Religion And Ethics Report - Separate Stories Podcast

It’s almost a year since the World Health Organisation officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The responses of governments in East Asia differed markedly from those in Europe and the United States. One of Asia’s leading intellectuals says this shows a gap in values.

The fallout continues for the Crown corporation, after an enquiry in New South Wales found the company was not fit to run a gambling casino in Sydney. As the enquiry exposed, gambling is almost always a dirty business. So why do governments permit such ethically problematic enterprises?

A new book reveals that there is already tension between the new US administration and conservative bishops. The book also argues that the fates of the president and Pope Francis are deeply intertwined.

QAnon is a strange internet phenomenon that presents itself as a government insider, drip-feeding to its online followers supposedly hidden truths about groups that really control the world. As the world saw on January 6, when hundreds of extremists overran the US capitol, there’s some overlap with Donald Trump supporters. It might surprise you to learn there’s also an overlap with parts of the so-called “wellness industry”.

As Israel Folau looks to make a comeback to Australian football, a new book looks at the free speech war his 2019 tweets ignited.

In a year of COVID, we have seen churches shuttered, weddings cancelled, even funerals down to a handful of mourners. The pandemic has been the most serious blow to religious practice since perhaps the black plague. But how has it affected religious belief?

The army in Myanmar staged another coup this week, but the opposition from Buddhist monks is much weaker. So what has broken them as a force in Burmese society?

An archival interview with Geoffrey Robinson, a former auxiliary bishop of Sydney, who died on 29 December 2020. Bishop Robinson pushed for accountability in the Catholic Church.  

Samuel Moyn on reconciliation and the lost cause of national unity in the U.S. even with the Biden inauguration.

Claire Beck, World Vision’s director of Humanitarian Health discusses the need to bring faith leaders into the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, especially in the developing world where mosques, temples and churches remain major centres of gathering and information for communities.

The liberal values of modern Australia – and the west more broadly – have mounted a strong challenge to religious traditions, especially around sex and sexuality. How should religions respond? Should they change doctrines and teachings they believe to be eternal truths? Or should the political world be more pluralist and accommodate these views?

How will the next generation of leaders, especially those formed in a liberal western environment, understand this emerging world?

A new book looks at how Christians and Muslims Can Be Friends and some of the reasons disenfranchised Muslims can become radicalised.

A look at how lockdowns divided populations and amplified political division in societies already riven by cultural divisions.

A look at the haemorrhaging support for US President Donald Trump among evangelical leaders after he refuses to accept the results of the November election.

In this year of pandemic – of being shut in and working from home – you may have sought distraction by lying on the sofa watching some streaming service.

It’s been a good pandemic for some. USA Today reports that Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, has seen his wealth almost double – from 113 billion to 203 billion in just six months.

Retiring CEO of Wesley Mission, Keith Garner discusses his new book about what the church can teach business.

The youth wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India has registered a police complaint against Netflix, alleging that the BBC adaptation of A Suitable Boy has hurt religious sentiments.

The CIA and the KGB attempted to recruit the disgraced cardinal Theodore McCarrick during the Cold War. McCarrick agreed to be a CIA asset but he was also open to blackmail because of rumours about his sexual behaviour with, as it was known at the time, young adult men.