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.
Latest episodes
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55 min
God, the Big Bang & the fortunate universe
We live in a universe that sustains life – but what are the chances of that? And scientists now believe that if the laws of physics were different by just a fraction – our universe…
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55 min
Young earth creationism: why some Christians contest evolution
Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution nearly 170 years ago. So why are there still creationists? While mainstream Christianity holds that evolution and faith are compati…
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55 min
The long border dispute between science and religion
In 1927, a Catholic priest told Albert Einstein the universe was expanding. Einstein though that was a crazy idea. But the priest was right. And when the Pope claimed this as proof…
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55 min
How can media gain back lost trust?
The world has trust issues with its media.Three in five Australians trust TV and radio news, and what's in the newspapers.But in North America it is fewer than three in ten.Are we…
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55 min
Will toleration or tribalism define this era of enlightenment?
Is intolerance tightening its grip on public life? The twentieth century was among the most intolerant in human history; the Holocaust, Stalinism, empires collapsing in blood. So w…
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55 min
Is tolerance really a virtue?
Rulers throughout history have used tolerance and intolerance in their pursuit of power. In our modern context, tolerance is often lauded as an unqualified good, but are there limi…
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53 min
Secular Australia's identity crisis
What is the place of religion in a pluralist society?Australia calls itself a secular country, yet it has never been more religiously diverse.Whether you're religious or secular, w…
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55 min
Does owning property make you more moral?
Generation Z is the first generation since the war to start out with less claim on the country than their parents.You might believe this story is just all about economics. Negative…
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55 min
Will science ever explain the self?
Neuroscience is now spectacularly good at explaining how brains work. But there’s one thing it still can’t explain: why having a brain feels like something. Like anything at all! P…
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55 min
Voluntary assisted dying: more than a matter of life and death
The Northern Territory is set to become the final Australian jurisdiction to legalise voluntary assisted dying (VAD). While thirty years of arguing comes to an end, God Forbid exam…
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55 min
The Good Mother standard: Can anyone live up to it?
Mother Earth. Mother Mary. The "good mother." Is there a more impossible standard than motherhood itself?Every culture seems to believe in a mother who is endless. Endlessly patien…
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55 min
The History of Time
Your phone will tell you the time, and that number has an extraordinary history. And hasn't always been there. Time used to be whatever the church bell said it was. Time was rung,…
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55 min
The History of Reality: What is real and is God behind it all?
Every civilisation that's ever existed has asked the same question: what's actually real? Plato made the point that it's more than we can see with our own eyes. Then came Newton, a…
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55 min
The History of Emotion: Were feelings always felt this way?
If you hit your finger with a hammer, would you feel it the same way a medieval carpenter did, doing exactly the same thing? Well, apparently not. We think of our feelings as the m…
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55 min
Is racism about skin colour, colonialism or wealth?
Is racism about the colour of your skin, the history of colonialism, or the size of your bank account?
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55 min
What does God expect of fathers?
The White House has a cage fight on the Whitehouse front lawn while, somewhere, a father rose at 3am to feed a crying baby. In 2026, what does it mean to be a good father, or a goo…
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55 min
Why do animals matter?
Do to a dog what we do to a factory-farmed pig, and you’d be arrested. Do it to ten thousand pigs in a shed, and it’s breakfast. Most of us say cruelty to animals is wrong. And the…
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54 min
How old do you feel?
We are, it turns out, a species that refuses to believe its own birth certificate. Australia is ageing, fast. This is not new here, or in Europe and North America where the trend h…
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55 min
The pleasure we take in others' misfortune and what it says about us
You heard that someone had come unstuck. A rival. A bully. Someone overconfident, or two-faced, or just a bit too pleased with themselves. And something in you was glad. You won't…
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55 min
The ideas that inspired American Christian Zionism
Whether or not you believe in - or even know about "the Rapture", "the Tribulation", "the End Times", and "Armageddon", your life is influenced by the idea that Jesus Christ will n…