God Forbid

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 and Ukraine.  

How do we make peace amid our instinct for war? And what can Australia do to dial down tensions? 

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 historical shift.

Of course, pets can enrich our lives, but how we breed, feed and keep these animals raises questions even for the most loving, well-meaning pet owners. It's a passionate issue, full of blurry lines and moral grey areas. But philosophy, religion and science offer some guidance. 

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 University Professor of Ethics at Southern Methodist University 

Sarah McCammon, NPR Political Correspondent, author of Ex-vangelicals: Loving, Living and Leaving the White Evangelical Church

David Smith, Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy at the United States Studies Centre, and the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney

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/producer, ABC Digital Content and Innovation 

Adam Bowles, Associate Professor in Asian Religions at the University of Queensland 

Carole Cusak, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney 

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 teacher from Drummond, Victoria 

Father Dan Groody, Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana

Barry Golding, Honorary Professor in adult and community education at Federation University, author of Shoulder to Shoulder: Broadening the Men’s Shed Movement

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 project of Evangelism and New Churches of the Sydney Anglican diocese

Dr. Renae Barker, lawyer and senior lecturer at the UWA Law School

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 Psychological Sciences 

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 of Daughters of Durga: Dowries, Gender Violence and Family in Australia

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 and Social Justice at the Per Capita think tank, former CEO of St Vincent De Paul Society Australia