The Religion and Ethics Report - Separate stories podcast

The announcement by the Dalai Lama that he will have a reincarnated successor when he dies – and that his foundation along will identify the next leader of Tibetan Buddhism – is a major challenge to China, which occupies Tibet.It’s also a challenge to the Trump administration, according to a former official. Randal Schriver who served in the previous Trump administration, says respecting the Dalai Lama’s decision will test Donald Trump’s RANDALL SCHRIVER served as Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs in the United States government during the first Trump administration.

He was the charismatic preacher in the sharp suit and flashy car, who preached personal purity – until he came undone in a sex scandal. Jimmy Swaggart was a global institution in the 1980s. He died a few days ago. GUEST:Dr Leah Payne is a historian of charismatic Christianity at George Fox University and author of the new book God Gave Rock & Roll to You A History of Contemporary Christian Music.  

The small Palestinian town of Taybeh is one of the few villages in the West Bank where almost all the residents are Christian. In recent weeks, radical Israeli settlers have stepped up attacks on residents and properties, as part of their plan to occupy the entire West Bank territory. GUEST:SANAD SAHELIA is a local journalist who reports for Catholic media.

When New Yorkers gave Zohran Mamdani close to half the votes in the Democratic primary for mayor, they turned a local race into contest with global impact. Mamdani is of Indian Muslim background.As a state assemblyman, he’s been an outspoken critic of Israel. About nine percent of New Yorkers are Muslim but 12 per cent are Jewish. So how has this election reflected these differences? GUEST:ETAN NECHIN is New York correspondent for Ha’aretz News.

When New Yorkers gave Zohran Mamdani close to half the votes in the Democratic primary for mayor, they turned a local race into contest with global impact. Mamdani is of Indian Muslim background. As a state assemblyman, he’s been an outspoken critic of Israel. About nine percent of New Yorkers are Muslim but 12 per cent are Jewish. So has this election reflected these differences? The small Palestinian town of Taybeh is one of the few villages in the West Bank where almost all the residents are Christian. In recent weeks, radical Israeli settlers have stepped up attacks on residents and properties, as part of their plan to occupy the entire West Bank territory. If Pope Leo XIV decides to take on some of the world’s most powerful leaders, he can rely on the nerves of steel he developed while leading the Catholic Church in his adopted homeland of Peru. When he was archbishop, he found himself in the middle of a conflict between the leftist guerilla movement, known as the Shining Path, and the right-wing Catholic group Opus Dei, which supported the authoritarian government. GUESTS:ETAN NECHIN is New York correspondent for Ha’aretz newspaper.SANAD SAHELIA is a freelance journalist in Ramallah who reports for Catholic media.MATTHEW CASEY-PARISEAULT of Arizona State University is based in Lima, where he studies the relationship between the church and state.

If Pope Leo XIV decides to take on some of the world’s most powerful leaders, he can rely on the nerves of steel he developed while leading the Catholic Church in his adopted homeland of Peru. When he was archbishop, he found himself in the middle of a conflict between the leftist guerilla movement, known as the Shining Path, and the right-wing Catholic group Opus Dei, which supported the authoritarian government. GUEST:MATTHEW CASEY-PARISEAULT of Arizona State University is based in Lima, where he studies the relationship between the church and state.

In 2013, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was invited by the Sydney Peace Foundation to participate in discussions of Ethics for a Whole World at the New South Wales Parliament House attended by more than 170 students and others. A preamble to the event paid tribute to the Cadigal people and their possession of the local land, which corresponds to Tibetans’ possession of the land of Tibet.Initiating the interchange with His Holiness was ABC journalist Andrew West, who opened by asking about what has been happening in Tibet.

In the Middle East, a familiar pattern unfolds – air strikes, bombings of military and civilian targets, vows of retribution, then a shaky ceasefire. Right now, that’s the situation between Iran and Israel. But Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US president Donald Trump are also toying publicly with supporting regime change in Iran. We’ve been here before, as well, with the ousting of Saddam Hussein and the civil war that engulfed Iraq and spread to Syria. Dr JESSIE MORITZ from the Australian National University studies the religious politics of the region. She’s wary of outsiders trying to force change.For almost 40 years, journalist STAN GRANT was in the maelstrom of global politics and conflict, from London to Beijing to the mountains of Pakistan. But in the past five years, he’s been quietly working on a doctoral thesis on theology, resurrecting a family history in the church. In a new documentary for ABC TV’s Compass, Stan unveils the house he’s built in the stunning Snowy River Valley and explains how the environment helped him see through the clutter of the messy world around him.GUESTS:Dr Jessie Moritz - Lecturer, at Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies, ANUDr Stan Grant, a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and author of Murriyung: Song of TimeThis program was made on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.

In the Middle East, a familiar pattern unfolds – airstrikes, bombings of military and civilian targets, vows of retribution, then a shaky ceasefire. Right now, that’s the situation between Iran and Israel. But Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US president Donald Trump are also toying publicly with supporting regime change in Iran. We’ve been here before, as well, with the ousting of Saddam Hussein and the civil war that engulfed Iraq and spread to Syria. Dr JESSIE MORITZ from the Australian National University studies the religious politics of the region. She’s wary of outsiders trying to force change.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he’s aiming to topple the regime in Iran, as part of his continued strikes against the country’s nuclear facilities and civilian infrastructure, such as oil refineries. But what forces could he unleash by overthrowing Iran’s Islamic theocracy? There’s a serious prospect that a Shi’ite backlash could erupt across the region GUEST:Dr Ali Mamouri of Deakin University, former adviser to the Iraqi prime minister.  Australia has imposed sanctions on two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, citing a history of violent and racist statements.  The two men are crucial to propping up the Netanyahu government in parliament. Even so, the government could fall later this year over compulsory military service for ultra-Orthodox men. GUESTS:Dina Kraft, journalist with The Christian Science Monitor Linda Gradstein, journalist with Voice of America and National Public Radio