centuries, a member of the British royal family had a Catholic funeral.  Katharine, the Duchess of Kent, was married to Queen Elizabeth’s cousin. She died last week, aged 92.  In 1994 , the Queen approved her decision to convert to Catholicism, making headlines at the time.  King Charles attended the...

Turkey is home to 3.4 million refugees -- 3.2 million from Syria. Less well-known, are those fleeing Turkey.  Since a failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016, around 90,000 followers of the late Muslim cleric and philosopher Fetullah Gulen have left the country.  Their first stop was neighbouring Greece.  While most moved onto Germany and Scandinavia, several thousand re...

A landmark report into Islamophobia has urged the government to introduce religious freedom legislation and counter anti-Muslim activity, which – like anti-Semitism – has soared since the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023. The official envoy on Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, says verbal and physical attacks on Australian Muslims are up 500 percent in the past two years. But can you legislate aga...

A landmark report into Islamophobia has urged the government to introduce religious freedom legislation and punish anti-Muslim activity, which – like anti-Semitism – has soared since the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023.  The official envoy on Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, says verbal and physical attacks on Muslim Australians are up 500 percent in the past two years.  But can you legislate ag...

In a reward for his most loyal evangelical supporters, Donald Trump has established a task force to end a ban on churches endorsing political candidates. But could his change backfire?

The federal Coalition is trying to rebuild relations with multicultural Australia, especially after Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price appeared to offend many in the Indian community. But are conservative politicians overlooking an important link with these communities? 

Australian universities are in a crisis of funding, governance, and purpose. Are they factories churning out graduates to build national wealth? Or are they places that encourage critical thinking and change?

In the US, Donald Trump has welcomed an end to a ban on churches endorsing politicians. Are Australian conservative politicians overlooking an important link with multicultural communities? And the crises facing modern universities.

Benjamin Isakhan is just back from Erbil in Kurdistan.   He attended a conference on the genocide of the Yazidi people at the hands of Islamic State in Iraq.  GUEST: Benjamin Isakhan is Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the  Alfred Deakin Institute and Professor of International Politics in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University

Just how liberal do you have to be to be thrown out of the very permissive Episcopal Church in the United States?  That’s what’s happened to one minister, whose name is Hunt Priest.  He’s been defrocked for dabbling in psychedelic drugs.  The church says he crossed the line by advocating the illegal use of drugs.  KATHRYN POST of the Religion News Service has been following the story. GUEST: Kathr...

The Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox patriarchs of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzabella and Theophilos III, have described the forced relocation of Gaza's residents as akin to a “death sentence”.  As Israel intensifies its operations in the Gaza Strip, the two Christian leaders have declared their priests and nuns will not leave their vulnerable congregations. Reverent Father Nabil Kachab...

For many, stargazing means swooning over the latest song, tweet, or Instagram post from Taylor Swift.  But for Jesuit brother GUY CONSOLMAGNO, it’s – almost – a search for the heavens.  He’s about to finish a ten-year term as director of the Vatican Observatory.  Br Guy, who has science degrees from Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the Pope’s astronomer.  GUEST: Brother Guy Co...

As Israel intensifies its operations in the Gaza Strip, two of the most significant Christian leaders have declared their priests and nuns will not leave their congregations in Gaza City.  In churches and church compounds nuns and clergy continue to care for vulnerable people with disabilities, and shelter those made homeless by the Israeli bombing. The Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox patriarchs...

As Israel intensifies its operations in the Gaza Strip, two of the most significant Christian leaders have declared their priests and nuns will not leave their congregations in Gaza City. The Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox patriarchs of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzabella and Theophilos III, have described the forced relocation of the city’s residents as akin to a “death sentence”. Prof...

The implications of Australia severing ties with Iran are potentially serious.  The Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi  has been given seven days to leave after ASIO identified Iran as being behind at least two of the anti-Semitic attacks seen in Australia since October 7, 2023.  Dr Ali Mamouri speaks to Andrew about the implications of the move by the Australian government. AND In 2000, at a secret...

In 2000, at a secret meeting in the Vatican, an Australian bishop warned a deluge would soon overwhelm the Catholic Church.  The sex abuse crisis would become the greatest challenge to the authority and reputation of the Vatican since the Protestant Reformation almost 500 years earlier.  But this warning went largely unheeded. It’s another revelation in the new book, Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and th...

The implications of Australia severing ties with Iran are potentially serious.  The Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi  has been given seven days to leave after ASIO identified Iran as being behind at least two of the anti-Semitic attacks seen in Australia since October 7, 2023.  Dr Ali Mamouri speaks to us about the implications of the move by the Australian government and what the Iranians would g...

The first hundred days of a president, prime minister, even a pope make lots of headlines. Leo XIV may have less dramatic flair than his predecessor, but he’s used his first three months in office to differentiate himself from Francis, particularly on the question of the Ukraine war.  Claire Giangrave reports from Rome that Leo’s unifying message has been consistent. GUEST:  CLAIRE GIANGRAVE is Va...