God Forbid

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:
Dr Millie Cordaro, Professor of Psychology at Texas State University
Dr Daniela Rizzo is a theologian at Alphacrucis University College and author of Animal Pneumatology
David Michie is an author, known around the world for his series of books about Buddhism and animals

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: 
Dr Lucie O’Brien,  Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Melbourne’s Centre for Commercial Law 
Dr Ilsup Ahn, Professor of Philosophy at North Park University   
Royce Kurmelovs - journalist

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 into science.  
GUEST:
Professor Peter Singer is Emeritus Professor of Bioethics at Princeton and National University of Singapore   
His Bold Reasoning substack is here
His book The Life You Can Save is free to download

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 the New Israel Fund. His substack piece on The Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism is here.
Robert Richter KC has appeared before royal commissions, and  is one of Australia's most prominent criminal barristers. 
David Slucki is Director of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, and Associate Professor of Contemporary Jewish Life and Culture at Monash University. He wrote this piece for ABC Religion and Ethics

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 trappings of selfishness, consumerism, and greed. 
How do they do it? And what can we learn from them?
GUESTS: 
His Holiness S.B. Keshava Swami, a Hare Krishna monk, author, and teacher of the Vaishnava Hindu tradition
Tosana Krsna Dasa, also know as Tilak, a Hare Krishna teacher, pastor and disciple, also a student in both law and religion at the University of Sydney
Venerable Dr JueWei Shi, a member of the Fo Guang Shan order of Buddhists and Director of the Nan Tien Institute’s Humanistic Buddhism Centre.
This episode of God Forbid was recorded on Dharawal and Gadigal land and produced on Gadigal land. 
It was first broadcast in January 2025