Soul Search

She’s graced pop’s biggest stage, but for Dami Im it all began with singing gospel songs in South Korean churches. She joins Meredith Lake to talk about the role faith plays in her life and music, and how she makes sense of it all. And, the Christian and pre-Christian roots of Halloween.

We're all familiar with the idea of a film festival — but what about a festival devoted to a particular faith? On Soul Search today, Meredith Lake chats with Chris Vlahonasios, curator of the world's only online Orthodox Christian film festival called 'Byzanfest,' and Andrew Smith, Priest at the Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church in Brisbane.

This week marks ten years since Mary MacKillop — Australia’s first and so far only Catholic saint — was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI. But how much do you know about Mary? And why is she informally remembered as the 'patron saint of trouble makers'? On Soul Search today, Meredith Lake finds out with the help of Sister Mary Ellen O’Donoghue and Carole Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies.

2020 marks 100 years since the introduction of the Baha'i Faith to Australia. As they mark their centenary, we take a look at the beginnings of the faith and find out more about the local community. And, a Buddhist psychotherapist on how mindfulness can help couples under pressure.

Have you ever considered that emotions have a history — even an emotion like loneliness, which so many of us have been feeling lately? On Soul Search today, Meredith Lake dives into the history of emotions with Dr Dawn LaValle Norman and Dr Jonathan Zecher from the Australian Catholic University.

In the final episode of our series The Bigger Picture, we're joined by renowned scholar of Princeton University, Professor Elaine Pagels. Professor Pagels has spent decades seeking to understand religion, and as her latest book reveals, this isn’t a merely academic exercise, but a quest bound up with her own experience of life, and bereavement.

What are the possibilities for a grounded spirituality, in the aftermath of colonisation? Indigenous theologian Garry Deverell has lived the search for a spirituality that connects land and body. He joins Meredith Lake in part three of our series The Bigger Picture, to discuss ritual, reconnection and reconciliation.

What is the inner self? What is there deep down, that makes us who we are and enables us to keep going? In part two of our series The Bigger Picture, we meet Melbourne-based lawyer and writer Nyadol Nyuon, and social researcher Hugh Mackay, who joins Meredith Lake from Canberra.

What do the #metoo movement, political secularism and the widespread sympathy for Black Lives Matter have in common? According to historian Tom Holland, they all point to the residual influence of Christianity on the west. In the first episode of our 4-part series The Bigger Picture, best selling author and historian Tom Holland chats to RN's Meredith Lake.

#religion. Videos with that tag have over 600 million views on Tik Tok, the video sharing app popular with teenagers. It’s clear that social media is changing how we express and explore faith. On Soul Search today, meet the vegan priest on Instagram Jennie Hogberg, hijabi influencer Yasmin Jay, and Rabbi Lee Weissman who goes by Jihadi Jew on Twitter.