Stigma, anti-depressants and emotional resilience: Rethinking mental health and the church
Tim is away this week so we’re sharing a classic episode from the MOLAD vault. Since the covid pandemic there has been an alarming rise in people presenting with mental health problems. Today we speak with Christian psychiatrist Daniel Maughan to bet...
Assisted suicide: Euthanasia tourism takes off in the US amid fresh push to change law in Britain
Today we pick up a number of stories and updates in the conversation around assisted suicide. Long since legal in a growing number of states in the US, a new report has detailed how things are liberalising further. Some states now permit non-resident...
Should robots be given human rights?
If and when autonomous and intelligent robots come into existence, should they be granted rights, or even personhood? A growing number of technologists argue governments must lay out what status conscious and rational machines would have before they...
Lucy Letby reconsidered: Innocence and guilt, partial evidence, and living with unknowns
We covered the case of Lucy Letby – a neonatal nurse convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven more – last year. Since then, there has been a growing campaign claiming she is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, as Letby her...
What does it mean to be made in the image of God?
‘Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.”’ These famous words from the first chapter of Genesis are the touchstone of the theology of the image of God, or Imago Dei. Christians throw this reference out a lot, but we’re ofte...
The infected blood scandal
Thanks to a long overdue public inquiry here in the UK, shocking stories of how NHS doctors recklessly gave patients blood contaminated with viruses including HIV and hepatitis have been emerging in recent years. One of the most painful cases was at...
Autonomous killer drones and the future of warfare
This week we look at developments prompted by the war in Ukraine, which has seen the humble drone take a leading role on the frontline. Both sides, and global powers watching on with interest, are now investing in building battle drones which can fly...
Should Christians break the law? Civil disobedience, climate protest and heavy-handed policing
A landmark court case in the UK recently saw five radical climate activists jailed for up to five years for their role in organising the blocking of a major motorway to protest against fossil fuels. The sentences have been criticised by many, includi...
The unintended consequences of sperm donation
A recent Netflix documentary, The Man With A 1000 Kids, has shone a light on the often under-discussed topic of sperm donation. It exposes a Dutch man as a prolific and deceptive sperm donor who compulsively fathers children around the world via dona...
Neo-Luddism and the ‘myth’ of progress: Should Christians be pro or anti technology?
In recent weeks we have discussed how to keep modern technology at arms-length (smartphones in the home) and our excitement at how humans may be about to untap God’s blessing in creation through technology (the solar energy revolution). Today we ask...
Energy abundance: Is the coming solar power revolution a blessing from God?
Even sober-minded experts are getting excited about solar power. Respectable estimates suggest the price of energy derived from sunlight will continue to drop spectacularly as the number of panels installed worldwide continues to explode exponentiall...
Julian Assange, whistleblowers, and the Christian case for journalism
The controversial hacker and activist (and maybe journalist?) Julian Assange was suddenly freed for five years in a British jail last month, after he reached a surprise deal with the US authorities over classified military files he published online m...
Physics and the gospel: Richard Cheetham on how churches can embrace science once more
Despite reams of research debunking the myth and countless examples of pioneering Christian researchers, many people still believe intuitively that somehow science and religion are in constant conflict. There are even those within the church who, per...
Dependence: Should Christians embrace ‘being a burden’ on others as we get old?
Tim’s been away this last week on holiday so we’re bringing you an episode from the Matters of Life and Death vault today. There is a looming ‘demographic timebomb’ – a growing mass of elderly and increasingly chronically ill people in many developed...
Are smartphones damaging our children? with Andy Crouch
This week we interview the writer Andy Crouch on a question which has been everywhere in recent months: are smartphones damaging our children? A growing number of writers and thinkers are arguing that our digital technology, most notably social media...