What’s on the other side of the near-death experience?
--------
54:07
--------
54:07
Was Jesus a real person?
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 Jesus (or Joshua or Yeshua), who became a charismatic teacher, was born around the turn of the millennium in Palestine? GUESTS:Dr John Dickson, Anglican cleric, historian and author of Is Jesus History?Professor Vrasidis Karalis, Professor of Greek at the University of SydneyRev Dr Karen Pack, lecturer in history at Notre Dame Australia Sound Engineer: Antonia Gauci, Music by Russell StapletonThis program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People
--------
54:07
--------
54:07
Why do human animals fly planes and build cities?
What separates humans from other animals? It’s not our brain hardware. It’s our always changing brain software.For so long, humans believed our brain power separates us from animals: since the earliest human species, our brain size has tripled.But our brains haven’t grown for 30,000 - probably 300,000 years.So, why are we the ones who build cities and fly to space? Michael Muthukrishna calls it our collective culture.As every generation passes our operating system gets a free upgrade, and we build on the knowledge of the generation before.GUEST:Professor Michael Muthukrishna is at the London School of Economics and, in January 2026, will take up a professorship at New York University This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation
--------
54:07
--------
54:07
Could whales be Gods?
In the Pacific Ocean right now grey, humpback and southern right whale populations are increasing.This is important for us all ecologically. But for some of us, even more is at stake.Because around the world, from the equator to the Arctic, from Russia to New Zealand, throughout history and today, humans revere whales, as spiritual ancestors and as harbingers of fortune and protection.And as we’ll learn, some communities and traditions even worship whales as gods. Which makes their near extinction in the 20th century nothing less than deicide.GUESTS:Aike Peter Rots is principal investigator of the Whales of Power project at the University of Oslo.Mere Takoko is a leading Maori whale conservationist and founder and CEO of the Pacific Whale Fund.
--------
54:07
--------
54:07
The ethics of witchcraft and hexing the far-right
Two days prior to the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, a group of writers at US-based feminist magazine, Jezebel, published an article stating that they 'Paid Some Etsy Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk’. The magazine has since pulled the article, on the advice of their lawyers, so as not to cause any confusion about their stance on political violence of any kind. Is it ever ethical to wish harm on someone, even if that harm is theoretical or supernatural? What code of ethics are witches bound to? And why do witches have such a complex relationship with right-wing politics? GUESTSDr Caroline Tully – witchcraft maven, archaeologist, writer, tarot reader, and scholar of modern Pagan religions Dr Kenneth Freeman – Adjunct Professor of social work at North Carolina Central University, author of the research paper Ethical parallels: an exploration of the NASW code of ethics, Wiccan Rede, and the growing influence of Wicca in the United StatesDr Megan Goodwin – scholar of politics, and American religions, senior editor of Religion Dispatches, and author of Religion is Not Done With YouThis episode of God Forbid was made on Gadigal land, in Naarm, and on the land of the Eno, Tuscarora and Occcaneechi peoples.
Religion: it’s at the centre of world affairs, but profound questions still remain. Why are you here? What happens when you die? Does God matter? God Forbid seeks the answers.
Australia