Life & Faith

Phil Camden has Motor Neurone Disease but hope lights his path in the shadow of death. --- "It’s strange because for the first little while you’re thinking: at least we found out what it is, we can work on it. But then they tell you there’s no known cause or cure – and you’ll probably be dead within 27 months." When Phil Camden was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, he was told that he would gradually lose the use of his limbs, he would lose the ability to speak and swallow, and there was no known cure or treatment for the disease. Also, he only had two more years to live. Since then, Phil has outlived the two-year timeline. He still lives with MND, but he also has hope. In this episode, Phil takes us through the deep valleys of what it means to live with a terminal illness, and how he seeks to bring hope, light and freedom into the MND community – a world that is familiar with despair and fear. "The process of death freaks me out. I don’t know what I’m going to be like when I can’t roll over in bed, scrat

Showing love to the vulnerable, drunk and disorderly on the streets of Melbourne. --- “I was never good around drunks. I’d rather just walk the other way, dodge around them and have nothing to do with them. Since I’ve started doing the Street Pastor walks, I’ve grown. I’ve learnt that they’re just ordinary people who have either made a mistake or have gone too far and they need help – and we’re in a position to be able to give them that help.” Doug’s a Street Pastor in Melbourne. Most Saturday nights, he heads out with a team of volunteers to patrol Melbourne’s nightclub scene and, basically, help people who need help. They hand out bottles of water to sober people up, give thongs to those with sore feet from high heels, give blankets to the cold, help people get home safely, comfort the distraught, defuse potentially difficult situations, and protect the vulnerable. In this episode, walk with the Street Pastors along one of Melbourne’s busiest entertainment districts, Brunswick Street, and hear more from Str

A confronting - and deeply personal - look at the roots of racial division in the US. --- "We still live under the long shadow of the plantation. Indeed, freedoms have been spread to a larger group of people over time, but that spread has been at the cost of ongoing oppression of black people in ways that have become very apparent thanks to video cams and cell phones that betray the brutality of the police state that we sometimes live in as black people.” Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Alton Sterling. These are names familiar across the world: the names of African-American men – three of many – who died after being shot by white men. Those who shot them have all been acquitted of their deaths, sparking national outrage and re-igniting the old debate on racial profiling and civil rights. In this episode of Life & Faith, we asked Professor Alfred J Raboteau from Princeton University, an expert in the African-American religious experience, to walk us through the history of race relations in the US, and the d

Putting aside the politics to talk about the real struggles some men and women face after abortion. --- "It’s usually surrounded with secrecy, it’s not something they talk about casually like they would that they’re going to go get a breast implant and there’s a bad job done or a botched surgery. Because of the shame that a lot of the women do feel, it’s not inherently experienced as an empowering act, it’s something that they just don’t want a lot of people to know." Abortion is an incredibly politicised issue, and a hotly debated topic. It seems like everyone has something to say about the "right to life" or the "right to choose" - or both. Often hidden from view are those who have been through abortion, and how some of them - men and women alike - struggle with the decision they have made. In this episode, we hear from some of these people, and from Dr Theresa Burke, a psychologist who has dedicated her life to helping those who’ve been impacted by abortion. She shares some of her confronting early experie

A Jesuit priest finds himself in an unexpected role as consultant on a Martin Scorsese film. --- "What would you do for them? Pray? And get what in return? Only more suffering. The suffering only you can end, not God. I prayed too, Rodrigues, it doesn’t help. Go on. Pray. But pray with your eyes open." These are the words of Father Christavao Ferreira from the film Silence. Based on a novel by Shūsaku Endō, Martin Scorsese has been wanting to tell this harrowing tale of Portuguese Jesuit priests in 17th-century Japan for more than 30 years. Liam Neeson plays Father Ferreira, a Jesuit who recants his faith after facing torture. Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver play two younger Jesuits on a mission to find their mentor and, just like Ferreira, they have to wrestle with the question of whether or not to renounce their faith in order to save their own lives – or the lives of others. While this story is fictional, it has roots in the very real history of Christianity in Japan, a country where hundreds of thousands

Facing the death penalty, Myuran Sukumaran chose to create art that pointed to redemption and hope. --- "This is a story of redemption. This is a story about a person who, under really extreme circumstances, changed the way that he was living his life." On April 29, 2015, Myuran Sukumaran was executed by firing squad in Indonesia. He had been arrested 10 years earlier for smuggling heroin, and was part of the group of Australian drug mules who came to be known as the Bali Nine. In the years between his arrest and execution, Myuran completely turned his life around. He became a Christian, an artist and a model prisoner. At Kerobokan jail in Bali, he ran an art studio, and taught English and computer skills to his fellow death row inmates. "I expected them to be very rough around the edges," says Christie Buckingham, Myuran’s pastor, mentor and friend. "I did not expect them to be as reformed as they were … and I was totally inspired by them, wowed by them, as a matter of fact." In this episode, Christie descri

Alister McGrath, one of the world’s leading historians of science, explodes some common assumptions about science, religion, and atheism. --- "I am very skeptical about these simplistic arguments that we only believe what we can prove. It’s not right. We can prove shallow truths, but the deep truths which give life meaning and value – they lie beyond proof." Alister McGrath, the Chair of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, describes his personal experience of faith as a "gradual movement" from atheism to Christianity. In fact, it was his scientific training that led him to faith in the first place! In this episode, Professor McGrath tells how and why he stepped out of his comfort zone of atheism into the exciting "world of faith". He also navigates a couple of key moments in the history of science – including the scientific revolution and the birth of Darwinism – to uncover the influence of Christianity in unexpected places. --- This interview was for our forthcoming documentary, For the Love of

An unwed mother-to-be. A husband contemplating a quickie divorce. A host of glorious angels visit a group of lowly shepherds. A star appears and a group of wise men follow it. Laurel Moffatt tells us why the Nativity story still surprises, and delights, her today – and how she turned it into a play. “It’s a whole series of scenes that are just bizarre and delightful and kind of hilarious and wonderful,” Laurel says. “It’s the best story we have.” --- “Born Is The King” will be playing in Sydney on Christmas Eve 2016 at the 4pm Kids’ Carols event at The Garrison Church (60 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point). For more details, visit: www.churchhillanglican.com/whats-on. PURCHASE “Born Is The King”: http://bit.ly/2gDxbJ8 LISTEN to Life & Faith online: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithbycpx SUBSCRIBE to Life & Faith on iTunes: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithonitunes

Finding your soulmate at a sing-a-long. Escaping domestic violence. The dedication of a chair. The tense world of succession planning. These are just some of the wonderful – and sometimes quirky – stories of life and faith we’ve gathered from the Australian Outback. Journey with us to Broken Hill as we speak to the Flying Padre and the Founder of the Living Desert Indigenous Church, as well as some colourful locals.

Persecution – suffering and dying for what you believe in – is something that Christians have faced from the start – from the days of being thrown to the lions! Today, Christians in Northern Iraq have abandoned their homes and fled for their lives, or they have been captured and killed by ISIS. Nik and Ruth Ripken have set out to uncover why people hold on to their faith in places where they face suffering and death. They’ve travelled to over 70 countries and spoken with more than 600 Christians to ask them why they don’t just give up. But there’s a deeply personal element to their story. Nik and Ruth worked in war-torn Somalia in the ’90s, and what they saw there shook their confidence in what they believed: “They killed four of my best friends in one day, and they threw their bodies away somewhere in the trash or toilet. Extremists stole their bodies and took them away, so we didn’t have a way of telling their story when they died, and we had no way of going to a place where they were buried so we could tel

When people say that we live in a secular society, what does that really mean? In this episode of Life & Faith, we explore the original meaning of secularism and track its development to the present day. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson kicks us off with a few reflections on what people really think about religion. Legal philosopher Iain Benson, whose writing on secularism has been cited by the highest courts in Canada and South Africa, explains the surprising origins of the secular state. And Craig Calhoun, an American sociologist who was until recently Director of the London School of Economics, offers us some snapshots of how secularism plays out in different contexts today. Then, Charles Taylor, who essentially wrote the book on this topic - his 800-page magnum opus, A Secular Age - ties the threads together. He describes our modern secular age as one in which all people – from the most devout believer to the staunchest atheist – find themselves looking over the fence at one another’

Mark Leach’s life reads like the script of a blockbuster movie. There’s diamond smuggling, war and conflict, some romance, and a couple of major plot twists. He was born in a village in Zambia, trained as a doctor in South Africa, and is now based in Sydney as an Anglican Minister, a business and leadership consultant, and a Board Member for International Justice Mission. In this episode of Life & Faith, Mark fills us in on all the remarkable details of his early life, and why – in the face of his experience of evil and trauma – he holds fast to his Christian faith. --- Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithpodcast More info about International Justice Mission: https://www.ijm.org

Gender and gender identity is one of the most fraught issues of our time. We run into gender stereotypes everywhere from nursery rhymes to department store catalogues, and much of our lives are ordered around the categories of male and female - school uniforms, bathrooms, and Olympic sporting events are just a few examples. But there’s a group of people for whom none of this is straightforward - people who experience gender dysphoria, and identify as transgender. In this episode of Life and Faith, we explore this topic with Australian sexologist Dr Patricia Weerakoon in the broader context of identity, sexuality, and culture. Plus, we speak with “Joan” about her experience of gender dysphoria and what it’s like to live as a transgender woman. If these conversations raise questions for you, cause any distress, or if you want to talk to someone about the issues we’ve discussed, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or use their online chat service at www.lifeline.org.au

The relationship between religion and the media in the West has a long history. The first newspapers were often printed on the very same presses that were used to publish Bibles, and the first radio broadcast on Christmas Eve in 1906 included a reading from the Bible. But times have certainly changed. If you look at the media landscape today, there’s not a lot of room for religion. In this episode of Life & Faith, we’ve enlisted the help of a couple of experts to guide us through the world of religion in the media. First up, the former Religious Affairs Editor for The Age in Melbourne, Barney Zwartz, looks back on his time as a religion reporter and why he’s now a fierce advocate for good reporting on religion. Then, a former journalist for The New York Times, Ari Goldman, explains why he took a year off reporting to search for God – at Harvard. “So much of religion is good, and we’re just constantly reporting on the religion that’s bad,” says Ari Goldman, “so what I try to do is tell the good

Dr Marvin Olasky is a leading proponent of compassionate conservatism – two words we don’t often hear together. But it’s not just political word candy. According to Olasky, it’s a philosophy that could transform the current US welfare system for the better. And, it’s worked before. In his book, Compassionate Conservatism: What It Is, What It Does, and How It Can Transform America, Olasky writes: “A century ago, before the federal government ever became involved, thousands of local faith-based charitable agencies and churches around the country waged a war on poverty much more successful than our own.” In this episode of Life & Faith, Olasky explains Compassionate Conservatism and how it might work in modern America. Plus, he shares his own fascinating story about the role of religion and faith in his life.

This month on Life & Faith, we’ve heard from experts and scholars about the influence of Christianity in the West. It’s all part of a sneak peek at our documentary due for release in 2017, For the Love of God: How the church is better and worse than you ever imagined. In this episode, we tackle the question of how Christianity has played a role for better - and for worse - in the global practice of slavery. We ask the question, has Christianity been a friend or a foe of this terrible institution? Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, explains: “… [Christianity and Judaism] light a long fuse of argument and discovery which eventually explodes, and people realise, ‘actually, we should do something about this’. That’s how slavery is dealt with. In the Middle Ages you have the beginnings of a real theoretical assault on the notion of slavery.” But this is not just an historical question. The “long fuse” extends to the present day, with more people in slavery today than at any point in

In the second century, a Greek writer called Celsus criticised Christianity as a religion of women, children and slaves - that is to say, a religion not to be taken seriously. There are echoes of this sentiment in contemporary critiques of Christianity, and religion more broadly. For example, the idea of women being more religious than men, on the whole, can be seen as something that discredits religion as irrational. However, Christianity is much more likely to be condemned today, no for being a religion of women, but a religion against women – this despite evidence of a strong thread of gender equality in the early Church.  “In its inception Christianity set before women a true possibility of complete transformation on equal terms alongside men,” says Professor Sarah Coakley who has written extensively on gender theory and the philosophy of religion. “But at the same time it very quickly accommodated itself into existing religious and cultural mores - and you could say that that tension has been pla

“Religion is the cause of all wars.” This is a popular assumption in the West – but also a lazy one. History suggests the relationship between religion and violence is much more complicated. One of the best-known episodes of violence in the history of the Christian church is the Crusades. But how much do we really know about this notorious conflict? In this episode of Life & Faith, we speak to experts and scholars who unpack the history, myths and misconceptions surrounding this series of religious wars between the 11th and 15th centuries. “The Crusades seem glamorous, they seem dramatic, they seem alien,” says historian Christopher Tyerman. “In the West … they are seen as an example of medieval brutality in the name of religion. In other parts of the world they have been rebranded as an example of early Western imperialism and colonialism. Both sides of that equation are false.” This is Part II of our four-part series featuring interviews from our forthcoming documentary, For the Love of God: How

In 2017, the Centre for Public Christianity will release a documentary, For the Love of God: How the Church Is Better and Worse Than You Ever Imagined. It takes a deep dive into the history of Christianity in the West, and unpacks its influence on our society and culture. Some of the key ideas the documentary will explore include the development of human rights, and why we often find Christians at the heart of social justice work such as feeding the hungry and alleviating poverty. But we’ll also explore some of the ways the Church has abused its power and failed to uphold justice, show mercy or give hope – the very things it is called to do. This month on Life & Faith, we’ll be showcasing interviews from some of the international experts we’ve been speaking with for the documentary. Each week will examine one theme – the Crusades, women’s rights, slavery – but first, we want to offer a sweeping, bird’s-eye view of the role Christianity has played in creating the world we live in today. In this episo

Nuclear fusion energy has been heralded asthe answer to the global energy crisis, a virtually endless – and cleaner –source of power that will last several generations. If there’s anyone who should be singing itspraises the loudest, it’s Professor Ian Hutchinson from MIT, a leader in thisfield. While he’s certainly enthusiastic about the science and technologybehind fusion power, he’s quick to downplay the hype.  “There is no magic bullet for energyresources for human kind, he says, “so I don’t want to promote fusion as aninstant solution to energy problems that exist.” There’s still a lot of work to be done, hesays, namely, finding a stable environment on our planet at 100 million degreesCelsius for nuclear fusion to happen – and he’s right in the thick of it havingbuilt such an environment. “It has the strongest magnetic field of anyexperiment and, I have to admit, starting up that experiment … was very much ahighlight of my scientific career.” But as powerful as he knows science to be,as much as he finds i