God Forbid - Podcast

Jesus said for his followers to go and make disciples of all nations, but it feels like something went wrong. James Carleton speaks to Aboriginal Christians Brooke Prentis and Kathleen Butler to find out if it’s possible to untangle the conversion from the coercion, and to see how – far from being wiped out – Dreamtime spirituality is actually changing Christianity in Australia.

Travel: It’s a break, a getaway, a rite of passage. Religious pilgrimage is one thing, but even journeys for leisure can result in the traveller “finding oneself”. People who would never step foot inside a church or a temple at home do it all the time when they’re on holiday. Why? James Carleton and the God Forbid panel find out how your holiday might literally be good for your soul.

Australians are becoming increasingly irreligious, but our devotion to sport is unwavering. As Australia tests its mettle at the Commonwealth Games, the national cricket team’s ball tampering has them caught out. It’s just a game, so why did it feel like a betrayal? There’s more at play when it comes to sport.

What happens when the rich and poor come together to worship?

No, not a phone call, but a vocational call – not to a career necessarily, but to fulfil your life’s purpose. How do you figure out what that is? There’s too much to choose from!

We live in a world of hot takes that are here today and gone tomorrow, but some issues have been baking all year. It’s time to round out 2018 with a final ‘holy hot potatoes’. Our God Forbid panel juggles the burning issues in news and religion.

For the first time in 27 years, this Sunday marks the first day of both Hanukkah and Advent. For Jews, Hanukkah is a celebration of Jewish identity and practise. For Christians, Advent is a time of hope and anticipation – not just for Christmas day, but for the second coming of Jesus.

Since its introduction to Ethiopia in the first century, Christianity has grown across Africa over 2,000 years creating immense and resilient communities of faith. The God Forbid panel examines African Christianity, and how African Australians are helping to grow their own congregations down under in an increasingly secular landscape.

You don’t have to include faith or belief when writing fiction, so why do we see religious themes crop up again and again in our most popular pop culture? The God Forbid panel goes to infinity and beyond to find the links between fantasy, the future and faith.

The first Remembrance Day services were explicitly Christian, but as Australia has become more religiously diverse the Anzac legend has taken on the qualities of a secular, civic religion. The God Forbid panel looks at the rituals and monuments associated with remembering Australia’s war dead.

A 300-year-old deal between Sunni clerics and Saudi royals continues to shape Saudi Arabia, but the new crown prince is keen for reform while strengthening his iron grip on power. Meanwhile, seemingly irreconcilable differences haven’t shaken the special relationship between the Saudis and Americans – so long as they remain useful to each other.

Halloween is a day Australians either love, or love to hate. But it’s not all spooky scary skeletons, it’s also Allhallowtide – a set of holy days when Catholics venerate saints in heaven and pray for the souls of the dead. The God Forbid panel examines Pagan-Christian cross-pollination, from Samhain to All Saints.

Whether it’s a zombie apocalypse, environmental devastation or God coming to judge all humanity, we love to imagine the end of the world. Many faiths and cultures predict the end of days – but why? The God Forbid panel explores apocalyptic beliefs: from the Abrahamic religions of the Middle East to the cargo cults of Melanesia.

The Bible arrived in the South Pacific in the hands of missionaries and colonisers in the 19th century. But the locals took it as their own — making today’s South Pacific among the most Christian regions on earth. It's also home to a significant number of Mormon and Baha’i communities.

Germany celebrates 28 years of reunification this week as Lutherans around Australia meet for their Triennial Synod. Guest host Joe Gelonesi explores how churches helped reunite Germany by making space for free political discourse in the officially atheist East. But now, post-reunification, Germans in the East are abandoning churches nearly altogether.

According to some religions, traditional roles for men and women have come from God. But today, those roles aren’t as clear as they used to be and it’s having an effect. What does modern masculinity look like? James Carleton is joined by two panellists with firm ideas about what it means to be a good man.

If you have a secret, there's a sense that others can't really know who you are unless you confess. Confession has become a burning hot topic in the wake of the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse, so James Carleton is joined by a theologian and a forensic psychologist to talk about survivors, perpetrators and the church.

The idea that biology has no purpose has been mainstream scientific thinking for a hundred years. But why does scientist Denis Alexander think otherwise? He joins James on the panel along with our other Cambridge scholar Dr Natasha Moore.

September 11 is an ominous date, but this year it’s also a day of festivity. It’s the start of a new year for Coptic Orthodox Christians, Jews and Muslims. James Carleton is joined by a Sheikh, a Rabbi and a Priest on the panel.

About a third of Australians don’t follow a religion, but that doesn’t mean they’re all disciples of Richard Dawkins. Even though they disavow organised religion, some atheists are irrational and even superstitious. James Carleton and the God Forbid panel talk about the myriad ways to be atheist.