PODCAST · religion
God Forbid
by ABC Australia
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.
Episodes
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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 compatible, a minority of Christians believe they are not. Last week on God Forbid we looked at the entangled relationship...
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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 of creation, the tables were turned again. The priest told the pontiff, keep your religion out of my physics.…
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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 doing something better here, OR are we just a decade behind them? Is it an economic problem? After all, ownership…
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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 why, in the twenty-first century, is tolerance still so elusive? In the final episode of a two-part series on...
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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 limitations? Should we extend tolerance to those who commit acts of violence? In the first of two episodes on the rise…
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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, whether you support multi or mono-culturalism, it seems we all claim the authentic mantle of modern Australian...
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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 gearing, property investment, supply and demand... But there's an older, even ancient, argument that says that says…
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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! Philosophers call this the Hard Problem of consciousness. Is this gap in our knowledge something that science can…
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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 examines the wider conversations that are essential, but so often overlooked when it comes to voluntary assisted dying....
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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 patient, endlessly giving, endlessly present. In Christianity she's Mary, the sinless virgin, the giving and eternal…
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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, sung and prayed. It belonged to God. Then we put time in a box on the wall. Then on our wrist. Now in our pocket and…
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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, and reality became a clock with time. Then came Einstein, and time started to bend. Then came quantum mechanics — and...
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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 most private and immediate things we own. Hit your thumb, and YOU know pain when YOU feel it. But historians of…
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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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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 good man? Does God, or any religious tradition, see men as something distinct? Or is “be a good man” just “be a good...
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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 then most of us are happy to have them killed and eat them. Both our panellists think the way we treat animals is a…
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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 has existed for decades. But even in China and now India, the fertility rate has dropped below replacement levels –…
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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 say it out loud. You might barely admit it to yourself. But the Germans have a word for it. And it turns out, so did...
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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 not only return, he’ll go to Jerusalem, and from there, for exactly one thousand years, he’ll rule the world. Yet…
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How should we view our relationship to work?
Most of us spend most of our waking hours working, paid and unpaid. From housework to paid work, most of our lives are dominated by work. It's so ingrained that losing our true selves in work can feel unavoidable. Yet, many also find purpose, value, and joy in work – even if it's not their dream...
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The seen and unseen: Belief in Jinns, Marian apparitions and Japanese yokai
Halloween, in the western Christian tradition, remembers the dead – saints, martyrs, and all the faithful departed. But why do so many believe the departed return? Regardless of the place on earth, or time in history, people say they see strange apparitions and ghostly figures. And as for things...
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Home economics: waking up from the Australian dream
The government has removed favourable tax settings for investors to make home ownership just a bit more achievable for Millennials and Gen Z’s priced out of the market. The Prime Minister has spoken about the importance of giving young people access to housing so they have “a stake in the…
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Doomsday or just good planning? The ethics of prepping
From climate disasters to economic collapse, pandemics to political unrest — some people prepare for the worst long before it happens. But is prepping a sign of prudent foresight or a loss of faith in society? And how do ethics and religion shape ideas of survival? In this episode we explore the...
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Can we truly love AI? And can it love us back?
Falling in love with a machine is supposed to be the stuff of science-fiction. About a decade ago, Spike Jonze made the film Her, about a lonely man Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix, falling in love with his operating system, Samantha. And the world renowned psychoanalyst Esther Perel recently...
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Addiction, God, and the origin of the twelve steps
Since the Stone Age we’ve used, and abused, drugs and alcohol. And some cultures believed their mood-altering effects brought you closer to God. But if you go to an Alcoholics Anonymous or AA meeting today, you’ll be told that getting closer to God means getting away from the drink. AA also...
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Christian leaders talk war, the Pope, getting arrested, courage and empathy
Pope Leo XIV has recently slammed the use of God's name to justify what he terms as the "absurd" pursuit of war, specifically challenging military leaders who describe operations in Iran as a holy war "in the name of Jesus Christ". Is a "holy war" antithetical to the teachings of Jesus Christ?...
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Why do adults still need fairytales?
Fairytales are among the oldest forms of human storytelling, with their roots in the oral traditions of pre-literate societies. Over centuries, these tales have been reworked to suit the religious, moral and political order of the day. They are instructive, entertaining and sometimes terrifying....
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The Orthodox surge
It’s Eastern Orthodox Easter this weekend, where the faithful will announce to each other Christos Anesti. Christ is Risen. Also risen? The fortunes of Eastern Orthodoxy among men – though this is contested. Over the last 50 years, the numbers of people around the world identifying as religious...
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Why are the Middle Ages are still relevant today?
If you go to the movies, or turn on your TV, you’ll find it hard to avoid the medieval fantasy genre. With its castles and fortresses, cloaks and crowns, and even dungeons and dragons. The stories are fantastical but of course, fictional in their portrayal of medieval Europe and the Islamic…
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Is your privacy sacred?
Evolving digital technologies have supercharged our anxieties about privacy and surveillance. These concerns may feel new, but they have always existed. Access to privacy is central to human dignity and intimacy - but it is also conditional in a society which values openness and accountability.…
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On judgement
"Don't judge me" is the unofficial commandment of our secular liberal society. We're told so long as you’re not hurting anyone, live however you want. But online, judgement is relentless and cruel. Have we lost the ability to wisely judge, and — eventually — forgive? Or did we never really have…
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Is the 21st century’s version of freedom liberating or a freedom trap?
These days, we want Rights, not religion. Choice, not Church. Pleasure, over prayer. In Australia, and the world increasingly, the market is the Messiah, and the self is the saviour. But, if we’re the freest people who’ve ever lived, to choose our partners, careers, genders, and Gods or no God,...
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International Women's Day special
What is the state of women in Australia and globally in 2026? Mainstream social media is increasingly clogged with misogyny, there's the horrendous revelations around Jeffrey Epstein, a rise in women killed by their partners and online harassment of women is at a peak. Are we going backwards?...
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Conversion — Why would anyone move from disbelief to belief?
Why would you trade the visible for the invisible? And experts believe in the census later this year – for the first time ever - those ticking “no religion” will surpass Christians. And it’s happening across the global north - even the US – where 95% believed in something 30 years ago – today,...
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The nature of evil, abuse and forgiveness
If forgiveness is a gift to yourself, what do you give when the harm is unforgiveable? And it’s hard to believe, but some families endure unspeakable harm and somehow remain intact, while others fracture over what seems like nothing at all. How do we hold space for the reality of suffering, even...
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The pain of love and grief for our pets
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…
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Pawnbroking, bankruptcy, debt, usury & God!
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.…
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If you could save a drowning child, would you?
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...
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The Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Royal Commission
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...
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Living simply in a complex world: how modern monks navigate AI, social media, and climate change
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...
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Coercion, control and worship: Where do we draw the line between a religion and a cult?
Is a cult a misunderstood religion? Or something much more dangerous? The line between high-control religions, new religious movements, and 'cults' is as grey as ever. But the fascination we have with these groups is only getting stronger. What counts as a 'cult'? Is it your highly controlling…
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Did the human species invent the Bible?
If God says that man is fallible, and man wrote the Bible, then how can we know that the Bible is the true word of God?
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Why do we fear fat?
For most of history, body size has been about more than just health — it’s been a tool of control. From colonial ideals of “discipline” to modern-day diet culture, our ideas about fatness and thinness are deeply tied to morality, power, and profit. But are we getting it all wrong? Why do we see...
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Close encounters of the religious kind: how God and UFOs have both begun religious movements
Looking towards the heavens for meaning doesn’t always mean looking to God. UFOs (and the modern moniker UAPs) have long been the food for thought of sceptics, theologians, and astrobiologists alike. But what does belief in these mysterious phenomena have in common with religion? And what...
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What were the biggest religious stories in 2025? Ask the experts!
The big news for Christians is that this year we had BOTH a new Pope and – for the Anglican communion – the announcement of a new Archbishop of Canterbury. For Catholics, of course, Leo was the surprise choice at the papal conclave in May. The first pope from the United States. And the first from...
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Religious Rebels 06 | Dorothy Day: Rebel for the poor, saint for the restless
A bohemian journalist who found God in the slums — and built a movement that unsettled both Church and State. Born in Brooklyn in 1897, Dorothy Day lived many lives: radical writer, suffragist, single mother, and eventually Catholic convert. In the midst of the Great Depression, she co-founded…
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Religious Rebels 05 | Malcolm X: Reborn in Mecca, killed in Harlem
A street hustler turned minister whose faith transformed Black politics — and himself. Born Malcolm Little in 1925, Malcolm X rose to fame as a fiery preacher in the Nation of Islam, calling for Black self-determination “by any means necessary.” But after his pilgrimage to Mecca, he embraced…
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Religious Rebels 04 | John Calvin: Reformed the faith, ruled with fire
A French lawyer-turned-theologian who split from Rome — and built his own city of God. John Calvin fled Catholic France to lead a new Protestant movement in Geneva during the 1500s. His ideas about predestination and the absolute authority of Scripture reshaped Christianity and inspired the...
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Religious Rebels 03 | Táhirih: Unveiled the truth, paid with her life
A Persian poet and scholar who tore off her veil — and announced the dawn of a new religious age. In the 1840s, Táhirih became one of the first women to preach in public in Iran. As a leading figure in the Bábí movement — a precursor to the Bahá’í faith — she argued that revelation had not ended...
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Religious Rebels 02 | Giordano Bruno: Imagined the Infinite, Burned at the Stake
A former Dominican friar who dared to say the universe had no centre — and paid with his life. Born in 16th-century Italy, Giordano Bruno broke with Church teachings to imagine an infinite cosmos filled with countless worlds. To him, God was not confined to heaven or hierarchy but alive in every...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
ABC Australia
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How many episodes does God Forbid have?
God Forbid currently has 248 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is God Forbid about?
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.
How often does God Forbid release new episodes?
God Forbid publishes regularly with 248 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to God Forbid on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts God Forbid?
God Forbid is created and hosted by ABC Australia.
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