A teenage peasant who claimed to hear the voice of God — and changed the course of European history.  At just seventeen, Joan of Arc convinced the French prince to let her lead an army against the English, turning the tide of the Hundred Years’ War. But her victories came at a price: captured, accused of heresy, and burned alive at nineteen. Was she a divinely inspired saviour or a dangerous fanatic?  Centuries later, her story still provokes questions about faith, gender, and power — and how belief can turn an ordinary girl into a national saint. GUESTS: Dr Charlotte Millar — Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Melbourne.    Author Witchcraft, the Devil & Emotions in Early Modern England Dr Stephanie Downes — Lecturer at La Trobe University, an expert on the history of English and French, and of books and writing of the period Dr Shaun Blanchard — Lecturer in Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia. His anticipated fifth book – Catholicism and Enlightenment. This is the first episode of God Forbid's Religious Rebels. A six-part special series exploring the lives of spiritual revolutionaries who defied empires, reshaped traditions — and sometimes paid with their lives.

What’s on the other side of the near-death experience?

Only half of all Australians understand Jesus to be a real person who lived at a time and place in history, according to the latest Australian Community Survey. Two in 10 Australians said Jesus was a mythical or fictional character while three out of 10 didn’t know. Their doubts stand in contrast to those of ancient historians, classicists and New Testament scholars, who universally accept that Jesus was a real person in time and place in history. The question here is ontological: what makes “Jesus” Jesus?  Is it enough that a man called Jesus (or Joshua or Yeshua), who became a charismatic teacher, was born around the turn of the millennium in Palestine?  GUESTS: Dr John Dickson, Anglican cleric, historian and author of Is Jesus History? Professor Vrasidis Karalis, Professor of Greek at the University of Sydney Rev Dr Karen Pack, lecturer in history at Notre Dame Australia  This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People

What separates humans from other animals? It’s not our brain hardware.  It’s our always changing brain software. For so long, humans believed our brain power separates us from animals: since the earliest human species, our brain size has tripled. But our brains haven’t grown for 30,000 - probably 300,000 years. So, why are we the ones who build cities and fly to space?   Michael Muthukrishna calls it our collective culture. As every generation passes our operating system gets a free upgrade, and we build on the knowledge of the generation before. GUEST: Professor Michael Muthukrishna is at the London School of Economics and, in January 2026, will take up a professorship at New York University    This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation

In the Pacific Ocean right now grey, humpback and southern right whale populations are increasing. This is important for us all ecologically. But for some of us, even more is at stake. Because around the world, from the equator to the Arctic, from Russia to New Zealand, throughout history and today, humans revere whales, as spiritual ancestors and as harbingers of fortune and protection. And as we’ll learn, some communities and traditions even worship whales as gods.  Which makes their near extinction in the 20th century nothing less than deicide. GUESTS: Aike Peter Rots is principal investigator of the Whales of Power project at the University of Oslo. Mere Takoko is a leading Maori whale conservationist and founder and CEO of the Pacific Whale Fund.

Two days prior to the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, a group of writers at US-based feminist magazine, Jezebel, published an article stating that they 'Paid Some Etsy Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk’. The magazine has since pulled the article, on the advice of their lawyers, so as not to cause any confusion about their stance on political violence of any kind.   Is it ever ethical to wish harm on someone, even if that harm is theoretical or supernatural? What code of ethics are witches bound to? And why do witches have such a complex relationship with right-wing politics?  GUESTS  Dr Caroline Tully – witchcraft maven, archaeologist, writer, tarot reader, and scholar of modern Pagan religions  Dr Kenneth Freeman – Adjunct Professor of social work at North Carolina Central University  Dr Megan Goodwin – scholar of politics, and American religions, senior editor of Religion Dispatches 

The art of marking the body – by piercing the flesh and pushing ink into the wound – the tattoo has an uneasy relationship with religion. It's sometimes seen as a desecration of the body, but equally, the tattoo is venerated as a rite of passage as a form of worship. Then there are tattoos in the secular context. They so common in Australia now,  it’s actually hard to find a body under the age of 40 without NOT permanently marked by ink.   It’s a fascinating form of human expression, both in existence for millennia, and changing before our eyes. GUESTS: LARS KRUTAK is an anthropologist and documentary maker who specialises in tattoos and their cultural significance. JULIA MAGEAU GRAY is a researcher, documentary maker, and tattoo artist. Julia is credited with revitalising women's tattoo traditions across Melanesia

Two thousand years ago, Christianity was an obscure movement with no wealth, power, or friends in high places. Yet within a few centuries, its radical commitment to human dignity, charity and non-violence transformed the Roman world and helped shape the civilisation we live in today. How did a powerless sect became the most influential religion on Earth? From ancient plagues and persecution to today’s debates about faith and society: can Christianity still turn the world upside down? GUESTS: Greg Sheridan – Foreign editor of The Australian and author of several books on Christianity’s modern relevance, including  How Christians can succeed today – reclaiming the genius of the early church. Dr Karen Pack – Historian at the University of Notre Dame, ordained minister specialising in the early church and author of Queer Omissions: Unmarried Women and Social Justice Activism in the Church This episode of God Forbid was made on Gadigal land and in Naarm.

It’s hard to believe that one in three young Australian adults go regularly to worship services – more than any other age group. But it’s true and men are leading the charge. It’s a puzzle, because it breaks two longstanding rules of religion: believers are typically female and old. Remember back in 2000. Even the most optimistic priest wouldn’t have predicted that would change.  The Cold War was over, religion was set to fade way – replaced globally with rationalism, liberalism and democracy.  Generation Xers were finishing the work of their baby boomer parents - rejecting once and for all church moralising, hypocrisy, and dogma. But the children of Generation X are now young adults themselves. And just as the hippie boomers rebelled, Gen Y and especially Gen Z are rebelling against their atheist parents by turning to God. Remembering too, what the so-called rationalist generation bequeathed today’s young adults – a world of debt, insecurity, and climate chaos. Why not look elsewhere for meaning and purpose? GUESTS: Dr Intifar Chowdhury Lecturer in Government at Flinders University, where she studies the political attitudes of young Australians. Dr Anna Halafoff  Associate Professor of Sociology at Deakin University, coordinator of their Spirituality and Wellbeing Research Network. Emelia Haskey Undergraduate at the University of Divinity Adelaide where she’s in training to become a minister of the Uniting Church.

We live in a universe that sustains life – but what are the chances of that?  And scientists now believe that if the laws of physics were different by just a fraction – our universe would be either empty, simple, or long ago extinct. If the strength of gravity or the mass of an electron was different by even the tiniest amount, the universe as we know it would not exist. So tiny even that the difference itself is almost beyond comprehension. Why has this cosmic fine tuning come about? The philosophical and even religious implications are so profound, that this is one of the most exciting questions in astrophysics. Which is why it’s so exciting that this week on the God Forbid panel, we have two internationally acclaimed astrophysicists.  GUESTS: Luke Barnes - Senior Lecturer and astrophysicist at Western Sydney University Geraint Lewis - Professor of astrophysics at The University of Sydney This program was made on the land of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation

Truth used to be something we argued about.  Now we can’t even agree on what it is.  In a world of fake news and alternate facts, we each claim our personal truth, our own competing version of reality. So, how does science, religion, and philosophy help us navigate truth when certainty is elusive? What does it mean to live in a time when truth itself feels fractured? When the world is so complex – that we yearn for trust as much as truth?   And how do we navigate moral or epistemic disagreement without falling into hostility or relativism? GUESTS: DR CAROLYN FOSTER is an astro-physicist at the University of NSW. Prof ALAN DUFFY from Swinburne university of Technology in Melbourne, where he’s pro-vice chancellor too. DR VICTORIA LORRIMAR is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame. This program was made on Warrang, Naarm, and Walyalup

Can celibacy actually make us purer and closer to God?   What is it about sex that gets in the way of our divinity? What do some of the world’s major religions say about celibacy or even require of it’s devotees? And, with the very noticeable global decline in the birth rate, are we already seeing a trend towards a more chaste life?  If so, can abstinence draw us closer to our spiritual selves? GUESTS: Dawn Eden Goldstein is a theologian, canon lawyer and author of TheThrill of The Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On Dr Maeve Heaney is also a theologian, author, musician and composer and has written on the subject of celibacy and the Catholic Church and author of Suspended God: Music and a theology of doubt Dr Samishka Goyal is a philosopher and teacher at Monash University and has written extensively about Hinduism and Jainism This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, and Naarm

Can we know God through machines?  Can machines know God?  And could machines, one day, become godlike themselves?  While AI is still in its infancy, it is evolving at lightning speed, and ingraining itself in our lives. From writing our emails, creating our budgets and  even serving as our therapists, society is embracing AI as part of our everyday lives.  But what about faith? Our spirituality, our souls, our connection to God - these are elements of the human experience that can’t be quantified by science, and reproduced in machines. Or can they?    GUESTS: Dr. Declan Humphreys is a lecturer in Cyber Security and Ethics at the School of Science, Technology and Engineering at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is also one of the winners of the ABC Top 5 Humanity residency programme for 2025. Dr. Jane Compson, Associate Professor of Comparative Religion and Ethics at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Jane is a practicing Buddhist and a trained chaplain. She is also a member of the research team at AI and Faith. Carl Youngblood, is the co-founder and current president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association, and has more than 20 years experience in software engineering and technology development.    This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, and the lands of The Turrbal and Yuggera People.     

With the Coldplay "kiss cam" fiasco and two corporate careers in tatters we ask the question: Should leaders be held to a higher personal standard than the rest of society?  Beyond the memes and outrage, what does this moment reveal about how we expect leaders to behave — not just at work, but in public and online? And what does ethical leadership look like in an era where CEO pay is high, but trust is low?   Guests:  Dr Tim Dean, philosopher and ethicist from the Ethics Centre Dr Nelly Liyanagamage, PhD in Leadership and Lecturer, University of Wollongong, and author of How to Deal with a Machiavellian Boss Tim Duggan, Journalist and author of best-selling books including Cult Status, Killer Thinking and Work Backwards 

Is God multilingual? Does the divine speak Hebrew? Arabic? Latin? Or is it something more mysterious? This week on God Forbid, we’re asking: who gets to speak the language of God? And what happens when only a select few can read the sacred texts?  From ancient scrolls to colonial classrooms, religion has often been shaped — and controlled — by language and literacy. Guests: Prof Halim Rane, a scholar of Islamic theology and the sociology of religion from Griffith University, his latest book: Covenants with Allah: Keystone of Islam Dr Simon Holloway, a sessional lecturer at Melbourne University, his PhD in classical Hebrew and Biblical studies. Simon is the manager of Community and Corporate Programs at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum. Dr Laura Rademaker, ARC DECRA Fellow at ANU and historian of Indigenous Australia and Christian missions. Author of Lost in Translations: Many Meanings on a North Australian Mission This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, and in Naarm.

What do dancing Mormons, blind dates, and superyachts have in common? They've all featured on so-called ‘reality TV’ shows. But just how ‘real’ are they?  Some argue reality tv is anti-feminist – yet the genre is consistently popular with young women, and a new reality TV show is breaking records with religious women at the centre of it – The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. It's not the first time The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints has been featured on reality TV, and it certainly won't be the last. So why the interest in the 'real' lives of religious people? And can 'trash' tv teach us complex lessons about gender, shame, and religion? Guests: Siobhan Marin, writer and producer with ABC Radio National, and digital lead for ABC's Religion and Ethics unit Dr Elisha McIntyre, researcher on the intersection between pop culture, comedy, and The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints Hannah Ferrier, reality TV star made famous by Bravo TV's Below Deck, and host of the reality TV podcast Dear Reality, You're Effed! First broadcast 19 October 2024

55 horror movies came out last year -  more than one a week - the most of any year this century. But why would make-believe horror double its box office share in a decade which has seen real existential fear: wars, pandemics, and natural disasters. And what do movies that scare us have to do with religions that comfort us? Well, they’re both interested in what you believe, ask questions about evil, and want your attendance on a Sunday morning. GUESTS: BARBARA CREED Professor of Screen Studies at the University of Melbourne. Author of Phallic Panic: Film, Horror & the Primal Uncanny and The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis Fr RICHARD LEONARD a parish priest and film scholar. Author of The Mystical Gaze of the Cinema: The Films of Peter Weir and Movies That Matter: Reading Film through the Lens of Faith  COLTAN SCRIVNER, research fellow at the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University and psychologist at Arizona State University and author of Morbidly Curious: A scientist explains why we can’t look away. This program is made on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and in Naarm

The Prime Minister says our cultural diversity is a strength and calls for "progressive patriotism". But global turmoil is making it's way to our shores in the form of demonstrations and violence on our streets.  What does the future hold for the ties that bind us together? And what IS progressive patriotism anyway? GUESTS: Prof, the Rev Peter Kurti, Director, Culture, Prosperity & Civil Society program, Centre for Independent Studies. His recent paper is The Ties That Bind: Reconciling value pluralism and national identity   Dr Yassir Morsi, Lecturer, Aboriginal Studies, La Trobe University, Author: Radical Skin, Moderate Masks: De-radicalising the Muslim and Racism in Post-racial Societies Dr Chloe Patton, Lecturer, RMIT. Research spans sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, and intersections of gender, race, identity and representation. Author: Visualising Young Muslims in the West   This program is recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and Naarm

With His Holiness the Dalai Lama turning 90 this month, every day that passes brings his succession closer. When he dies, the religious power struggle over his replacement will certainly be at the top of the Communist Party’s agenda. So what might lie in the future for Tibet in it's ongoing struggle for autonomy from Chinese rule? Is there a middle way that could be acceptable to both sides in the dispute? GUESTS: Dr Lobsang Sangay was the leader of the Central Tibetan Administration in India for ten years. He grew up in a refugee camp in India and has gone on to have a prestigious academic career. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. Professor Baogang He is the distinguished Chair in International Relations at Deakin University, and recognised internationally for his expertise on both the Tibet & Taiwan disputes. This episode of God Forbid was made on Gadigal land of the Eora Nation.

On God Forbid we’re talking about the sacred strands that sprout from our skulls.  Whether it’s being grown long, shaved off, or covered up... hair has long been a point of contention for faith communities.   Claims of both modesty AND freedom come up when we discuss hair coverings... and often a similar piece of fabric will elicit very different responses depending on the religion of the person wearing it.   From turbans to tonsures, hijabs to high-top fades... hair is more than style, it’s spiritual.  GUESTS: Michael D. (David) Barbezat - a historian of medieval European religious history. His first book, Burning Bodies: Communities, Eschatology, and the Punishment of Heresy in the Middle Ages.  Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa - Director of The Blue Room Theatre in Perth. She’s a writer, performer, theatre and filmmaker. Since her sell-out theatre work Fully Sikh she’s currently producing A Hairy Tale, a documentary exploring female body hair.  Aseel Tayah - Palestinian-Australian artist, CEO of community art project Bukjeh in Melbourne, and hijabi Muslim. This episode of God Forbid was made on Gadigal land, the land of the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and in Naarm.