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Articles by Simon Branthwaite
Program: Young earth creationism: why some Christians contest evolution
Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution nearly 170 years ago. So why are there still creationists? While mainstream Christianity holds that evolution and faith are compatible, a minority of Christians believe they are not. Last week on God Forbid we looked at the entangled relationship between science and religion, and how, when the scientific revolution began, the two not always but often worked in harmony. Priests were sometimes themselves scientists.
Program: The ethics of transhumanism
Every day, science and technology are being used to enhance the abilities of human beings — helping people hear, walk, see, think and more. But at the extreme end, transhumanism has become an obsession of the rich and powerful: Vladmir Putin wants to live forever, Elon Musk wants to merge your brain with AI, while eugenics has also become popular again. So what are the ethics of transhumanism? Where do we draw the line?
Program: Is secular France having a Catholic moment?
France is a country that, since the early 20th century, has built its politics and civil life around a strict practice of secularism. The law even bans the wearing of crosses and other religious symbols in some public institutions. So how much of a shock has it been to see Pope Leo draw massive crowds during his brief visit to France? An estimated 800,000 people turned out to see him in Paris. And does it suggest a religious revival in a country where only about 5% of people attend church each week?
Program: Historic parade disrupts peace in Northern Ireland
The plan was that, at 8am on Sunday, 35 men dressed in orange sashes and black bowler hats would march up a street in Portadown, in Northern Ireland. By 8.30, it was supposed to be over. Now, the planned march, which never took place, has become a stand-off that threatens to bring down Norther Ireland’s provincial government. The controversy has also reopened a tension between the town’s Catholic nationalists and Protestant loyalists that’s been contained for almost three decades.
Program: Should you trust your pharmacist?
The rules around the sale of pills and potions that promise energised blood and cleaner livers are fast and loose. No proof of actual health benefit is necessary as long as manufacturers keep the promises vague. So why are trusted health professionals giving credibility to these supplements with little or no proven health benefit? Ann Arnold asks can you still trust your pharmacist? Health, Diet and Nutrition, Pharmaceuticals, Pseudoscience, Vitamins : Looking to lose weight this year?
Program: Islamic State: the social media war
As governments step up efforts to counter IS propaganda, Dominic Casciani travels to Canada and Jordan to find out how the online threat is being met there. He speaks to a mother whose son was recruited in Canada and killed in Syria, and to an e-mufti in Jordan who’s trying to challenge IS online. This article represents part of a larger Background Briefing program. Listen to the full report on Sunday at 8.05 am, repeated on Tuesday at 9.05pm.
Program: "Here I am, here we are" Jewish Australian women reflect on the rupture of October 7 2023
October 7 has become synonymous with the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, in which more than 1200 Jewish people were murdered. What has followed — the hostage crisis, the war in Gaza, and the global response — has reverberated in communities far beyond the Middle East, including here in Australia. For Jewish Australians, it has turned their lives, their careers, their relationships and their identities upside-down.
The ancients on life, death and the cosmos, with John Behr
What does it mean to live a good life? According to some of the earliest Christians, the answer has a lot to do with... death! Orthodox scholar John Behr tells the stories of some of these saints and martyrs, and unpacks what they are telling us today. Guest The Reverend Professor John Behr is Regius Chair in Humanity at the University of Aberdeen.
Do you know the size of your material footprint? - ABC listen
In your daily life you use more material than you think: metals, stones, wood, ceramics – the list goes on. We have sufficient resources to support growth, but not enough to support greed. A circular economy could support a more sustainable resource management.
From Con the Fruiterer to East West 101 — the changing face of Australian TV - ABC listen
Australia is a multicultural country, but up until recently, when you turned on the telly, you wouldn't know it. So what role has TV played in Australia's diverse communities, on screen, behind the scenes and in the living rooms across this country, over the past 70 years? This event was recorded at Sydney's Gleebooks on Friday 11 July 2025.
The unbearable intimacy of voicing someone’s words — with Forced Entertainment - ABC listen
Words can mean everything, or nothing at all: it all depends on how they're delivered. This relationship between writer, script, actor and audience creates a particular tension that lies at the heart of performance. Who gives meaning to the words, interprets the creative material, who holds the power? This is a lecture, but not as you know it, by members of the multi award-winning British theatre company Forced Entertainment.
Rome: A pope's funeral rite or a geo-political event?
Claire Giangrave from the Religion News Service is in Rome where the city is preparing for the funeral of Pope Francis. Why is this funeral as much a geopolitical event as a centuries-old religious rite?
The lead up to a papal conclave
Within days, perhaps even hours of Pope Francis’s funeral, the discreet meetings will begin among the 135 cardinals who will elect the next Pope. When the doors close on the conclave, we won’t – strictly speaking, shouldn’t – know anything until a new pope appears on the balcony of St Peter’s Square. But what happens in the crucial days leading up to the conclave as candidates start to emerge. FRANCIS CAMPBELL is vice chancellor of Notre Dame University in Australia.
Mark Shriver's search for the real Pope Francis
MARK SHRIVER has spent much of his life around power. He was a successful Democratic Party politician and he’s a Kennedy. JFK and Bobby were his uncles and his father, Sargent Shriver ran for vice-president. But he’s also had a life of service, working with disadvantaged kids. A decade ago, grappling with his own Catholicism, he became fascinated with the relatively new Pope Francis. He wanted to recharge his faith. The result was an extraordinary book, Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis.
Conservatism in the age of Trump
The re-election of Donald Trump last November thrilled many on the right, especially nationalists wanting to adapt his America First ideology to their own countries. And some Christians looked past Trump’s personal history of multiple divorce and sexual scandal to suggest this was an age of religious rebirth. But for one of Britain’s leading conservatives, Donald Trump, and the United States itself, are poor role models for true conservatives.
Are clergy staff or office holders? Jubilee year and the pope, and is Trump style conservatism desirable for conservatives?
Why are clergy regarded as office holders rather than staff? We speak to Reverend Chris Bedding, an Anglican priest and executive officer of the Faith Workers Alliance. 2025 is a jubilee year for the Catholic Church, traditionally a time for renewal and the forgiveness of debt and sin. But with Pope Francis still in recovery from double pneumonia, pilgrims are finding new ways to mark the jubilee. And why are Donald Trump and the United States itself poor role models for true conservatives.
Monarchy and its religious critics
In the wake of the King's visit to Australia, we're once again debating questions that get to the heart of Australian government and identity. These aren't just political questions — they're spiritual too. Rev Justin Moffatt is Senior Minister of St Philip’s Church Hill, the oldest parish in Australia and the custodian of the First Fleet Bible and Prayer Book, which has been signed by every visiting monarch of Australia since the early 20th century.
Why is Dwayne Johnson and our biggest blockbusters so unsexy?
The big Hollywood blockbusters barely feature a kiss anymore, let alone any amorous affairs. So, why are studios so afraid of this core human experience and where do we need to go to get our vicarious fix? This week's host Wenlei Ma is joined by guest critic, Vogues' Hannah-Rose Yee to talk about sex on film. Plus, with the release of the Pitt/ Clooney vehicle Wolfs on streaming, is the movie star dead?
Play as a spiritual practice
It's a commonly held belief that play is just for children, but for many adults it's a path to self-awareness and creativity. Play is a joyous way of spending time, and more than that, a way of being fully human and connecting with the divine. Rev Susanna Pain is an ordained Anglican priest and co-founder of InterPlay Australia. She's also senior associate of the ecumenical Benedictus Contemplative Church in Canberra.
Pope Francis' dramatic intervention into US politics
In perhaps his most dramatic intervention into US politics, Pope Francis has called the contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump a choice between two evils. What impact could his words have on this tight contest? There's a major challenge for what healthy masculinity looks like today. The data on male suicides is harrowing – men are three times more likely to take their own lives. So are the statistics on male violence towards women.
From landmines to killer robots — inside the campaigns to ban weapons of war - ABC listen
It was the stuff of scifi blockbuster movie The Terminator in the early 1980s, but now lethal autonomous weapons systems are actually being used in conflict zones around the world. And the arms race is on to develop more effective, more deadly killing machines, that don't need human inputs to do their job. This event was recorded at Human Rights Watch in Sydney on 4 June 2024.
The pope's visit to Indonesia, and how religion affects migration
Pope Francis is about to embark on his longest ever overseas tour. It will include a visit to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country. Catholics are only three per cent of Indonesia’s population, and the Archbishop of Jakarta, Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, will be hosting the pope. Immigration is likely to be a major and possibly divisive issue at the next election.
Can we make meaning together anymore?
Australia is often described as one of the most multicultural societies in the world — but as our many cultures and spiritualities slam together, how do we navigate those points of difference to tell a common story? Dr Anna Halafoff is Associate Professor in Sociology of Religion at Deakin University, Melbourne, and co-editor of Religious Diversity in Australia: Living Well with Difference (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2024). Dr Tyson Yunkaporta hails from the Apalech clan of far north Queensland.
R.O. Kwon's ambitions and desires
American author R.O. Kwon's novel, Exhibit, explores the taboo topic of female desire; Jenny Ackland exacts feminist revenge in Hurdy Gurdy and Jessie Tu's Honeyeater is a story of translation and miscommunication. Korean-born, American author R.O. Kwon is not afraid of topic topics. She's behind the bestselling 2018 novel The Incendiaries and is co-editor of a story collection called Kink.
Doing public theology on Aboriginal land
National NAIDOC Week has its roots in the public theology of William Cooper, but what does it mean to do Christian theology on Aboriginal land? Candace Champion is an Adnyamathanha, Kuyani, Kaprun, and Mirning woman living on Barngarla Country, in the place now known as Port Augusta in regional South Australia. Candace is an Aboriginal Christian Leader and an elected member of South Australia's First Nations Voice to Parliament.
Kindness-A radical idea - ABC listen
For thousands of years, humans considered kindness to be one of the important virtues in life. It’s fundamental to all religious traditions; and even Scottish moral philosopher and father of modern economics, Adam Smith was committed to its ideals. There's a myth that kindness is soft or weak and exploitable. But many would disagree. That's because it takes fierceness to be kind. It asks us to stand out from the crowd and show kindness to someone needing help or care—even to those we may not like.
Population, Religion and the Environment
In the Old Testament God says "Be fruitful and multiply” ... Muslims too are encouraged to grow the Ummah – a global community of faith. Why then are fertility rates in decline across so much of the world? Last year, the world’s population ticked over 8 billion. In 1950, there were just 2.5 billion of us--an astonishing increase by any measure. And yet, in recent years, some have begun to express concerns about the declineof fertility rates, particularly in the post-industrial West.
Elections in South Africa, and the history of gay Republicans
South Africa's historic election result has left the ruling ANC party short of a majority in the parliament. As it struggles to get the extra seats it needs, will it need to rely on some of the small, explicitly religious parties? In his revealing book, historian Neil J Young details the 70-year effort by gay and lesbian Americans to cultivate support among Republicans.
"Everyone of my books starts with a question" — Celeste Ng from Sydney Writers' Festival - ABC listen
American author Celeste Ng shares how her latest novel Our Missing Hearts explores one of her deepest fears. Celeste Ng is known for her dark realist novels, Everything I Never Told You, and Little Fires Everywhere (which was adapted to the screen in 2020). Our Missing Hearts is set in a dystopian, near future America, where anti-Asian sentiment has peaked, books are disappearing from the shelves, and children are being taken away from their families.
Global Growth: The Benefits vs The Consequences
You don’t need to be paying too much attention to be aware that economic growth matters. Growth is central to economics and it's the growth of the past 60 years that has delivered. We’ve seen a rise in prosperity, and developments in health and education. But the pursuit of growth has also had consequences. In his new book Growth: A Reckoning, Daniel Susskind explores the tension between the positives and negatives created by the pursuit of growth.
Sharing the Benefits of Innovation
Innovation sparks thoughts of tech giants, inventions and Silicon Valley. While those companies in Cupertino may be good at generating extreme wealth, they’re not so good at spreading it across the communities they benefit from. Other places do better, particularly Switzerland, Sweden and Austria. What can we learn from them? Neil Lee, Author, Innovation For The Masses: How To Share The Benefits Of The High-Tech Economy
Zen and protest in a changing climate
How do we live with care and attention on this beautiful, but warming planet? On Soul Search, we meet a Zen Buddhist re-thinking the wisdom stories of her tradition, after having to flee her home during the 2019 bushfires. We also hear from a scholar who recently found herself on the front lines of a climate protest — to the point of blockading coal exports. Guests: Dr Alda Balthrop-Lewis is a researcher of religion and environmental ethics at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne.
Contemplating country with Garry Deverell
What do Aboriginal spirituality and Christian theology have to say to each other? According to Garry Deverell there's plenty, but the conversation can only really begin when there's mutual respect and listening — something that is still missing 235 years after British colonisation. Rev Dr Garry Deverell is a Trawloolway man from north-eastern Tasmania and Academic Dean, Lecturer, and Research Fellow in the new School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity, which he helped to found.
An Unorthodox Idea — Rest is Resistance - ABC listen
Why is rest such a challenge in our culture, in our time? Tricia Hersey has made it her life’s work to advocate for rest — developing a rest practice herself, and guiding others in the same direction. Tricia’s work isn’t about self-care or individual wellness, and there’s no neat hack for recalibrating your work/life balance. Instead, she advocates for a radical, countercultural form of rest grounded in a theology of Black liberation.
How grace changes everything
As the year draws to a close, people from many traditions reflect on generosity, hope and grace. Where do you find grace in a world with so much grief? But according to Julia Baird, it’s worth looking for, because the gift of grace — given without demand or calculation — changes everything. Dr Julia Baird is a journalist, broadcaster and author. Her books include Phosphorescence and Victoria: The Woman who Made the Modern World. Her latest book is Bright Shining: How Grace Changes Everything.
The significance of religion for African Australians, and building belonging in society
Africa is the new powerhouse of Christianity and almost half a million Australians are of African background. For many of them, religion is "central to most aspects of their lives." That’s the key finding of a new report into the community. In a starkly divided world, is there an alternative to a heartless free market economics, authoritarian populism and a liberalism that seems to say "if it feels good, do it?" British MP Danny Kruger thinks he’s found another way. Broadcast 1 hours ago
Future of religion — A changing climate - ABC listen
None of us are immune from the reality of a changing climate, or perhaps even from the local disasters that seem to accompany it. But what does a changing climate mean for the ways people live out their faith? How is religion tied up with the ways communities actually respond to climate shocks and challenges?
The Ponzi scheme that preyed on faith
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ALICE BRENNAN: A woman serves tea and snacks to a lounge full of people in Epping... in north-west Sydney. She's hosting 8 people today-- but she doesn't actually know any of them. They could be taxi drivers, kitchen-hands, truckies...labourers. One man has brought them all together....a tall, bearded Australian guy... And he's about to sell them a dream. HARPREET SINGH SAHNI: This is the safest investment on the earth right now! ALICE BRENNAN: That guy... is Harpreet Singh Sahni.
By Meghna Bali Verified, Benjamin Sveen, Ingrid Wagner, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, Tim Roxburgh, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
The teachers are not alright
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ALEX MANN: Hi there, welcome to Background Briefing. I'm Alex Mann. Across Australia -- there are growing concerns about a shortage of teachers in public schools. And those concerns go beyond the usual complaints about teachers' pay and working conditions. In NSW - there are stories of schools with dozens of merged classes a day, and even classes being run without teachers It's just after 9am on a cool, crisp Tuesday morning and this high school in rural New South Wales is already in a crisis.
By Mayeta Clark, Dunja Karagic, Ingrid Wagner, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, David Cook, Alex Mann Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
"Slaughter" house — the scandal inside ANZ - ABC listen
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Alice Brennan: Hi there, Alice Brennan here, and welcome to Background Briefing. A silver Porsche Cayenne is doing donuts on the golf course at an up-market resort in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney. It's 2013 and it's a little after midnight. The man behind the wheel has been drinking for six hours straight -- he's drunk. But he's not here on holiday and this is not a party. Mario Christodoulou, who is this guy? Mario Christodoulou: Well, Alice, his name is Steve Bellotti.
By Mario Christodoulou Verified, Benjamin Sveen, Ingrid Wagner, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, Ali Russell, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
How fracking could threaten Australia's Paris target
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ALICE BRENNAN: Hey there and welcome to Background Briefing. I'm Alice Brennan. Before we get started this week, I want to send a quick shout-out to everyone who gave us a rating or review last week. It really helps us reach a bigger audience. And if you haven't had a chance yet, please go to where you get your podcasts and tell us what you think. (Sound of burning foliage) ALICE BRENNAN: Let's step back in time to last July.
By Jane Bardon Verified, Benjamin Sveen, Simon Branthwaite, Leila Shunnar, Tim Roxburgh, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
The fight to stop a tiny battery from killing kids
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ALICE BRENNAN: Hello there and welcome to Background Briefing, I'm Alice Brennan. I'm holding in my hand something that can kill you. These things are EVERYWHERE. There's probably a couple of them lying around your house. This thing I'm holding is a little portable reading light that our supervising producer found in his house just the other day. But it's what's inside that's the problem. if you just flip the back off it -- (click) -- super easy to do -- the battery comes out.
By Annie Gaffney Verified, Benjamin Sveen, Ingrid Wagner, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, Tim Roxburgh, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
Prepare to burn - ABC listen
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Alice Brennan: It’s kinda hard to believe that summer isn’t beginning for another two whole months. That’s because it’s October and in some parts of the country, the bushfire season began four weeks ago, it’s been the most devastating September in this country ever. Michael Gilbert: We're just looking at total devastation on the centre of our property like the fire come through and just burnt everything including animals and wildlife.
By Meghna Bali Verified, Liz Keen, Kathleen Ferguson Verified, Meredith Griffiths, Ben Deacon, Ingrid Wagner, Simon Branthwaite, Leila Shunnar, Gina McKeon, Benjamin Sveen, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
The Power of Falun Gong, Part 2
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GPS: Continue on Galley Hill Road for half a mile. KARISHMA VYAS: So, this is Galley Hill Road HAGAR COHEN: Karishma Vyas is driving along a leafy windy road in Orange County, two hours' drive out of New York City. KARISHMA VYAS: It's a beautiful street actually, it's... uh...covered in lush trees on either side of me. HAGAR COHEN: Karishma's based in New York as a reporter. If it wasn't for COVID-19, I probably would have been in this car.
By Hagar Cohen Verified, Benjamin Sveen, Ingrid Wagner, Gina McKeon, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, Alex Mann Verified, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
Summer special: Welfare to worse
Alice Brennan: Hi there, Alice Brennan here -- welcome to Background Briefing. Have you got kids? You know anyone who does? They're a lot of work, right? Many people would tell you... including me... it's a full-time job. Either YOU look after them, or you pay someone else to. It's around the clock. Now if you live in Australia, you have kids and you don't have an income, or you're on minimum wage, give or take a few hundred dollars a week -- you're entitled to some money from Centrelink.
How banks help criminals get rich
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ALICE BRENNAN: Hey there welcome to Background Briefing, I'm Alice Brennan. Well, today on the show we're going to talk about RULES.... OH COME ON... we all LOVE rules... Some of us love following them... And Some of us love BREAKING THEM. What if I told you that while you live your life FOLLOWING the rules, paying your rent, paying your tax, paying your car rego, driving the speed limit... there is this WHOLE world operating ALMOST in parallel...
By Mario Christodoulou Verified, Benjamin Sveen, Connie Agius, Geoff Thompson, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, Alex Mann Verified, Gina McKeon, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
Inside the brazen tax scam where the homeless are made company directors
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ALICE BRENNAN: Welcome to Background Briefing. We're the pod that puts Australia’s best investigations in your feed every week. My name is Alice Brennan. Before we get started, one quick thing. If you support investigative journalism – if you like what we do here on Background Briefing – do us a tiny favour and give us a rating or a review where you get your podcasts. It helps other people find us. Also: a language warning for the show this week.
By Dan Oakes, Benjamin Sveen, Ingrid Wagner, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, Tim Roxburgh, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
Who's profiting from the pandemic?
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ALICE BRENNAN: Hello, Alice Brennan here, welcome to Background Briefing. We have the show that puts Australia's best investigations into your pod feed every single week. How does the saying go? RAHM EMMANUEL: You never want a serious crisis go to waste. ALICE BRENNAN: You never want a serious crisis to go to waste... It sounds especially gharish in the crisis we're currently facing... all over the world, many of us are dealing with loss and chaos ...
By Meghna Bali Verified, Mario Christodoulou Verified, Katherine Gregory Verified, Geoff Thompson, Ingrid Wagner, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, Benjamin Sveen, Gina McKeon, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
How were the kids in this town contaminated?
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ALICE BRENNAN: Hey hey ... Alice Brennan here on Background Briefing ... for the last few weeks we've been bringing you short stories from the frontline of Australia's response to the coronavirus. Well this week, we're stepping away from reporting on the virus. And we're going to a small house in the suburbs of Port Pirie in regional South Australia. Where a young mum called Karen Davis, is trying to get her son Macen to eat lunch. And like with most kids his age...
By Paul Culliver Verified, Benjamin Sveen, Ingrid Wagner, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, Andy Burns, Alex Mann Verified, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
Why Australia's spies think the far right could find a foothold during coronavirus
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ALICE BRENNAN: Hi there, Alice Brennan here with Background Briefing, where we put Australia's best investigations in your pod feed every week. PROTESTER: ladies in the back. The Media, they are feeding you lies. ALICE BRENNAN: This week, I want to take you to Hyde Park, in the heart of Sydney. Around 400 people are jeering and shouting. A middle-aged man with a bullhorn standing under a towering fig tree warns the crowd about the dangers of 5G.
By Mario Christodoulou Verified, Ingrid Wagner, Leila Shunnar, Simon Branthwaite, Alex Mann Verified, Alice Brennan Verified
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Verified
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