Religion (ABC RN)
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From Here to Eternity
The urge to merge with Eternity has raised up saints, transformed sacred space, and inspired the faithful to resist injustice. Yet the belief in Eternity and its ante room Purgatory has also been a battleground that saw churches topple. The Romantics resurrected Eternity from its distant abode but today's secularists all but erase its traces, though science remains open. Carlos Eire, Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University, and a 'chronophobiac' is fascinated by the...
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Religion and ethics: The moral foundations of foreign aid
As the nation counts down the minutes to the budget announcement, RN Drive takes a philosophical look behind the decisions being made.
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Frank McCourt and Angela's Ashes
Frank McCourt speaks with Norman Swan in 1997 about his life in Ireland and the United States of America, and his memoir Angela's Ashes.
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Belinda Lopez
Belinda Lopez tells of her holy trinity of accident injuries.
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Blinded Heart
Religious communities are committed to inclusion, compassion and recognising the full humanity of all. But for people with disabilities, a religious community can be a surprisingly alienating place. Judaism has the primacy of physical perfection written into its sacred text. Islam has a cultural aversion to dogs - guide dogs for the blind included. As for Christianity: Jesus performed miraculous cures - but wouldn't it have been more useful if he'd cured society of its prejudices against the...
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PNG's sorcery-related killings: Cultural or cold-blooded?
There are fresh concerns about sorcery-related killing in Papua New Guinea, following reports that a former primary school teacher was beheaded in southern Bougainville.
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Religion and Ethics with Scott Stephens
Religion and Ethics editor Scott Stephens has been following the global response to the news of Margaret Thatcher's death.
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Call for more sensitive debate about female circumcision
A victim of female circumcision has spoken out against the western description of the procedure, saying the use of the phrase, 'female genital mutilation' is culturally insensitive.
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Jai Uttal: Bhakti Beats
Jai Uttal is a world music pioneer and composer of sacred music who studied with the renowned sarod player Ali Akbar Khan before travelling to India in 1971 where he lived amongst the Bauls, the wandering mystical musicians of Bengal, discovered the practice of bhakti yoga, and met his guru, the Hindu holy man, Neem Karoli Baba. Returning to the US in the late 1970s, Jai Uttal started writing and recording devotional music based around the practice of bhakti yoga, mixing Sanskrit chant and...
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Religion and Ethics with Scott Stephens
The Easter weekend saw a few firsts for two high profile religious figures.
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Secularism, Islam and Catholicism
Having taken the name Francis, the new Pope with his hopes for peace will no doubt have inter-religious dialogue high on his list of priorities. Shaping the progress of inter-faith relationships today are the over-arching influences of globalisation and, in the West, secularism. These factors generate a complex variety of responses and challenges both within religious traditions and in the ways different religions work together in society.
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The Bishop and the Atheist, Father and Son
At Easter the Biblical story of Father and Son recounts how Jesus came to accept both the faith and the fate for which God the Father divinely ordained him. Bishop Graeme Rutherford of the Anglican Church raised his son Jonathan in the Christian faith, but at the age of 19 Jonathan started to read Russell, Chomsky and Dawkins. Jonathan became an atheist, and father and son, Christian and atheist, argued about their divergent views. Then they published their dialogue as Beloved Father,...
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Shopping for Passover
Michael Mackenzie throws himself among the crowds shopping for Passover to learn about Jewish food and traditions around this very important time of year.
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Fast Food Fact: Origin of the Easter egg
The late Alan Saunders, former presenter of The Philosopher's Zone, ponders the chequered history of the Easter egg and questions our contemporary obsession with it being chocolate.
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Holy Bread - the unleavened host
We hear tales of First Communion and find out the role, history and significance of that most ordinary of foods, the wafer, inside the Catholic Church.
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Sacred Harp Singing
For more than 200 years an American style of folk hymn singing has been kept alive in the Deep South. Known as Sacred Harp singing, it’s a form of shape-note singing with folk tunes, revivalist hymns, odes and anthems sung out loud in a raw four-part harmony. The music takes its name from The Sacred Harp, a songbook of more than 500 hymns published in 1844 and updated continuously ever since. There are no harps in sacred harp singing, just voices and in this special Good Friday edition of...
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Religion and Ethics with Scott Stephens
As the dust settles after last week's political apocalypse, we thought it time for a more philosophical look at morality in politics.
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Attack of the theocrats: Sean Faircloth
Here in Australia the Lord’s Prayer is read at the beginning of each sitting of the federal parliament. For some this breaches the secular principle that state and religion should be kept separate, while others see it as an appropriate tradition.
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A.C. Grayling: The God Argument
Philosopher and author A.C. Grayling joins RN Breakfast to discuss his new book, The God Argument: The Case against Religion and for Humanism.
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The Archbishop and the Rabbi on Genesis
Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney's Anglican Cathedral interviews Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence of The Great Synagogue on the Jewish understanding of Genesis 1-11 and finds both common ground and wisdom for a secular age. In this delightful conversation, Rabbi Lawrence brings his love of science, his wealth of rabbinical stories, and his anarchic sense humour to promote a belief in the shared redemption of the world based on humanity created in God's image.
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Klezmer Pesach
Klezmer is an Eastern European roots music now popular around the world, that was developed by Orthodox Jews known as hasidim to evoke ecstatic communion with God. Nobody plays it quite like the London Klezmer Quartet who will join us for two live sets of klezmer songs specially themed for the Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover) which begins this week. We’ll also hear luminous choral music for Holy Week from superstar American composer Eric Whitacre, folk-soul from Michael Kiwanuka, and the...
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Religion and ethics with Scott Stephens
He has been in his new job about a week and as we speak Pope Francis is touring St Peter's square in the Vatican.
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Law Report 19 March 2013
The Australian royal commission into the handling of child sex abuse will hold its first public sitting in early April. Will the commission be able to emulate the achievements of similar inquiries that rocked Ireland over the course of the past decade—and avoid some of the major mistakes?
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Lessons from Ireland's sex abuse coverups
The Australian royal commission into the handling of child sex abuse will hold its first public sitting in early April. Will the commission be able to emulate the achievements of similar inquiries that rocked Ireland over the course of the past decade—and avoid some of the major mistakes?
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Young Australian Catholics on Pope Francis
While delivering his first Sunday prayers and blessing, the new Pope Francis delivered off-the-cuff remarks instead of reading from a written speech and ended his blessing with 'have a good lunch'.
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Cardinals and Popes
The election of Pope Francis contains some ironies, but as second favourite in the last conclave 8 years ago, he is ready to bring Latin American Catholics to a new prominence, according to Maria-Paz Lopez, Vatican correspondent for LaVanguardia, Barcelona, Spain. Cardinals' lives were often far from saintly, but those 'raised to the purple' were the power behind the papal throne. Catholic historian Michael Walsh gives an insight into the Cardinalate past and present. Pope Benedict XVI has...
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Pope Francis and the Dirty War
With the appointment of Pope Francis, questions are again being asked about how close the Catholic Church was to the military dictatorship during the '70s and '80s in Argentina.
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Geraldine Doogue in Rome
Now that the papal election has concluded, attention in Italy is refocussed on domestic politics and the inconclusive election result from the vote in late February.
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Pope impresses in first 24 hours: Robert Mickens
In Rome overnight, Pope Francis has wasted no time putting his own stamp on the Papacy, with his humbleness and sense of humour on display.
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Does Pope Francis have what it takes?
Being Pope these days is about more than giving spiritual guidance. Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio will have to manage the fallout from various child abuse and corruption scandals, and find ways to win back the faithful.
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Catholics start adapting to the 'quiet man' pope
The new pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was a long shot, so is the Catholic world ready to take him on?
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Regional church leaders reflect on new Pope and...
Leaders in Australia's rural Roman Catholic community are looking to the new Pope to foster a sense of inclusiveness in the church.
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Papal Election: Geraldine Doogue and Andrew West
Geraldine Doogue is in St Peter's Square in Rome, gauging people's reaction to the announcement.
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Argentinians celebrate Papal election
The election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new Pope sees a number of firsts.
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What will it mean to have a Jesuit Pope?: Frank Brennan
The Vatican has hailed the 'courage' of cardinals in electing Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, South America's first pope.
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Geraldine Doogue live from the Papal announcement
Geraldine Doogue spoke to RN Breakfast from St Peter's Square as Pope Francis was introduced to the thousands of waiting followers.
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Preview of tonight's Religion and Ethics report
On the Religion & Ethics Report this week, Andrew West looks at the religion behind the revolution in Venezuela, and the way recently deceased president Hugo Chavez used evangelicism during his presidency.
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Papal election update: Geraldine Doogue in Rome
For those of us eagerly awaiting the announcement of a new pontiff, we'll have to wait for at least another day.
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Papal elections: Geraldine Doogue from Rome
Catholic cardinals have gone behind locked doors in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope.
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Religion and ethics with Scott Stephens
One billion Catholics across the world are waiting to find out who their next pope will be.
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Cardinals prepare for papal conclave
The centuries-old process to elect a new pope begins later today.
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Europe Update
In the last week of February Italians went to the polls and didn't vote in a new government. Instead they voted for a comedian. So was this a protest or does it say something about European politics and austerity? Plus Britain's most senior Roman Catholic has resigned. He didn't do anything illegal and yet his case and the Jimmy Saville case have been linked. Is this easy and sleazy politics or a sign of a more conservative time? Plus is arming the Syrian rebels helping or hindering their...
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MUSLIMS IN AMERICA: MELTING POT OR TOSSED SALAD
Saeed Khan loves his Thanksgiving turkey with cranberry sauce and corn on the side. He is a member of America's oldest and largest Muslim community, but as a professor of the history and politics of the Muslim diaspora, at Wayne State University, Michigan, he's all too aware of the mixed blessing of the 'melting pot' ideal. Kahn likens today's society as more a 'tossed salad' model where difference is honoured but not considered a barrier to civility or even bonding at Thanksgiving and the...
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Borneo invaders still on the loose
An invasion and military standoff involving Filipino gunmen on the Malaysian island of Borneo continues.
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Religion and Ethics with Scott Stephens
Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world have started a week of closed-door meetings before choosing a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.
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Panting and Chanting
Margot Anand, the Sorbonne trained psychologist and Tantric teacher believes sacred sex is the foundation of a fulfilling spiritual life. Trained in Hindu and Buddhist Tantra, Anand has taught Tantric Sky Dancing for 25 years, to students as diverse as married couples and Jesuit priests. The aim is to experience the luminous state of orgasm, and learn to move that energy up the solar plexis into your heart and head. Deva Premal and Miten hold healing workshops of mantra chanting where...
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Pope Benedict retires: Cardinal George Pell
Thousands of pilgrims packed into Saint Peter's Square where Pope Benedict XVI delivered his final general audience ahead of his retirement tomorrow.
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Religion and Ethics with Scott Stephens
Just as the Catholic community were getting used to the idea of a new Pope, there's been another high profile resignation within the Catholic Church.
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Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigns from Catholic Church
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, is stepping down as leader of the Scottish Catholic Church after being accused of inappropriate behaviour towards fellow priests in the 1980s.
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AGNES OF GOD AND OTHER NUN STORIES
A true story of a novice who became pregnant and killed her child is the basis of a play that pitches a psychologist against a Mother Superior in the search for truth and the meaning of faith. Shona Benson, Director of Agnes of Godfor the Adelaide Fringe, discusses why she is personally drawn to the play, which raises current issues about the tension between scientific and spiritual realities. Richard Leonard SJ, Director of the Catholic Film Office, discusses the changing face of nuns in...
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Political ideology lost to so-called personality politics
Senior Labor MP Simon Crean has argued that a 'revolving door' approach to leadership is not a solution to his party's woes, but that has not stopped the murmurs of a leadership spill before the September election.
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Pope update: Part 2
Pope Benedict has asked the faithful to pray for him and for the next pope as he addressed a crowded St. Peter's Square.
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Pope update
Our resident religious affairs correspondent, Robert Mickens, joins RN Breakfast from Rome to discuss the latest on Pope Benedict XVI's resignation.
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Monastery of the Heart
America's most outspoken Catholic nun, Sr Joan Chittister, breaks down the high walls of the monastery in her extended poem, The Monastery of the Heart. She invites us to 'stop the noise within' and consider a relationship to God which opens to the self and is a bridge to the world. Based on the Rule of Benedict, Chittister's testament is full of wise counsel and spiritual direction that speaks to people of all traditions and none. Yet Sr Joan's role as a leading figure in the Roman Catholic...
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Woodford and the Quest for Meaning
Over its 27 year existence, the Woodford Folk Festival has established itself as the largest outdoor festival on the Australian cultural calendar. Martin Buzacott sets out to find just what people are searching for amidst the chaos and comedy of this unique, eccentric and Carnivalesque week of celebration.
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The legacy of Pope Benedict XVI
The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI sent shockwaves throughout the globe—he is the first pope to resign in 600 years.
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Festival chief resigns after deadly stampede in India
In India, the head of the Kumbh Mela festival, the world's biggest human gathering, has resigned after a deadly stampede.
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Pope Benedict announces retirement
Pope Benedict XVI has surprised the world by announcing he will stand down at the end of this month because he is too old and frail to cope with the demands of his ministry.
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Robert Mickens on The Pope's resignation: Part 2
Part two of Vatican reporter Robert Mickens' interview on Pope Benedict XVI's shock resignation.
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Pope resignation: Robert Mickens
The pontiff says his health now prevents him from performing his duties, and he has decided to resign.
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Pope resignation: Tim Fischer
Tim Fischer, Australia's first resident ambassador to the Holy See, joins RN to discuss Pope Benedict XVI's shock resignation.
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German reaction to Papal resignation
Former priest and friend of Pope Benedict XVI, Frank Ochmann, joins RN Breakfast to discuss the German reaction to the pope's resignation.
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Religion in China
Religion is growing rapidly in China, despite Communism's prohibition and persecution of its adherents. Yet the story is not straightforward, including Communism's enthusiasm for Qui Gong, and its sanctioning of some forms of Christianity and Buddhism. Fenggang Yang is the world's expert on contemporary religious change in China, and his recent book Religion in China has been hailed as a brilliant analysis of the past, present and future of belief and practice in the world's most powerful...
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The Borderlands of Belief
We celebrate Lunar New Year with music and prayer reflecting the ancient ritual basis to the occasion,from two related Asian cultures who share a common Buddhist heritage, China and Japan. In our main feature we explore the Japanese ritual of remembrance known as kuyo through the eyes of three young Japanese women and the haunting music of the Japanese zither, the koto. We also travel the silk road with a virtuoso of the 2000-year old Chinese lute or pipa, Wu Man, whose Borderlands project...
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Religion and Ethics with Scott Stephens
Eighty million Anglicans across the world have a new spiritual leader today.
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Ghoulable or Just Paranormal?
Most people have at least one paranormal experience, says psychologist Tony Jinks. The dream that proved predictive, the medium who knew all about your departed mother, the vision at the foot of the bed, the creepy sense that a house was haunted are all experiences that show people are open to non-rational phenomena. Psychologists usually explain them by reducing the experiences to an emotional trauma or dysfunction. But Jinks believes they may be a positive way of living a rich and...
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Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation is based on centuries of Buddhist meditative techniques. Dr Craig Hassed has co-written a book called Mindfulness for Life.
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What's halal for you is kosher with me
What's halal to you is kosher with me.
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Secular Fundamentalists and the Judeo-Christian Ethic
Secular fundamentalists are removing all traces of God and religion from the Public Square in America, says Dennis Prager, popular radio show host and author of Still the Best Hope (2012). Prager, who cites some alarming examples of 'religion cleansing' is also a Jewish defender of the Judeo-Christian ethic, which gave us the secular state but not secularism, a product of the Left. Debbie Weissman, the President of the International Council of Christians and Jews thinks the Judeo-Christian...
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Modern Dilemmas: My daughter and God
This modern dilemma comes from Amy and she writes: My daughter married a Christian fundamentalist and our previously intimate relationship has gone and I only see my daughter when she wants me to look after her 4 children. I am not stupid enough to engage in conversation re: the difference in our beliefs, but my son-in-law does not seem to like my daughter to be alone in my company. Their whole life is consumed by the church - bible study groups, youth groups, etc. My personal belief is that...
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Cheeky nun chants for children
A Buddhist nun who loves Bollywood movies, Ani Choying Drolma leads an unconventional life. Born in poverty and hardship in Nepal, a chance meeting with an American jazz guitarist who heard her chant put her on the road to worldwide fame. Ani's cheeky personality and sharp intellect together with her earnings as an international concert artist have enabled her to build a school for girls and also a medical clinic in her native Nepal. Ani's story of deprivation and family violence is...
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Stories from the Hajj
Millions of Muslims from across the world descend on Mecca every year for the Hajj.
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Religion and Ethics with Scott Stephens
Mr Abbott appeared on Channel Seven this morning, and while criticising the government's plans to cut the baby bonus, he made a comment that some have interpreted as a veiled dig at Julia Gillard's childlessness.
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Judge rules religion in schools not discriminatory
Religion in public schools has been a hot topic this year. A Victorian tribunal has ruled that children who choose not to receive religious education in state primary schools are not being discriminated against. Parents of children who opted out of these classes argued that the schools were in breach of the state's Equal Opportunity Act since the children were 'segregated' from classmates on the basis of religion.
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Law Report 23 Oct 2012
A Victorian tribunal rules that children who choose not to receive religious education in state primary schools aren't the victims of discrimination. Also, a look at transnational commercial surrogacy. Every day in India a child is born to Australian parents who live on the other side of the globe - and it's big business.
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Riddles and Revelations
Guessing riddles was a lethal game in the ancient world, but Jesus spoke in riddles and parables to challenge his listeners to think in a new way and shake them out of their complacency, says John Dominic Crossan, author of The Power of Parable. Receiving divine revelations was part of the early Christian experience, but only one Book of Revelation among many that were discovered was included in the New Testament. Why the others were excluded is explained by Elaine Pagels, author of...
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Syria considers ceasefire for religious holiday
In Syria there are fresh hopes today of a ceasefire.
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Service not Servitude: Women in the Church
Women's equality was widely accepted when the Anglican Church of Australia was still barring women from the priesthood. Twenty years later there are almost 500 Anglican women priests in Australia. Elaine Lindsay and Janet Scarfe, editors of Preachers, Prophets and Heretics: Anglican Women's Ministry (2012) give a ringside perspective on this unique struggle in Australian history. Mimi Haddad, President of Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE), argues that the early Evangelical Christians...
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Creation's Dawn: Rumi & Hafez
A recent survey of booksellers in Australia found that five of the top-ten poetry books sold were translations of the 13th century Sufi poet and mystic, Jallaludin Rumi. We’ll hear Rumi’s verses set to a reggae beat and a blues cry, alongside another Persian-language poet of great spiritual depth, the Sufi-leaning master of the ghazal, Hafez, with settings by Tehran’s Vahdat sisters and Brisbane-based Persian-music group Khezr.
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Religion and ethics Scott Stephens
In our weekly look at religion and ethics Scott Stephens ponders life after Rowan Williams who gave his final major address as Archbishop of Canterbury.
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Historic agreement may end Philippines separatist...
The Philippines government has reached an agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country's largest Muslim rebel group.
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The Life and Death of Democracy
If you were told that the Islamic world was the birthplace of the democratic system would you believe it? What about the claim that South Australia played a leading role in the development of democracy?
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Global Spirit Local Song
Bonnyrigg in Western Sydney is one of the most religiously diverse suburbs in Australia and yet while the community is a multi-cultural success story, the sacred sounds of its faith communities have been largely overlooked. We hear excerpts from a recent concert in Bonnyrigg, Global Spirit Local Song, part of the Sydney Sacred Music Festival, ranging from Lao Buddhist chant to a South-American flavoured Spanish-language choir, from the Islamic call to prayer to Italian Catholic worship songs.
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Religion and ethics: Secular grief
It was described as the silent mass demonstration -- an estimated 30,000 people gathered in Melbourne's Sydney Road on the weekend road to quietly honour Jill Meagher, the Irish ABC colleague who was raped and murdered last week.
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The Himalayas to the Darling Downs: Cities of Peace and...
Lumbini, Nepal, the Buddha's birthplace is a small poor hamlet that is set to be reborn as a model city of peace and harmony. Toowoomba, Queensland has a vision to become a leading example of a multi-faith community that lives in peace and harmony.
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Father Cares: the last of Jonestown
As part of RN's 'Perfect Worlds' special focus—a chilling and visceral portrait of utopian idealism’s dark counterpoint—dystopia.
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Back to the beginning, naturally
Described as a ‘mystical idiom’ said to be found universally in nature, the secret society of Rosicrucians elaborated an old idea of a primal language that was the language of nature itself, through which we could know the real world and our true selves.
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Religion and ethics with Scott Stephens
The ongoing debate over same-sex marriage reached a climax of sorts with last week's vote in the Federal Parliament.
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Anti-Islamic film still stirring angry protests
The wave of angry protests, sparked by a poorly-made US film denigrating the Prophet Muhammad, continued over the weekend, with fresh demonstrations in Pakistan, Nigeria, Greece and Turkey.
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Jewish philosophy: Martin Buber
Martin Buber was born in pre-Nazi Austria and emigrated to Israel in 1938 where he spent much of the rest of his life. He grappled with Zionism, Jewish thought, secular philosophy and politics and the result is a body of thought very much based on relationships.
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Jewish philosophy: Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn scandalised his more pious fellow 18th century Germans when he said: 'My religion recognises no obligation to resolve doubt other than through rational means; and it commands no mere faith in eternal truths.' This week we look at the life and ideas of one of the great proponents of Judaism as a rational religion.
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Jewish philosophy: Maimonides
Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides, became a hugely important figure in that great era of Moorish cultural flourishing, 12th century Spain (Cordoba). Maimonides adapted the ideas of Aristotle, was a significant influence on Thomas Aquinas, and became one of the leading Rabbinical scholars of his time, and perhaps of all time.
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Jewish philosophy: Overview part 2
In part two of our introduction we take up the story during the 17th century, with the great European thinker Baruch Spinoza. Tamar Rudavsky from Ohio State University is again our guide.
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Challenge to school chaplaincy program gearing up for...
In June, Ron Williams, a Queensland father, challenged the constitutional validity of the federal government's national school chaplaincy program. The High Court ruled that the chaplaincy program exceeded the Commonwealth executive's spending powers. Legislation was then rushed through parliament to quarantine grants and funding arrangements managed by the executive. Now, Ron Williams and his legal team are getting ready to challenge the federal government's hasty legislative response.
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Anime: the philosophy of Japanese animation
Japanese animation is not just for children. It can be dark, incredibly violent and sexually explicit. But does it represent a distinctly Japanese worldview? And is it philosophical? Yes and yes, according to Jane Goodall from the University of Western Sydney.
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Pure Gyuto - Tantric Chant
Grammy nominees in 2011, the Gyuto monks are regarded as masters of Tibetan Buddhist tantric ritual and are famous for their deep-voiced harmonic chant. We hear an exclusive recording of the Gyuto monks with commentary from Gyuto House Australia’s Maureen Fallon and Sonam Rigzin, and meet John Doggett-Williams, the director of a new documentary about the Gyuto Tantric University, Pure Sounds.
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From Athens to Baghdad: Greek meets Arabic philosophy
This week, we follow the journey of the classics as they spread from Greece to the Arab world and beyond. At a time when Europe still hadn't got its act together philosophically speaking, Arabs were busily translating and debating the ideas of Aristotle and others. We're joined by Professor Peter Adamson from King's College, London, co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy.
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How Crowds Behave
They say two’s company, three’s a crowd. How about three million? That’s the number of pilgrims who’ll converge on Mecca this year for the hajj. It’s one of world’s great crowd management challenges. So what’s it like to be in this enormous mass of bodies? And what are the latest theories and models that are being applied to this and other large-scale public events such as the London Olympic Games?
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Spirit of Health
What is the relationship between religious belief and bodily health? This week Encounter explores the religious and philosophical history of holistic medicine—and we meet a couple of Christian practitioners who see health as a function of faith.
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Should priests report crimes revealed in confessions?
Catholic priests could be ordered to report crimes revealed to them in confessions, under a proposal before a Victorian parliamentary inquiry. The inquiry is looking into how religious groups handle cases of child abuse and a guide, released by the inquiry, asks whether mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse should be extended to include priests hearing confessions. Victims groups have welcomed the suggestion, but not priests.
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Sunday Self-Improvement: Why don't Christians have to...
This week is the first of our new series, Sunday Self-Improvement, where an issue or a question is explained by an expert- think of it as a Mechanics Institute of the air.
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Religion and ethics with Scott Stephens
In the light of Tony Abbott's recent assertion that asylum seekers are un-Christian for entering Australia illegally, Scott Stephens discusses how religion intersects with this vexed issue of public policy.
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Are asylum seekers 'un-Christian'?
Tony Abbott continues to be dogged by questions about his promise to turn around asylum vessels if the Coalition wins next year's election
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FIFA overturns Hijab ban
FIFA, the international body governing soccer, has overturned its ban on the hijab, or headscarf, for female players.
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David Burchell and the same-sex marriage debate
The latest Census data tells us that religious practice -- including religious marriage -- is on the decline in Australia. So does this 'desacralising' of marriage drive a lot of the public debate about gay marriage? Is the argument, then, really about the rise of secularism and the decline of the sacred?
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Death
Since the earliest times of Ancient Greece and Rome death has been dominant theme in all cultures. Different societies address death and dying in culturally diverse ways and yet there are remarkable similarities. More recently, however, some changes are happening -- think rockets and diamonds and even apps!
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Aleph, bet, gimmel...
A pair of exhibitions currently showing at the Jewish Museum of Australia, called ‘Aleph Bet’, both focus on the Hebrew alphabet. One features a masterful investigation into the alphabet’s mystical connections with the kabbalah, by the French artist Marc Lopez Bernal; the other, playfully instructs children about the names and features of each of the 22 letters.
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Forced adoption class action case mooted
It's believed up to 150,000 babies across Australia were taken from single mothers from the 1950s through the 1970s, under the practice of forced adoptions.
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New church cover-up allegations: Wayne Chamley
Last night's Four Corners program brought new claims of a cover-up by the Catholic Church. The program alleged the church did not pass on admissions of sex crimes to police, and detailed several cases where priests were moved on rather than reported when the church was made aware of sexual abuse claims against them.
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Egypt: Strewn with obstacles
A momentous event took place on the weekend. Mohamed Morsi, was not only sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Egypt but became the first Islamist elected to lead an Arab state. We look at what will happen to democracy’s progress elsewhere in the Arab world if Egypt goes wrong?
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Drawing Room: John Safran and David Bird
Truth is always stranger than fiction, and a recent history of Australia's Nazi past is testament to that expression.
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My Spiritual Diary: Moira Rayner, From Osho to Iggy
Fighting for human rights and equal opportunity has put Melbourne barrister, Moira Rayner in the limelight, but her life-long spiritual quest has not taken a back seat in her highly demanding life. Even when the chips were down, and she was accused of corruption when she was an Acting Commissioner of the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia, she found solace and support in Christian Meditation. From a Presbyterian childhood, through to the innovative guru Bhagwan Shree...
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The Book of Ordinary Kindness
A story of the Old Testament and everyday life, unexpected acts of generosity and mothers-in-law.
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360documentaries 1 July 2012
Large and small acts of kindness are the theme for today's show. In The Book of Ordinary Kindness a Rupert Bunny painting of the biblical tale of Ruth and Naomi is the inspiration for Lea Redfern's essay about the relationship between mothers and daughters-in-law and the generosity shown to others when we take them into our homes and our communities. Tunnel of Shame walks us through the noisy Devonshire Street Tunnel in Sydney, past the myriad people begging, busking or trying to sell us...
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Religion and ethics with Scott Stephens
As a matter of general principle: when faced with the stranger at our door, what are our ethical obligations as human beings?
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360documentaries 24 June 2012
In My Fear of Poland Natalie Kestecher takes a very personal journey to a Jewish cultural festival in Warsaw and then visits the tiny village where her father's family lived. It was a trip that she'd been planning and postponing for years. As the daughter of Polish Jews who'd lost so many family members during the war she had mixed feelings about going there. It is a powerful program about fear, memory, hope and delight.
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Inside story of the Second Vatican Council: Yves...
Embargoed until 2000, Yves Congar's private journal of the day-to-day deliberations of the Council reveals his frustrations with the powerful personalities who impeded his efforts during the four-year process of Vatican II. Yves Congar was a prominent theologian of Christian unity (ecumenism) who suffered exile and censorship by Rome. Yet the eminent historian of Vatican II, Fr Joseph Komonchak, in Australia to launch the first English translation of Yves Congar: My Journal of the Council,...
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Outback padres flying for 50 years: Stephen Cavill
The Outback Aerial Mission is a lot like the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Both serve isolated outback communities that would otherwise be neglected. The only difference is the Outback Aerial Mission tends to the spiritual and emotional -- rather than medical -- needs of outback people. This year it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
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Jewish peace activists
Rejecting the values and outlook you’ve been raised with is inevitably accompanied by pain and risk. Jewish dissenters who oppose Israeli and Zionist belief systems are often rejected in return. The annual Limmud-Oz, a Jewish cultural festival, took place in Melbourne over the long weekend. A panel called ‘Beyond Tribal Loyalties’ had originally been invited, but was dropped. The panellists ran their own parallel session, in protest. Beyond Tribal Loyalties is a new book of essays by Jewish...
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In Burma, deadly violence between Buddhists and Muslims
Differences between Burma's Buddhist majority and Muslim Rohingya minority go back centuries, but clashes have been particularly violent over the weekend, with reports of at least seven people killed in riots and arson attacks.
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Religion for atheists: Alain de Botton
Alain de Botton says it's time for atheists and agnostics to start appropriating many of the elements of religion and religious life. He argues that the secular world can learn a variety of lessons from religion: its sense of community and continuity, its symbolism, and its inclusive spirit.
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Love in Lancashire
Jeanette Winterson's adopted mum loved God but found it hard to love her child. Jeanette would search for love and wrestle with it, while enduring a harsh faith and an exorcism. In this intimate conversation, Jeanette talks of her Christian upbringing, her love of reading the Bible and the tales of the Holy Grail, which gave her profound hope, grounded her spiritual life, and shaped her into one of England's most acclaimed writers, and, in her words, 'a missionary of a different kind'.
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Challenging the Church
What is at stake if the Roman Catholic Church does not move with the times? The recent U.S. Bishops' censure of Women Religious and the dismissal of several priests from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia on charges relating to child sexual abuse, provide the backdrop to a conversation with two highly accomplished Catholic thinkers and servants of the church, Brother Louis De Thomasis and Dr. Phyllis Zagano.
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Take Care of Your Belonging
A charming short story about whether you can buy beingness. If you purchase that statue of Buddha sitting on the road outside an antique shop will it bring you peace or Nirvana and can you claim it on tax?
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Faith, fashion, fusion: Muslim women's style in Australia
It’s not often that fashion and faith meet on the same page … but that’s exactly what’s happening in an exhibition currently running in Sydney.
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No Gaga show for Indonesia's 'Little Monsters'
There are a lot of disappointed Little Monsters in Indonesia today, because their 'Mother Monster' Lady Gaga has cancelled her sold-out show in Jakarta over security threats.
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ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE MEDIA
Jesus' family tomb is one of the more sensational 'discoveries' of recent years, but is it true? Media interest in ancient discoveries is forcing the slow and painstaking discipline of archaeology into a swift and swashbuckling sport according to Egyptologist, Dr. Karin Sowada. In contrast, twenty five years of digging and reconstructing a site at the Dead Sea in Jordan, under the direction of Konstantinos Politis, has yielded one of the most striking ancient churches, the Sanctuary of Lot's...
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MORMON YANKEES
They were basketball players and Mormon missionaries who brought the sport to Australia to spread the message of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the 50s. Historian and film maker Professor Fred Woods of Brigham Young University, Utah, tells the story of their remarkable success, leading up to the ’56 Olympics.
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Brisbane tent embassy forced to make way for Greek...
Today another tent embassy in Australia was the subject of conflict and a heavy police presence.
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Drawing Room: Monk for a month
The majority of Australians still identify as Christian but a growing number are exploring other religions in a quest for spiritual fulfilment.
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I carry a number 7
Janak Rogers’ mother is a tarot card reader but he’s never let her read his cards because he doesn’t believe in them.The spirituality his mother brought with her to Australia from India always seemed a bit suspect for a rationalist like Janak.
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360documentaries 20 May 2012
This week we have two stories about family. Kissing Cousins talks to people who fell in love with their first cousin about the taboo, the stigma and the genetic implications for them if they have children. I Carry A Number Seven is a story about identity and family. Janak Rogers meets various new-age healers and seers and the experience leads him to finally allow his Indian mother to read his tarot cards.
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My Spiritual Diary: Dr Howard Goldenberg
He's never kept a diary before, and found keeping a Spiritual Diary for The Spirit of Things embarrassing, pretentious, but also very valuable. Howard Goldenberg is a physician who is used to making a prognosis of his patients' health, but now he turns his attention to himself, and probes his conscience for the true meaning of his Jewish faith.
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Our Emotional Brain
Pioneering neuroscientist Richard Davidson deepens our understanding of the mind-body connection. He’s identified six unique emotional styles and explains the brain chemistry underlying them. He explains that there are simple strategies and interventions which we can use to change our emotional styles. He believes one effective example is through mindfulness meditation, after studying the brain scans of people who practice it.
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Religion and ethics with Scott Stephens
Time for our regular look at the world of religion and ethics with Scott Stephens, online editor of the ABC Religion and Ethics website.
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After the Arab Spring
The Arab Spring put the Arab world firmly on the path to democracy and a better future, didn't it? Well, maybe not. It was certainly led by liberals and they rallied the Arab masses but then they were drowned out by the slogans of the better organised and more popular radical Islamists.
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CARL JUNG - REGAINING RELIGION
Carl Jung's exploration of the psyche took him deep into the world of religion, myth and the occult. The founder of depth psychology, Jung said that his patients suffered from a lack of what religion used to give people, but lost, and that healing would come from a direct experience of the Divine... And The Art Gallery of NSW exhibition on Australian Symbolism, delves into the art of dreams.
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Sunday 29 April 2012
Radio Muezzin is the story of five men who make the call to prayer from mosques across Egypt. We hear of their lives in villages and in Cairo, their devotion to Islam, their teaching of the Koran and their attitudes to the current political situation in their country. Also their feelings about their impending job loss, they are to be replaced by a recorded voice.
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Radio Muezzin
In Radio Muezzin, four men of Islam, muezzin, who perform the call to prayer, the ‘azhan’, speak about their daily lives.
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Lead Us To a Place
This week we visit Katanning, a small town in rural Western Australia where the local people and churches have a long history of acceptance and welcome to new arrivals, their faiths and cultures.
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Theology and the Good Society
While Australia seems to have been immune to the worst of the global financial pandemic, it would seem that our relative prosperity has also inoculated us against some of the most radical social and political thinking taking place in the UK and Europe. But where is this new thinking coming from? For today's guests, it is the Christian social vision that represents a genuine 'third way' over against the bankrupt politics of the left and the right, beyond the welfare state and the supposedly...
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Victims of sex abuse and the courts
The announcement of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into sex abuses in the clergy and non government organisations has received mixed responses. Welcomed as the first in Australia to launch such a probe, it's also criticised as too broad and lacking teeth.
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Krishna Das: Ecstatic Chant
Krishna Das is one of yoga’s rock stars. For more than 40 years he’s been bringing his blend of ecstatic chant and rock music to audiences all around the world, taking the call-and-response of traditional kirtan out of yoga centres and into concert halls. One of the best-selling chant artists of all time, Krishna Das has attracted stars like Sting and Madonna, but his music remains at heart a spiritual practice; as he says, a path for reaching God. Currently in Australia for a national tour,...
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Victorian inquiry into Church sexual abuse
The Victorian government has become the first in Australia to launch a probe into sexual abuse in religious organisations. The announcement of a parliamentary inquiry comes after revelations that at least 40 alleged victims of abuse by Catholic priests had committed suicide. While victims of abuse have welcomed the inquiry, many have expressed disappointment that a Royal Commission has not been appointed.
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Religion and ethics with Scott Stephens
Time for our regular look at the world of religion and ethics with Scott Stephens, online editor of the ABC Religion and Ethics website.
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Sex abuse inquiry to focus on religious groups
The Victorian Government is opening a Parliamentary inquiry that will look into religious organisations' handling of sexual abuse allegations.
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Reason for Faith Festival: science and religion
Prominent atheists gathered in Melbourne over the weekend for the 2012 Global Atheist Convention under the headline 'A Celebration of Reason'. But this week, a group of scientists who believe that science and religious faith can comfortably co-exist are holding the Reason for Faith Festival, also in Melbourne. They hope to encourage public conversation on the questions raised by the Atheist Convention.
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Holocaust documents and memorabilia
Just a few thousand pieces of memorabilia remain from the atrocities of the Holocaust. The organisation responsible for managing those items, and the millions of meticulous records kept about Nazi concentration camps, is the International Tracing Service, where Dr Susanne Urban is Head of Historical Research. She will be speaking later today at the Sydney Jewish Museum, as well as handing over a number of wallets which belonged to concentration camp victims.
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A Secular Bible
THE SECULAR BIBLE: He bills himself as 'the maker' not the author of The Good Book, a Secular Bible, but philosopher AC Grayling is no shrinking violet when it comes to claiming that his magnum opus for atheists should take its place alongside the Bible, to read for generations to come. Still, he doesn't think it belongs in Alain de Botton's proposed Temple to Atheism
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The Good Book
Most people know that the Bible is a literary classic, whose influence on secular Western culture has been profound. But fewer and fewer people actually read it. Are we disconnecting from our biblical roots, and at what cost? And what are the tensions between reading the Bible as literature, and reading it as a sacred text?
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Suicides of church abuse victims
In Victoria, a series of confidential police reports have detailed the suicides of at least 40 people who'd been sexually abused by Catholic clergy. It also appears the Church had knowledge of the suicides but has chosen not to comment on them. There is now increasing pressure on the state government to begin a formal inquiry into sexual abuse by the clergy.
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Religion and ethics with Scott Stephens
Time now for our weekly look at the world of religion and ethics with Scott Stephens the online editor of the ABC Religion and Ethics website.
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'The Magic of Reality': Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins is an atheist, evolutionary biologist and author. He's in Australia to be a keynote speaker at the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, and was on ABC1's Q&A last night. His latest book has just been released and is aimed at children. It's called 'The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True.'
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New report on homophobia in Arabic-speaking communities
A report called 'We are family too' will be released today. It explores the effects of homophobia on gay people from Arabic-speaking communities in NSW. It found that gay people from Arabic backgrounds often experience homophobia in their own families in the form of verbal abuse or pressure to act straight.
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Temptations of the West
How to be modern in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Tibet, and beyond.
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Christian animal sacrifice in the Holy Land
Jill, Duchess of Hamilton was shocked when she discovered that the practice of ritualized animal sacrifice by Christians in the Holy Land still occurs.
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Kristina Keneally: religion in Australian politics
It's Easter Sunday and, for all its chocolatey secularism, this is of course a key day in the Christian year. The fact that a specifically Christian occasion can be co-opted as a multipurpose holiday says something rather interesting about how the secular and the religious coincide in Australia. That's nowhere more obvious than in public life. Belief is almost an awkward encumbrance in our political culture. Not so for all politicians, though. Kristina Keneally, former NSW premier, is a...
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Sunday 08 April 2012
It's Sunday Extra... Easter style! We're talking about the place of God in Australian politics and adding some artificial sweetener to the upcoming federal budget. And, of course, scattering all of your favourite tasty treats throughout the show. Mmmm... gluttonously yummy.
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The Blind Boys of Alabama
Formed in 1939 and still going strong, the Blind Boys of Alabama are now regarded as one of the greatest gospel groups of all time. A relative newcomer who joined in 1967, Bishop Billy Bowers explains why, despite many years touring the gospel highway, they still remain firmly committed to their Christian faith, and to the power of gospel music.
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Dutiful sons and daughters
The commandment "Honour thy father and thy mother" is fundamental to family values in the West. But our modern fetish for autonomy makes a practical ethics of caring for parents complicated. This week Encounter explores Christianity, Confucianism and the bonds of filial affection.
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Legalising drugs: Nicola Roxon
Today a group of eminent Australians called the Australia 21 group will call for an end to the prohibition of illicit drugs in Australia
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Forced marriages
Every year, ten million girls around the world marry before they are 18.
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In the land of 419s
419s are those scam emails sent by Nigerians that clog up inboxes all over the world and it's also the nickname given to any form of corruption in Nigeria. In this oil-rich country corruption is rife, causing a profound debauching of government, the people and the environment. In this Nigerian travel diary Susan Murphy meets people who carry on against the odds, with grace, fortitude and a sense of style. She also visits an extraordinary three-day Holy Ghost Revival meeting. They say in...
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Risk of terrorism in Indonesia
On Sunday, Indonesian anti-terrorism police shot dead five members of a suspected terrorist cell in Bali. Indonesian authorities say they believe the men were from an organisation called Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid and may have been planning an attack on a bar in the tourist area of Semanyak.
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Religion and Ethics with Scott Stephens
RN Drive's weekly look at the world of religion and ethics with Scott Stephens, editor of ABC Religion and Ethics website.
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Atheist Alom Shaha
Imagine you live in a strict Muslim community. You’re taught not to question your religion.But you don’t actually believe any of it. Your interest lies in the world of science, ideas, and books.This is the world of atheist Alom Shaha, a Bangladesh-born science writer, filmmaker and teacher who’s lived in London since he was young boy. He's in conversation with Paul Barclay.
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Dragons and unicorns
A couple of months ago Chinese communities around the world celebrated the Year of the Water Dragon with dragon dancing, dragon boat racing and noisy parades through city streets. These celebrations are culturally important and lots of fun, but does the centre of attention, the dragon, tell us anything about our spiritual lives today? Mythical creatures surround us. They appear in contemporary books, computer games and films. So this Encounter, produced by Kerry Stewart, goes to eastern and...
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Numinous Cosmos
What is a better tool for gaining knowledge and discovering truth – science or spirituality? Or are the scientific and spiritual approaches not so different after all? A physicist, a Buddhist monk and a biologist talk about the numinous cosmos and enlightenment.
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Ethics with Scott Stephens
RN Drive's weekly look at the world of religion and ethics with Scott Stephens, editor of ABC Religion and Ethics website.
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The lucid dreamers
When we sleep, is it possible to dream and think clearly at the same time? Lucid dreamers say yes. They have the ability to realise they’re dreaming, and to control the narrative of their dreams, and even the characters who populate them.
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Twenty years of female Anglican priests
It is 20 years, to the very day, since the first women were ordained priests in the Anglican Church of Australia.
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Sex and faith
In his new book ‘Leaving Alexandria: a memoir of faith and doubt’, Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, and now public intellectual and prolific author, candidly discusses the ways in which ‘the battle of the flesh’ has affected his life with the Church and outlook on the world.
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Can Atheists Learn From Religion?
What can religion offer to the non believer? Can it provide instruction on how to live a better life, be a better person, to help create communities, better appreciate art, be kinder, and get more out of travel? Alain de Botton thinks so and he talks about his new book Religion for Atheists.
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Religion and Ethics: Scott Stephens
In RN Drive's weekly look at religion and ethics, Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens discuss proposed reforms of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom.
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Victorian parents' case on school SRI
Three parents have commenced a legal action against the Victorian Department of Education. The trio are arguing that religion classes in state primary schools discriminate against their children, who have 'opted out' of these half-hour weekly classes.
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My Spiritual Diary, Jane Rutter
Emotional honesty and living according to a golden rule of following her inspiration is what drives Jane Rutter, one of Australia's premier flautists. Nature, Sufism, and a profound belief in music as the language of 'Divine Communion,' Jane is frank, forceful and funny about the spiritual values that infuse her life.
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Hijab on the soccer field
Soccer's law-making body, the Intentional Football Association Board, will consider reversing its ban on female players wearing the hijab. The ban was introduced in 2007 in light of safety concerns. It caused the Iranian football team to drop out of the West Asia Olympic qualifiers last year, as did three members of the Jordanian team. But the Asian Football Confederation, the UN and other Asian sporting bodies have called for the rules to be reviewed, to give players the option of wearing...
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Drawing Room: Alom Shaha and Scott Stephens
Atheism is having its moment; Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchens and Alain De Botton are all big names with a lot of followers.
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Hare Krishna and Yoga
Hare Krishna and Yoga: India exported Hare Krishna and Yoga to the West in the 1960s. While Hare Krishna remained a small but loyal movement of shaven headed followers, Yoga has become popular in the West by feminising its practice.
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360documentaries 26 February 2012
Heartbreak is a 4,000 year old story - so why do couples who've separated always feel so unique in their agony? In the Ariadne project we examine the anatomy of love and loss, with moving and insightful stories from you, our listeners, as contributed to ABC Pool, last year. But it's not all darkness and tragedy, at the end of the ancient Greek myth, beautiful Ariadne, abandoned by heroic Theseus on a beach, winds up with Dionysus, the God of wine and desire.
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Voodoo
The voodoo you do possesses us all. Moses Iten digs deep into Vodou music and pulls audio fetishes from dark hiding places to conjure up tales of Zombie Makeup and the pin-pricked ragdoll of Voodoo Economics
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360documentaries 19 February 2012
An unusual childhood spent at a boarding school in the remote Himalayas is remembered by a group of Australian twenty-somethings. Dodging bears in the forest, daily meditation and a patchy but disciplined curriculum were all part of this life-changing experience.
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Mary MacKillop artefacts
A team of archaeologists has arrived in Penola in south-eastern South Australia, in search of artefacts from a school run by Australia's first Catholic saint, Mother Mary MacKillop.
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Religion and ethics
RN Drive's weekly look at the world of religion and ethics with Scott Stephens, editor of ABC Religion and Ethics website.
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Calls from Aceh to stop Valentine's Day
If you think you're anti-Valentine's Day, what about this? In the Indonesian province of Aceh, a leader of the local branch of one of the world's largest Muslim groups, Nahdatul Ulama, is trying to prevent people from celebrating Valentine's Day altogether. He says it goes against Islamic teachings and violates Shariah law.
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Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was not a 'religious writer' but his novels expressed his Christian beliefs, which he hoped would result in the upliftment of society. The theological debates of 19th Century England were not as important to Dickens as the example of Christ in the New Testament, which informed his writing. Grace Moore, a specialist in Dickens and the Victorian Era, reveals the complexity of Dickens' religion as portrayed in his characters and novels, from Pickwick Papers to The Tale of Two...
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The Rock Stars of Sacred Chant
Deva Premal and Miten are the rock stars of sacred chant, travelling the world with their blend of song, mantra and meditations based on Hindu, Sikh and Tibetan Buddhist traditions.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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Honour killings
The 'Honour Killing' murder trial that transfixed Canada. Last week a jury found a father, a mother and their son guilty of four murders. Three of the victims were their teenage daughters killed because they brought shame to their family. The Law Report looks at so-called honour killings and efforts to stop them in the UK, Iraqi Kurdistan and in Pakistan.
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MY SPIRITUAL DIARY - ROSS FITZGERALD
Do you have spiritual thoughts? Or do they drift away in a fog while you're busy doing something else? MY SPIRITUAL DIARY is a monthly series on The Spirit of Things where people in all walks of life keep a record of their spiritual thoughts and practice. Sharing their feelings and observations, they focus on the things that give meaning to their lives, in the day to day.
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Bridging Codes
Greater Western Sydney has never embraced Aussie Rules. Will the AFL Giants' explicit efforts to reach out to the NRL-mad Muslim community of western Sydney work?
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Kevin Hart
Many of us don’t really understand ‘forgiveness’—that’s the assessment of Australian poet and philosopher Kevin Hart delivering the Simone Weil Annual Lecture at the Australian Catholic University last year. He takes on some conventional ideas about forgiveness and picks up both on some prevalent versions of Christian forgiveness and on some contemporary philosophical ideas, including those of philosopher Jacques Derrida with the intention to put forgiveness in its place—along with justice....
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Rebuilding America's most religious city after natural...
In August 2005, winds gusting at more than 200 km an hour hit the coast of Louisiana in the southern United States. At the same time, 53 levees protecting the historic city of New Orleans broke and flooded up to 80 per cent of the city.
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Life for Christians in Syria
Many Christian leaders have supported the Assad government because they believe it offers their roughly 2 million followers protection.
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Religious diversity in strife-torn Syria
The fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad now looks increasingly likely. The United Nations Security Council has been debating a resolution from the Arab League calling on President Assad to surrender power.
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EMOTIONS AND BELIEFS
Atheists and Believers have different abilities to feel and express their emotions according to a new Canadian study by Psychologists Raluca Petrican of Rotman Research Institute, Toronto and Chris Burris of St. Jerome's University, Waterloo, Ontario. Atheists are more left-brained while Believers are more right-brained, and the latter exhibit alexi-thymia more than the former. Award winning poet and former psychiatric nurse, Sally Read, found it hard to put her conversion experience into...
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Burma on the brink
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Food on Friday - Religions promoting occasional...
Many mainstream religions have long traditions focusing on human restraint, fasting, or abstinence so a new campaign in Australia by a multi faith religious organisation to encourage less consumption of meat shouldn't come as a surprise.
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The Rocks and the Riot
How does a poet pick his themes? And how does he marry tradition with novelty and creativity?
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A year since the Egypt protests began
Protesters have returned to Tahrir Square in Egypt to mark the first anniversary of the revolt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
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