God Forbid

Is racism about the colour of your skin, the history of colonialism, or the size of your bank account? 

The White House has a cage fight on the Whitehouse front lawn while, somewhere, a father rose at 3am to feed a crying baby.    

In 2026, what does it mean to be a good father, or a good man? 

Does God, or any religious tradition, see men as something distinct? Or is “be a good man” just “be a good person”? 

The manosphere claims religious sanction. Is that a corruption of these traditions, or an expression of them? 

Three fathers, three frameworks. What do you or can you actually hand onto your son?

GUESTS...

Do to a dog what we do to a factory-farmed pig, and you’d be arrested. 

Do it to ten thousand pigs in a shed, and it’s breakfast. 

Most of us say cruelty to animals is wrong. 

And then most of us are happy to have them killed and eat them. 

Both our panellists think the way we treat animals is a moral catastrophe. 

But they get there by opposite roads. One says animals matter because they suffer. The other says they matter because they’re God’s creatures. <...

We are, it turns out, a species that refuses to believe its own birth certificate. 

Australia is ageing, fast. This is not new here, or in Europe and North America where the trend has existed for decades. 

But even in China and now India, the fertility rate has dropped below replacement levels – even the two most populous nations on earth are getting older.  

Yet we’ve built a world — our economies, our cities, our pension systems, our cultures — around the young and the productive. So, what happens when that's no longer who we are? 

...

You heard that someone had come unstuck. A rival. A bully. Someone overconfident, or two-faced, or just a bit too pleased with themselves. And something in you was glad. 

You won't say it out loud. You might barely admit it to yourself. 

But the Germans have a word for it. And it turns out, so did the ancient Greeks. 

Schadenfreude. The pleasure we take in others' misfortune. 

Is it a moral failing? A sign of deficient character? Or is it a window into what we actually believe about justice, equality — and each o...

Whether or not you believe in - or even know about "the Rapture", "the Tribulation", "the End Times", and "Armageddon", your life is influenced by the idea that Jesus Christ will not only return, he’ll go to Jerusalem, and from there, for exactly one thousand years, he’ll rule the world. 

Yet, this concept is not in the Bible...at least not directly. 

But a bible, published in America in 1909, and written by an American made it the most influential concepts in American Christian fundamentalism.

The story of the Scofield Reference Bible is an...

Most of us spend most of our waking hours working, paid and unpaid. 

From housework to paid work, most of our lives are dominated by work. It's so ingrained that losing our true selves in work can feel unavoidable.  

Yet, many also find purpose, value, and joy in work – even if it's not their dream job. 

Work is less a place and more a concept, the line between work and home can be blurred. And younger Gen-Z workers are repelled by the hustle culture and burnout that comes from increased casualisation, unpaid overtime and labou...

Halloween, in the western Christian tradition, remembers the dead – saints, martyrs, and all the faithful departed. 

But why do so many believe the departed return? 

Regardless of the place on earth, or time in history, people say they see strange apparitions and ghostly figures. And as for things unseen, even more profess a belief in genies, spirits, angels and supernatural entities. 

All these ideas and feelings are traditionally laid bare in this realm of the supernatural, the boundaries of dark and light, good and evil, in our human imagination. 

That’s why God F...

The government has removed favourable tax settings for investors to make home ownership just a bit more achievable for Millennials and Gen Z’s priced out of the market. 

The Prime Minister has spoken about the importance of giving young people access to housing so they have “a stake in the economy”

Is tinkering with, or even an overhaul, of the housing market really the only answer to growing wealth gaps in Australia? 

What if we can move towards a totally different economic structure that serves everyone? 

And what do some of Austra...

From climate disasters to economic collapse, pandemics to political unrest — some people prepare for the worst long before it happens. 

But is prepping a sign of prudent foresight or a loss of faith in society? And how do ethics and religion shape ideas of survival? 

In this episode we explore the growing culture of preppers and survivalists, from community resilience to billionaire bunkers. 

Are preppers visionaries, doomsayers, or just realists? 

And in a crisis, what do we owe each other?

GUESTS:

Falling in love with a machine is supposed to be the stuff of science-fiction. About a decade ago, Spike Jonze made the film Her, about a lonely man Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix, falling in love with his operating system, Samantha. 

And the world renowned psychoanalyst Esther Perel recently counselled a man and his romantic partner, a chat bot! 

Is romantic love just in our hearts and heads, or does it require another human to be real? 

If an AI lover is always patient, understanding, never challenges you, and you never have to pic...

Since the Stone Age we’ve used, and abused, drugs and alcohol. And some cultures believed their mood-altering effects brought you closer to God.  

But if you go to an Alcoholics Anonymous or AA meeting today, you’ll be told that getting closer to God means getting away from the drink.

AA also welcomes atheists, of course, as the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. But as part of the program, surrendering to a higher power is essential. Not necessarily God, but something outside of the bondage of self.

But why does...

Pope Leo XIV has recently slammed the use of God's name to justify what he terms as the "absurd" pursuit of war, specifically challenging military leaders who describe operations in Iran as a holy war "in the name of Jesus Christ". 

Is a "holy war" antithetical to the teachings of Jesus Christ?  

Sister Brigid Arthur, Rev Tim Costello and Rev Michael Woolf certainly think so. 

All of them have been at the forefront of contemporary societal battles about some of the most pressing issues of our day: asylum seekers and refugees, gambling reform and...

Fairytales are among the oldest forms of human storytelling, with their roots in the oral traditions of pre-literate societies. 

Over centuries, these tales have been reworked to suit the religious, moral and political order of the day. They are instructive, entertaining and sometimes terrifying. 

Why is there this ongoing appeal – indeed a revival – of fairytales among young and old alike?  

Guests: 

It’s Eastern Orthodox Easter this weekend, where the faithful will announce to each other Christos Anesti. Christ is Risen.

Also risen? The fortunes of Eastern Orthodoxy among men – though this is contested. Over the last 50 years, the numbers of people around the world identifying as religious have dropped. But the numbers of Christians seem to have stabilised, just in the last few years. Why?

If you go to the movies, or turn on your TV, you’ll find it hard to avoid the medieval fantasy genre. With its castles and fortresses, cloaks and crowns, and even dungeons and dragons.

The stories are fantastical but of course, fictional in their portrayal of medieval Europe and the Islamic Golden Age.

But how can a better understanding of what actually happened, in a rapidly changing Europe and Middle East, 500 to 1,000 years ago, help us navigate complexities in the world today?

GUESTS:

Evolving digital technologies have supercharged our anxieties about privacy and surveillance. 

These concerns may feel new, but they have always existed. 

Access to privacy is central to human dignity and intimacy - but it is also conditional in a society which values openness and accountability. 

So what should remain seen and unseen? 

When does surveillance become intrusive? 

And can privacy survive the digital age? 

Guests: 

"Don't judge me" is the unofficial commandment of our secular liberal society. We're told so long as you’re not hurting anyone, live however you want. But online, judgement is relentless and cruel. Have we lost the ability to wisely judge, and — eventually — forgive? Or did we never really have it in the first place?

These days, we want Rights, not religion. Choice, not Church. Pleasure, over prayer. 

In Australia, and the world  increasingly, the market is the Messiah, and the self is the saviour. 

But, if we’re the freest people who’ve ever lived, to choose our partners, careers, genders, and Gods or no God, free to buy anything, stream anything, be anything...why then do we seem to be unravelling?   

In a world of loneliness, anxiety, extremism, polarisation, the more we chase freedom, the more it seems to slip away. 

Are we in a freedom...

What is the state of women in Australia and globally in 2026?    Mainstream social media is increasingly clogged with misogyny, there's the horrendous revelations around Jeffrey Epstein, a rise in women killed by their partners and online harassment of women is at a peak. Are we going backwards? 

Guests:

Ginger Gorman is a journalist and author of Troll Hunting: Inside the World of Online Hate and its Human Fallout

Nayomi Kannangara is CEO of the International Women's Development Agency.

Why would you trade the visible for the invisible?  

And experts believe in the census later this year – for the first time ever - those ticking “no religion” will surpass Christians. 

And it’s happening across the global north - even the US – where 95% believed in something 30 years ago – today, nearly 1-in-3 American’s say they’re atheist or agnostic or no religion in particular. 

So why in this sea of secularism would some swim against the current? People raised without faith, who find themselves drawn to prayer, or ritual, or surrender to the unseen? 

T...

If forgiveness is a gift to yourself, what do you give when the harm is unforgiveable? 

And it’s hard to believe, but some families endure unspeakable harm and somehow remain intact, while others fracture over what seems like nothing at all. 

How do we hold space for the reality of suffering, even trauma – but also the possibility of redemption? 

Our culture justifies righteous anger – the victim rightly must be vindicated, not blamed. 

But the question remains challenging for all of us, because perfect families don't exist. 

And any relationshi...

Imagine losing the only person who never judged you, never walked away, always made you feel safe. 

Our culture, and our religions, can make us believe human loss is different to animals dying. 

But tell that to someone who believes one of the most important relationships in their life is with their pet. 

GUESTS:

Credit and debt — borrowing and lending — have long been a part of life.

Mortgage holders are all too familiar with the challenge of meeting their repayments and juggling the household budget — a challenge made even more difficult by the recent Reserve Bank decision to increase interest rates.

But are financial commitments purely economic obligations, or do they come with a significant moral burden? 

Guests: 

Of course, you believe you WOULD save a drowning child. 

But that doesn’t make you a saint – in fact, depending on how you live the rest of your life, it could well make you a sinner. 

For 50 years, PETER SINGER has been making uncomfortable observations like that.

Peter is perhaps the world’s most influential philosopher - he’s shaped the way we think about animals and bioethics, abortion and euthanasia. 

And he's the philosophical father of the Effective Altruism movement - a quiet revolution that's transformed doing good from sentiment i...

After the targeting of Jews in the worst terrorist attack in modern Australian history – a Royal Commission into antisemitism has been announced by the PM.

And many Australians refused to believe the something like Bondi could happen here.  

But other Australians –Jews and Gentiles – warned the terror was not an isolated act, but a foreseeable progression – antisemitic thoughts leading to words leading to action. 

GUESTS:

Ronald Sackville KC was the royal commissioner into the abuse of disabled people. A former federal court judge, he is a former member of the advisory board of th...

What does living simply mean in 2025? 

With an increasingly complex world, it is becoming harder and harder to detach from Earthly possessions. 

But what if we don't need to, in order to live an awakened and spiritual life?

The monks of today don't look like the ones you might picture from your childhood. They carry iPhones, have social media, and catch planes across the world. 

From Hare Krishna to Humanistic Buddhism, modern followers of mindful traditions grapple with maintaining a connection to the world while not falling prey to its modern tra...

Is a cult a misunderstood religion? Or something much more dangerous?

The line between high-control religions, new religious movements, and 'cults' is as grey as ever. But the fascination we have with these groups is only getting stronger. What counts as a 'cult'? Is it your highly controlling tech workplace? Your gym with a forever-binding contract? Or does the casual use of the word 'cult' do a disservice to those stuck in dangerous and emotionally manipulative religious and spiritual organisations?

To shed some light on the difference between a new religious movement, a cult, and...

If God says that man is fallible, and man wrote the Bible, then how can we know that the Bible is the true word of God? 

For most of history, body size has been about more than just health — it’s been a tool of control. 

From colonial ideals of “discipline” to modern-day diet culture, our ideas about fatness and thinness are deeply tied to morality, power, and profit. 

But are we getting it all wrong?

Why do we see fatness as a personal failure rather than a natural variation in human bodies? 

How have our ideas of race and femininity affected our ideas of acceptable fat? 

Is public health really about health, or does it fuel stig...

Looking towards the heavens for meaning doesn’t always mean looking to God. 

UFOs (and the modern moniker UAPs) have long been the food for thought of sceptics, theologians, and astrobiologists alike.  

But what does belief in these mysterious phenomena have in common with religion? 

And what implications does life outside Earth have for the existence of God? 

GUESTS:

The big news for Christians is that this year we had BOTH a new Pope and – for the Anglican communion – the announcement of a new Archbishop of Canterbury.

For Catholics, of course, Leo was the surprise choice at the papal conclave in May.  The first pope from the United States. And the first from the Order of Saint Augustine. And Dr Sarah Mullally will be the first woman to be enthroned as the Church of England’s senior bishop at Canterbury Cathedral in March next year.

Anglicanism is reaching what could be an emerging global schism i...

A bohemian journalist who found God in the slums — and built a movement that unsettled both Church and State.

Born in Brooklyn in 1897, Dorothy Day lived many lives: radical writer, suffragist, single mother, and eventually Catholic convert. 

In the midst of the Great Depression, she co-founded the Catholic Worker movement, opening houses of hospitality for the poor and protesting every war America fought. 

To admirers, she was a saint in street clothes; to critics, a communist in disguise. Can holiness and revolution coexist? Day’s life suggests that faith and rebellion may be closer...

A street hustler turned minister whose faith transformed Black politics — and himself.

Born Malcolm Little in 1925, Malcolm X rose to fame as a fiery preacher in the Nation of Islam, calling for Black self-determination “by any means necessary.” But after his pilgrimage to Mecca, he embraced Sunni Islam and a universal vision of justice that transcended race. Weeks later, he was assassinated. 

Was Malcolm X a prophet of liberation or a threat to the powerful? His journey from militant separatism to spiritual reformer still forces America — and the world — to confront the cost of conviction.

GUESTS...

A French lawyer-turned-theologian who split from Rome — and built his own city of God.

John Calvin fled Catholic France to lead a new Protestant movement in Geneva during the 1500s. His ideas about predestination and the absolute authority of Scripture reshaped Christianity and inspired the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions. Yet under his rule, dissenters were exiled, imprisoned, and violently executed. 

Was he a reckless heretic or a visionary thinker centuries ahead of his time — and what does his death say about the danger of new ideas?

GUESTS:

A Persian poet and scholar who tore off her veil — and announced the dawn of a new religious age. 

In the 1840s, Táhirih became one of the first women to preach in public in Iran. As a leading figure in the Bábí movement — a precursor to the Bahá’í faith — she argued that revelation had not ended and that women should be free to study, speak, and lead. 

Her defiance of clerical and royal authority terrified the establishment. In 1852, she was executed in secret, her body buried in silence. Was Táhirih a prophet of liberation or...

A former Dominican friar who dared to say the universe had no centre — and paid with his life.

Born in 16th-century Italy, Giordano Bruno broke with Church teachings to imagine an infinite cosmos filled with countless worlds. To him, God was not confined to heaven or hierarchy but alive in every corner of creation. The Inquisition saw it differently. After years of imprisonment and interrogation, Bruno was burned alive in Rome in 1600. 

Was he a reckless heretic or a visionary thinker centuries ahead of his time — and what does his death say about the danger of ne...

A teenage peasant who claimed to hear the voice of God — and changed the course of European history. 

At just seventeen, Joan of Arc convinced the French prince to let her lead an army against the English, turning the tide of the Hundred Years’ War. But her victories came at a price: captured, accused of heresy, and burned alive at nineteen. Was she a divinely inspired saviour or a dangerous fanatic? 

Centuries later, her story still provokes questions about faith, gender, and power — and how belief can turn an ordinary girl into a national saint.

GUE...

What’s on the other side of the near-death experience?

Only half of all Australians understand Jesus to be a real person who lived at a time and place in history, according to the latest Australian Community Survey.

Two in 10 Australians said Jesus was a mythical or fictional character while three out of 10 didn’t know.

Their doubts stand in contrast to those of ancient historians, classicists and New Testament scholars, who universally accept that Jesus was a real person in time and place in history.

The question here is ontological: what makes “Jesus” Jesus? 

Is it enough that a man called...