Past Programs
Judaism - 2008
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Critical Terrorism Studies; first Australian gay Jewish commitment; Coptic New year
17/09/2008
Dr Mervyn Bendle of James Cook University in Townsville was one of the first people to warn of the dangers associated with Saudi Arabian funding coming into Australian universities. Last week he was the guest speaker at the annual Quadrant magazine dinner, and he focussed on the rise of a new academic field - Critical Terrorism Studies - which treats terrorism as a construcrt of the Western imagination, or else as a rational and justifiable response to Western evil.
Elite Fundamentism - The Fellowship's gospel of Capitalist Power
03/09/2008
The Family (or the Fellowship as it is also known), is a shadowy organisation founded in the United States in the 1930s to promote a gospel of theocratic capitalist power and American empire. Like a Protestant version of Opus Dei, the Family is best known for founding the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC in the 1950s, and its invisible network has not only penetrated the highest levels of political power in the United States but wherever in the world America has political or economic interests.
Elite Fundamentism - The Fellowship's gospel of Capitalist Power
03/09/2008
The Family (or the Fellowship as it is also known), is a shadowy organisation founded in the United States in the 1930s to promote a gospel of theocratic capitalist power and American empire. Like a Protestant version of Opus Dei, the Family is best known for founding the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC in the 1950s, and its invisible network has not only penetrated the highest levels of political power in the United States but wherever in the world America has political or economic interests.
St Mary's parish, South Brisbane "out of communion"?
27/08/2008
The Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, John Battersby, under pressure from the Vatican, has threatened to close down the free-wheeling parish of St Mary's, South Brisbane. There have been complaints for years about liturgical irregularities at St Mary's, and even a complaint about a Buddhist statue set up inside the church, but Archbishop Battersby says a letter he wrote four years ago was ignored and that the parish doesn't seem to accept his authority. Is it too late for the parishioners of St Mary's to prevent the axe falling?
St Mary's parish, South Brisbane "out of communion"? Also: Jewish medical ethics (part 2)
27/08/2008
The Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, John Battersby, under pressure from the Vatican, has threatened to close down the free-wheeling parish of St Mary's, South Brisbane. There have been complaints for years about liturgical irregularities at St Mary's, and even a complaint about a Buddhist statue set up inside the church, but Archbishop Battersby says a letter he wrote four years ago was ignored and that the parish doesn't seem to accept his authority. Is it too late for the parishioners of St Mary's to prevent the axe falling? Also part 2 of a coversation with Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, distinguished medical ethicist and and paediatric neurologist at Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Centre.
Jewish medical ethics (part 2)
27/08/2008
Part 2 of a coversation with Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, distinguished medical ethicist and and paediatric neurologist at Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Centre.
Aboriginal traditional life and kinship; St Mary's, South Brisbane "out of communion" ?
20/08/2008
Remote indigenous communities in the Top End are often seen as hopeless and dysfunctional places where any sense of community has been destroyed by violence and substance abuse. But what impact is Federal government policy having on communities traditional life and kinship structures remain largely intact?
We speak to three leading anthropologists who have lived and worked for years in remote communities. Frances Morphy from the ANU, and John Bradley and Gwenda Baker from Monash University, say Canberra persistently fails to engage with the sacred in these communities, and that its 'secularist' intervention policies are having a detrimental effect.
Lambeth Post-Mortem
13/08/2008
Former General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Australia Dr Bruce Kaye is writing a book about GAFCON, the Lambeth Conference and the crisis in world Anglicanism. We seek his views on where the Anglican communion stands after Lambeth.
Jewish medical ethics (part 1)
13/08/2008
A conversation with Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, distinguished medical ethicist and and paediatric neurologist at Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Centre. An ordained Orthodox rabbi and a recipient of Israel's highest civil award, the Israel Prize, he is an advisor to Israel's Rabbinic Council, chaired the government inquiry into Israel's Dying Patient Law, and wrote the 7-volume Encyclopaedia of Jewish Medical Ethics.
Lambeth Post-Mortem; Jewish medical ethics
13/08/2008
This week a conversation with Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, distinguished medical ethicist and and paediatric neurologist at Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Centre. An ordained Orthodox rabbi and a recipient of Israel's highest civil award, the Israel Prize, he is an advisor to Israel's Rabbinic Council, chaired the government inquiry into Israel's Dying Patient Law, and wrote the 7-volume Encyclopaedia of Jewish Medical Ethics. Also, the former General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Australia Dr Bruce Kaye is writing a book about GAFCON, the Lambeth Conference and the crisis in world Anglicanism. We seek his views on where the Anglican communion stands after Lambeth.
Mark A Siegel on Islam, Democracy and the West; Rabbi David Rosen on the Catholic church and the Jews
27/02/2008
On the morning of December 27, 2007 -- the day she was assassinated -- Benazir Bhutto completed her final edits for a new book -- Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West -- and emailed the manuscript to her collaborator, spokesman and friend in the United States, Mark A Siegel. Part memoir, part manifesto, the book argues that Islam is compatible with democracy, but also that Islamic extremism thrives under a dictatorship. Mark Siegel gives his first Australian interview since the book's publication. Also, Rabbi David Rosen on the controversy about the new Good Friday prayer for the Jews which the Pope has written for the revived 1962 Latin Missal.
The Catholic Church and the Jews
20/02/2008
Pope Benedict re-introduced the old Latin Missal - complete with the Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews that was bound to cause offence. Now the prayer has been re-written; but so - it seems - has the Catholic Church's theology on the Jews.
The Bishop of Jerusalem speaks; Catholic Church and the Jews; 100 Reverends apologise to gays and lesbians for the church's lack of welcome
20/02/2008
Baptist pastor Mike Hercock is married with a wife and two kids. His church is a wine-bar in inner-Sydney Surry Hills. And he's marching in this year's gay and lesbian Mardi-Gras Parade- one of 40 Christian ministers apologising for the church's past and present treatment of gay people, and running a real risk of retaliation for doing so. Also, Pope Benedict re-introduced the old Latin Missal - complete with the Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews that was bound to cause offence. Now the prayer has been re-written; but so - it seems - has the Catholic Church's theology on the Jews.
