Life & Faith

At 14 years of age, Tracy Trinita entered the Elite Model Look Competition - and won. The Balinese schoolgirl soon found herself gracing the runways of Paris, Milan and New York for the world’s biggest fashion houses. She was living her dream – a life of beauty and glamour, riches and fame.  But underneath Tracy’s smile and happy exterior, she battled feelings of insecurity and loneliness. In this episode of ‘Life & Faith’, Tracy talks about her life as Indonesia’s first supermodel, and how re-connecting with an old friend in Paris led her towards a source of true happiness. --- For more conversations like this, SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life & Faith’ on iTunes: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithpodcast. 

It’s one of life’s biggest questions – where did we come from? Since ancient times, philosophers and scientists have offered answers – and so has religion. But they don’t often say the same thing. These differences are often highlighted in the classic science versus religion debate that pit, for example, evolution against intelligent design. But what if science and faith are less hostile towards each other than we think? In this episode, Dr Graeme Finlay explores the complex relationship and compatibility of science and biblical faith, and what they can teach us about the origin of the universe and humanity. --- Dr Graeme Finlay is a lecturer in scientific pathology and cancer researcher at the University of Auckland, and the author of Human Evolution: Genes, Genealogies and Phylogenies. He has also completed a degree in theology. For more information about ‘ISCAST: Christians in Science and Technology’, go to: http://www.iscast.org. For more conversations like this, SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life &

While statistics suggest that religion is in decline across most of the West, being irreligious is perhaps more complex than it seems. In the UK, for example, only 25 per cent of people who claim to have “no religion” are atheists or agnostics – but even within this group there is a mix of spirituality and beliefs. “Plurality and diversity define who we are,” Elizabeth Oldfield, Director of Theos, said at a recent public lecture in Sydney. “Many people would like to believe, and belong, but they don't know how.” In this episode of ‘Life & Faith’, Elizabeth takes us on a tour of the religious landscape in the UK and Europe, and how the West’s religious identity is more complex than we think. --- Elizabeth Oldfield is the Director of Theos, a leading religion and society think tank in the UK. To find out more about Theos, go to: http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk. For more conversations like this, SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life & Faith’ on iTunes: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithpodcast

Prostitution is a global industry that generates more than $186 billion worldwide and has more than 13 million “employees”. But these numbers tell you nothing about the people involved in the sex industry – the circumstances that led them to a life of prostitution, the experiences they have in the industry, and the struggle to leave. A new book changes this. Prostitution Narratives shines a light on the reality of the sex industry through the true stories of women who escaped a life of prostitution. But it’s done more than raise awareness of the issues and trauma faced by these women. As survivors of the sex industry, the book’s contributors have come to realise that they are part of a global movement of women against prostitution. “The personal has become political,” Melinda Tankard Reist, one of the editors of the book and a long-time advocate for women and girls, says. “They’ve found strength in turning something devastating into something powerful.” In this episode of Life & Faith, Melinda tal

The FirstMonday in May is a new documentary that takes viewers into the opulent world ofart, fashion and beauty via the Met Gala. As the beauty and glamour unfolds onthe silver screen, two conflicting responses may arise: on the one hand, youmay feel a sense of appreciation towards this form of fashion and art; on theother hand, this extravagance can seem excessive and almost obscene. What is the role and value of art in our society? Is it frivolous tospend money on beautiful things, or spend time enjoying or pursuing art, whenall of that time and money could be spent on feeding the hungry or saving alife? In this episode of Life & Faith, John Dickson and Simon Smart joinNatasha Moore in a discussion around form and function, beauty and utility –and whether we can justify art and culture. --- SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life & Faith’: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithpodcast

Earlier this year, we posted a link on Facebook to an interview we did about a new museum being built in Washington DC, the Museum of the Bible. It’s a Smithsonian-sized project that will cost around $400 million. In the comments, someone wrote: “Surely it is better to spend the time, money and energy required for this project on putting what Jesus said into practice. What about feeding the homeless on the streets of DC.” It’s a fair point – $400 million could alleviate a lot of human suffering. But it’s a slippery slope. If we’re truly paying attention to the poverty in our local communities and around the world, how can we ever spend money on a pair of nice shoes, an expensive holiday, or even our morning coffee? In this episode of Life & Faith, John Dickson and Simon Smart join Natasha Moore in a discussion around poverty and luxury – can we ever justify spending money on ourselves, instead of on people in need? ---  SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life & Faith’: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithpodcast

In 2002, the Boston Globe’s investigativereporting team, Spotlight, published a series of reports exposing clergy childsexual abuse, and a cover up by the Catholic Church. As the horrific andheartbreaking instances of abuse and betrayal came to light, more stories ofclergy sexual abuse and the Catholic Church’s effort to hide it began tounravel across the US, and all around the world. “I don’t think any of us understood thatthis was a global phenomenon,” says Mike Rezendes, one of the Spotlightjournalists who reported on the original cover up of clergy child sexual abusein Boston. “None of us could’ve foreseen it, none of us did foresee it.” Fifteen years on, a film about the originalSpotlight investigation has, importantly, brought this issue to the fore onceagain. “There’s no doubt that the Spotlight moviehas inspired another wave of victims and survivors to come forward,” Mike says.“I think a lot more needs to be done, and I think the movie is letting peopleknow that more work needs to take place.” In this

Religion plays a significant role in every US presidential election – and this year is no exception. The candidates on either side of the aisle, and the religious leaders who back them, claim to know where Jesus stands on various issues, or what the Bible says about the hottest political topics. But do they? In his latest book, ‘How Would Jesus Vote?’, Professor Darrell Bock that the Bible challenges simplistic conclusions to complex issues, and encourages people to engage in respectful, passionate and peaceful dialogue instead. “Something is valuable not because it’s in Scripture, but it’s in Scripture because it has something valuable to say,” he says. In this episode of Life & Faith, Professor Bock tackles some of the most contentious political topics of today – immigration, welfare, race, and more – and examines them through the lens of the Bible.  --- BUY ‘How Would Jesus Vote?’: http://amzn.to/29QLx2v SUBSCRIBE to ‘Life & Faith’: http://bit.ly/lifeandfaithpodcast

Research suggests that doing good is actually good for you. Stephen G. Post, author of Why Good Things Happen to Good People, explains why. Stephen G. Post is Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University, and Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics. He is recognised internationally for his work on unselfish, compassionate love at the interface of science, ethics, spiritual thought, and behavioural medicine. He was in Sydney to speak at HammondCare’s international dementia conference in June, 2016.

John Hull began losing his sight in his mid-forties. He describes it as a dark black disc that slowly progressed over his field of vision. “Do remember that day when I caught a glimpse of a church spire?” the Australian theologian asks his wife, Marilyn,in the documentary film, Notes on Blindness. “I think that's the last thing you ever saw,” she replies. As John was losing his sight, he was intent on understanding blindness and started recording an audio diary. “I had to think about blindness because if I didn't understand it, it would defeat me,”he explains. On these tapes, he records his daily“notes” on blindness, his frustration and fears, and candid conversations with his children about blindness and why “God doesn’t help him get his eyes back”.  Thirty years later, these tapes have become the basis for a documentary created by Peter Middleton and James Spinney, Notes on Blindness. The film takes viewers into the experience of what it was like for John Hull to lose his sight, and how he ultimately came t

“The Ten Commandments are among the great cultural icons of the West,” John Dickson writes in the introduction to his new book, ‘A Doubter’s Guide to the Ten Commandments’.   For some, doubters and believers alike, the Ten Commandments conjures an image of a white-bearded Charlton Heston standing on top of a mountain, with the voice of God booming like thunder from the sky, and lightning bolts of fire inscribing these ancient instructions on two tablets of stone. But perhaps there’s more to the Ten Commandments than this mystical event. In fact, John Dickson says that these ten ancient instructions have changed the world and shows us, even today, what it means to live a good life. BUY the book here: http://bit.ly/29AqBSu

“I see clearly that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds … and you have to start from the ground up.” – Pope Francis, America: The National Catholic Review, September 2013 http://americamagazine.org/pope-interview In 2013, Pope Francis famously likened the church to a field hospital. Renowned theologian, William Cavanaugh, takes hold of this metaphor and explores the meaning of it in his latest book, ‘Field Hospital: The Church's Engagement with a Wounded World’. “I think in some senses, what Pope Francis is trying to do is to recapture the sense that you find in the earliest church where things are very decentralized,” Cavanaugh explains

“An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God.” – Srinivasa Ramanujan Ramanujan was a self-taught mathematical genius from India, who moved to Cambridge University in 1914 to work with the eminent mathematician, GH Hardy  His story, as told in the movie The Man Who Knew Infinity, not only tells of a brilliant mind capable of remarkable work, but of an unlikely friendship between a devout Hindu, and an atheist who was a stickler for proofs. “Your theorem is wrong,” Hardy tells Ramanujan in the movie, “this is why we cannot publish anymore until you finally trust me on this business of proofs.” Once described as “the most romantic figure in recent mathematical history”, Ramanujan’s life also speaks to the idea of finding beauty in maths – and this is what we explore in this episode of Life and Faith. You’ll hear from a homegrown mathematician about how Ramanujan’s work has been influential in her own. Then, Oxford mathematics professor, John Lennox, shares his thoughts about

According to Hugh Mackay, Australia is in themiddle of a “soft revolution”. After 30 years of consumerism and theso-called happiness movement, Mackay says people are ready to rid themselves oftheir materialistic and narcissistic characteristics and embrace that there’smore to life. “Unless there’s something I put my faithin, life is meaningless.” This is essentially what dozens ofAustralians across the spectrum of faith and spirituality told Mackay as heconducted interviews for his new book, BeyondBelief: How we find meaning, with or without religion. The book explores Australia’s current spiritualclimate and recent shifts in our religious faith and practice. Mackay openlyadmits, though, that the book probably won’t appeal either to committedbelievers or committed atheists – and in this interview Simon and Hugh findplenty to disagree on, as well as some common ground. In this episode of Life & Faith, we explore the spiritual landscape of Australian society,challenge some of Mackay’s views on Christian fai

Neurons and genetics cannot explain away the existence of free will, according to Julian Baggini. --- When philosopher Julian Baggini – author of more than a dozen books, including Atheism: A Very Short Introduction and Freedom Regained: The Possibility of Free Will – hears someone talking about free will, they’re usually talking about why humans don’t have it. This doesn’t sit well with him. “They think it’s the view of intelligent informed opinion, that there’s some sense in which science has shown that we definitely don’t have free will,” he says. “So it’s ceased being a matter of philosophical speculation and it’s become a matter of empirical, scientific fact.” In this episode of Life & Faith, Baggini takes back the reins on the free will debate and guides us through his thoughts on this question of whether we have free will, and what true freedom might look like. “Freedom isn’t about the ability to just choose anything you want, it’s actually the capacity for your actions to flow from you

Can books be a cure for the common cold?   Can a novel help us navigate a midlifecrisis? Can reading be a remedy for a broken heart? These are just some of the questions that bibliotherapyclaims to be able to answer. Whatever your ailment may be, there’s a novel – ortwo – that will supposedly provide temporary relief of your symptoms. The first instance of bibliotherapy wasrecorded in an Atlantic Monthly articlepublished in 1916. The author writes about bumping into an old friend, Bagster,who has set up the Bibliopathic Institute. Bagster welcomes clients into hisoffice in the basement of his church, and prescribes books to heal a variety ofailments. In the article, Bagster says: “Bibliotherapy is such a new science thatit is no wonder that there are many erroneous opinions as to the actual effect whichany particular book may have. …  A book may be a stimulant or a sedative oran irritant or a soporific. The point is that it must do something to you, andyou ought to know what it is.” This episode of Life an

The human brain is the most complex object known to exist in the universe. This is the thought that Marilynne Robinson begins many of her classes with. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and acclaimed essayist is a Professor at the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop. “I want to encourage my young writers to value their characters sufficiently to make them complex enough to be credible and also to value themselves in a way that makes them push toward real authenticity, real originality,” she says. Human exceptionalism is something that comes across not only in the characters she writes about, but in the way she treats her readers. Robinson’s latest offering, The Givenness of Things, builds bridges across science and religion, theology and humanism, to provide a gracious, respectful, and an ultimately hopeful contribution to public culture and conversation about life and what it means to be human. “We know that given any possibility, human beings blossom into beauty and ingenuity and tragedy and

The story of Christianity and Aboriginal culture in Australia, is one of tragedy, loss and deep sorrow. “It was the church’s decree that they pillage our land and conquer us,” Larissa Minniecon says. “So through Christianity, or churches - we have lost everything.” Larissa is a Kabi Kabi woman and a Torres Strait Islander. She is also a Christian woman. In fact, her last name may sound familiar - Ray Minniecon, is her father and a prominent Aboriginal Christian leader. “We deeply believe in the message, we deeply believe in Jesus, and I think because of that we’ve survived all the atrocities that have been thrown to us,” she says. “Being a Christian helps us survive and give grace to a lot of people, and also hope.” In this episode of Life & Faith, we consider these stories of hope and reconciliation that are found hidden within the darker narrative that charts the relationship between the church and Aboriginal people. You’ll hear from Larissa Minniecon, who heads up Common Grace’s Aboriginal Justice team

It may feel like we’re living in an increasingly secular world, but the numbers tell a different story.  According to a recent study, by the year 2050, the number of people in the world without any religious affiliation will decline as a share of the global population. At the same time, Muslims and Christians are on track to make up nearly equal shares of the world’s population – around one-third each. So, if you’re not religious or if you’re disinterested in religion, “you will be a stranger on this planet,” Dutch philosopher Evert-Jan Ouweneel says. “Just for the sake of feeling at home in the world, learn about other religions.” In this episode, we discuss how to learn about other religions well, the ways we can bridge gaps between different religious groups, and what it means to reach out beyond borders to make a positive impact in the world. 

Ivy is 105 years old and she loves music. She sings along to “old-timers” in the car when she’s traveling around Australia, and listens to “sad” songs before she goes to bed. “I usually have the music playing softly,” she says, “I go to sleep that way.” The truth is, Ivy hasn’t done that for a while. She lives with dementia and has been a resident at a care home in Sydney’s north for the past couple of years. Her carers tell me that Ivy goes to bed pretty early, around 5pm, and she doesn’t have a radio or music player in her room.  Instead, Ivy has an iPod loaded with a personalised playlist of songs for her to enjoy. It was given to her as part of Hammondcare’s new music engagement program designed by former music professor, Dr Kirsty Beilharz. So, what’s on her playlist? “I like all the old time songs,” Ivy says, before the conversation suddenly shifts to why she didn’t learn how to play the piano. “My mother tried to make me learn but I was too much of a larrikin,” she says. There are more than 3