All Matters of Life and Death articles – Page 3
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: 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 nations, expected to place huge strain on public resources.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: 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?
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: How much is too much to genetically screen your children?
In the first half of this episode we explore new research into public opinion around polygenic embryo screening. This technology allows people undergoing IVF to see what genes each potential embryo has and then choose to reimplant the one with the ‘best’ genetic make-up.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Elections, the church and threats to democracy
In this episode we reflect on why Christians are so politically engaged in Britain, with research suggesting they are much more likely to vote, join a party, and campaign than the general public.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Autism - Disability or superpower?
Diagnosis rates for autism have been steadily rising for decades now, and as the condition has become more prevalent there has been a growing debate within the community and wider society about what autism is.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Two is the loneliest number: Can AI friends stop us feeling alone?
Science fiction has long been fascinated by the idea of humans becoming friends with computers. And the dream of an always-on digital companion you can talk to day or night is closer than ever before, thanks to advances in AI software in recent years.
-
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Assisted dying in Scotland: A bad law but also an inevitable one?
A new law has been proposed in the Scottish Parliament which would allow terminally ill people to request doctors assist them in committing suicide. Is euthanasia the next great social leap forward in the inexorable onward march of progress?
-
ShowsMatters of Life of Death: Abusive relationships and coercive control in church
Society has been on a long and slow journey in recent decades into a richer and more sympathetic understanding of how abuse and coercion work within relationships. We are much better at both identifying and prosecuting this kind of abuse, and at being more attuned to the needs of victims and understanding why they find it difficult to just walk away.
-
ShowsMatter of Life & Death: Q&A: Did ending Roe v Wade actually save unborn children’s lives, and have we got food culture wrong in church?
Our first topic in this Q&A episode is a recent study which found that in 2023, the first full calendar year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion, total abortions actually increased. Despite 21 states enacting full or partial abortion bans, more women not fewer are ending their pregnancies. How can this have happened, and what might it tell the pro-life movement about its tactics and priorities if it seeks to make abortion not simply unlawful, but unthinkable?
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: ADHD, over-diagnosis and should Christians enhance our brains with stimulants?
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the faster growing mental health diagnoses of our age. More and more people, including those well into adulthood, are seeking out and being diagnosed with ADHD.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Tim Farron, toxic social media, and how to navigate the ‘mucky business’ of politics
This week we’re bringing you a classic episode from the MOLAD archive, when we were joined by the former leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron to discuss social media and politics.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: New obesity drugs, the morality of food, and has neuroscience killed off free will?
A new wave of anti-obesity drugs led by Wegovy (also known as Ozempic) are causing huge ripples in the medical world and popular culture. Astonishingly successful at helping people lose weight, these drugs both offer a tantalising solution to the obesity epidemic and its associated public health crisis, and have also made the pharma companies which own them staggeringly rich as demand rockets ever upwards.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Tech hype - Should Christians resist or lean into AI?
In this episode we talk through the anatomy of a tech hype bubble, looking at previous cases such as the internet, cryptocurrency and smartphones to figure out where AI might be on the ‘S-curve’ of tech adoption.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Q&A: Why have anti-abortion activists accidentally banned fertility treatment in Alabama?
Alabama’s Supreme Court has ruled that embryos in deep freeze, stored as part of IVF treatment, can be considered as legal children. This unexpected judgement has prompted many clinics to shut their doors, fearing lawsuits, as the storage and eventual destruction of surplus embryos is standard practice in IVF.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: How can Christian doctors approach medical-assisted dying (euthanasia)?
Medical Assistance in Dying: Judicial activism, suicidal ideation, reasons to stay alive, and Hippocrates’ successful medical practice
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Psychedelics, spirits and the philosophy of Harry Potter
Culture is increasingly interested in psychedelic drugs. Whether it’s Silicon Valley execs micro-dosing LSD to turbocharge their meetings, Americans booking ayahuasca weekends in Mexico, or rafts of studies suggesting ketamine can really help in treating depression, we’re all taking drugs much more seriously than any time since the 1960s counterculture.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Q&A: Should single Christians use dating apps if they strike out at church?
A listener has emailed in his dilemma off the back of our recent series of episodes: His small evangelical church teaches a traditional Christian message on relationships and marriage, yet offers single members like him no opportunities to meet like-minded women. Is it OK for him to turn to dating apps to fish in a deeper pool, or are the apps unavoidably commodifying his sisters in Christ and conforming him to secular cultural ethics on relationships?
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: New Creation: Reading the Bible backwards, the ‘opiate of the masses’, Physics 2.0, and the resurrected yet scarred body
Our four-part series on the deeper narrative of the Bible comes to an end with New Creation. Just as with the beginning of the story, this final chapter is often overlooked in many churches and the Christian narrative is compressed simply to fall and redemption.
-
ShowsMatters of Life & Death: Egg freezing revisited: What about the ‘surplus’ eggs, and is better contraception part of the solution?
A listener has emailed in two excellent questions in response to our recent episode looking at egg freezing. What happens to the leftover eggs which are frozen but never reimplanted, and can Christians be relaxed about this intrinsic wastefulness of the process?
