Religion And Beliefs Videos

Ending global poverty and achieving gender equality by 2015 are two of the millennium development goals from the United Nations. The ambitious mission will be discussed in Melbourne today at the Women, Faith and Development Summit to End Global Poverty. One of the key aims is to bring together various religious groups and get them talking about their different approaches to women and poverty.

It´s not a roadmap to Heaven, it´s a manual for repairing the world. It´s not about preserving the structures of the Church but about staying to true to the message of Jesus. The Emergent Church is promoted by Brian McLaren whom Time magazine identified as one of America´s top 25 Evangelicals. He was in Australia recently and he shares his vision that `everything must change´ with Rachael Kohn.

Wendy Barnaby travels to Ireland to investigate some of the many issues arising from this year´s Ryan Report. The Report is about conditions suffered by children in institutions between the 1930´s and the 1990´s. The twenty institutions examined were part of a larger system established by the State but run by Catholic orders.

This week, we follow the journey of the classics as they spread from Greece to the Arab world and beyond. At a time when Europe still hadn´t got its act together philosophically speaking, Arabs were busily translating and debating the ideas of Aristotle and others. We´re joined by Professor Peter Adamson from King's College, London, co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy.

Translating the Hindu epic the Mahabharata The Mahabharata has been likened to the epic stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Written more than 2,000 years ago, its pages pages are filled with demons, gods and a million deaths. Mahatma Gandhi had a go at translating it, as did others, but Sanskrit expert John Smith has actually completed the first ever abridged English version of The Mahabharata. On mentoring with Tara June Winch and Wole Soyinka There are many ways to learn to write a novel. Some people choose to do a creative writing course, others practise writing every day in their blog; some begin with the short story format and others just put pen to paper and start writing.

Charles Darwin´s publication of On the Origin of Species 150 years ago is not a barrier to belief but an invitation to see God as larger than previously imagined. So says Dr. Nancy Howell, Co-Chair of the Theology and Science Group of the American Academy of Religion. Science is hegemonic today, but it is not capable of measuring a God that is only known to us as analogy, says Dr. Martinez Hewlett, a theistic evolutionist and a cellular biologist at the University of Arizona. The idea of the Cosmic Christ, says Fr. Jacques Arnould who works for the French Space Agency, anticipates modern cosmology.

Biblical Hebrew is an enigmatic language. According to Jewish tradition it´s the Holy Tongue, employed by God when he spoke the world into being. So how has the language of Torah shaped Jewish thought - and what does it say today, to Jews and non-Jews alike?

When Charles Darwin wrote his Origin of Species, published 150 years ago this month, some Anglicans had made peace with the evolution of the body. But as Pulitzer Prize-winning Darwin historian, Edward Larson, points out it was the soul they were concerned about. Darwin´s great, great grandson, Christopher Darwin, tells the story of his grandfather´s religious journey and his own, while Maggie Walter of the University of Tasmania speaks of the impact of social Darwinism on her great great grandmother, a Trawlwoolway woman.

As the global financial crisis reverberates, this week Encounter explores how the seven deadly sins have been responsible for the collapse of many big businesses. What are the ethical frameworks some CEOs and educators are advocating now to form socially and environmentally responsible corporations?

The surprise announcement last month that disgruntled Anglicans, including married priests, would be allowed to enter full communion with the Catholic Church appeared to stun both Catholics and Anglicans alike. Rear Vision looks at the history of the relationship between these two strands of the Christian faith and the background to the Pope's offer.

Joe Hockey caused quite a stir when he revealed last month that he'd been sounded out by colleagues about taking over the Liberal leadership, if Malcolm Turnbull's position became untenable. He's now embarked on a series of speeches which are being widely seen as an effort to broaden his image and showcase his credentials. Joe Hockey delivered his first address last night, it was called "In Defence of God".

Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn knows that meditation is natural but not easy to master, exotic yet essential to healthful living. He is the founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, which is celebrating its 30th year. Brother Satyananda came to yoga and meditation to sort himself out and after 35 years as a monk in the Self Realisation Fellowship, he lectures worldwide on the benefits of yoga meditation.

In December the Parliament of the World's Religions is coming to Australia. It's a sort of interfaith Olympics, with thousands of people representing all the worlds myriad religious faiths expected to gather in Melbourne - under the sponsorship of the Victorian Government. In Encounter Nasya Bahfen finds out about the Parliament, and tests her prejudices about the whole interfaith project.

If you´ve ever been green with envy then this is the program for you. Envy is the latest sin to come under the microscope in our Seven Deadly Sins series.

This Encounter is about the importance of sensitive communication with cancer patients and their families. The program features Brisbane psychiatrist Dr Jane Turner and her cutting edge educational work with nurses in cancer wards. We also hear from men and women who are experiencing cancer for themselves or their loved ones. Their stories give grief the words to support the "o´er-fraught heart". Download extended interview Dr. Noel Preston[23:44min 11MB] Dr. Jane Turner[43:18min 20MB]

The sound of the digeridu, or Yidaki as it's known in North East Arnhem Land, has been adopted as a symbolic part of Australian culture. But how well do non-Indigenous Australians understand the spirituality of traditional Aboriginal music and its centrality to wellbeing? This Encounter travels from Darwin to North East Arnhem Land to attend the 10th Garma Festival of Traditional Culture. Held in Yolgnu country on the Gove Peninsula, it draws together over 1,000 people to watch, perform and celebrate traditional culture. Caring for the Soul of the Country examines the idea of cultural practice as central to wellbeing -- spiritual, social and physical. It looks in particular at ceremony -- a sacred crucible of the broader practice of 'caring for country' -- as vaccination against illness of the spirit and of the body. And it asks if a clearer understanding of the centrality of 'caring for country' might affect government policy on social provisions for Aboriginal communities. Note: The music in this program was performed by singers from the Gumatj, Maugn, Anindilyakwa and Kuninjku clans. Special Audio Downloads Download MP3 An extended interview with Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner.