Show Notes
A former Dominican friar who dared to say the universe had no centre — and paid with his life. Born in 16th-century Italy, Giordano Bruno broke with Church teachings to imagine an infinite cosmos filled with countless worlds. To him, God was not confined to heaven or hierarchy but alive in every corner of creation. The Inquisition saw it differently. After years of imprisonment and interrogation, Bruno was burned alive in Rome in 1600. Was he a reckless heretic or a visionary thinker centuries ahead of his time — and what does his death say about the danger of new ideas? GUESTS: Ingrid Rowland — Emeritus Professor of History at the US University of Notre Dame. Dilwyn Knox — Emeritus Professor of Renaissance Studies at University College, London Dr Shaun Blanchard — Lecturer in Theology at Notre Dame University Australia. This is the second episode of God Forbid's Religious Rebels, a six-part special series exploring the lives of spiritual revolutionaries who defied empires, reshaped traditions — and sometimes paid with their lives.
More from God Forbid
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. And scientists often saw themselves as trying to understand God’s creation. But in the 20th and now 21st century, observation and measurement is left strictly to science. Values, and the world unseen is the realm of religion and philosophy. Yet for a minority of believers – the new arrangement does not work. They insist on a forced and literal mixing of two. GUESTS: Jonathan Marks is Professor Emeritus of Biological Anthropology at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Author of Why Are There Still Creationists? Russell Blackford is philosopher of religion and science from the University of Newcastle. Author of op ed "Why Does Fundamentalism Persist?" will appear in the Dec/Jan edition of Free Inquiry – the Journal of Secular Humanist Ideas. Books include 50 Great Myths About Atheism and his latest, How We Became Post-Liberal: The Rise and Fall of Toleration
In 1927, a Catholic priest told Albert Einstein the universe was expanding. Einstein though that was a crazy idea. But the priest was right. And when the Pope claimed this as proof of creation, the tables were turned again. The priest told the pontiff, keep your religion out of my physics. There’s the simple idea that we had religion to explain the world, until we upgraded to science, which did the trick far more effectively. But as the priest and Einstein anecdote illustrates, that simple idea does not explain the very complex story: the relationship between science and religion. Nick Spencer is Senior Fellow at the London think tank Theos. His latest book is The Landscapes of Science and Religion – What are we disagreeing about? Peter Harrison is Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame Australia and Emeritus Professor at UQ. His latest book is Some New World: Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age They’ll both be Keynote speakers opening the 2026 ISCAST biennial Conference on Science and Christianity. This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.
The world has trust issues with its media. Three in five Australians trust TV and radio news, and what's in the newspapers. But in North America it is fewer than three in ten. Are we doing something better here, OR are we just a decade behind them? Is it an economic problem? After all, ownership of our media has been contracting to just a few players. That alone has had some huge implications for the quality of news and who it speaks to. The online podcast world has arguably meant a democratisation of the way people are finding their news. How can lost trust in media be regained? GUESTS: Tara Henley, Canadian journalist, broadcaster and author of "The Trust Spiral" Jonathan Holmes, journalist, writer, former ABC TV presenter and broadcaster Scott Mitchell, former ABC journalist and now co host of the podcast "Lamestream" This program was recorded on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation
Is intolerance tightening its grip on public life? The twentieth century was among the most intolerant in human history; the Holocaust, Stalinism, empires collapsing in blood. So why, in the twenty-first century, is tolerance still so elusive? In the final episode of a two-part series on toleration, God Forbid looks at the ever-growing allure of tribalism, cementing division along contentious political fault lines. Guests: Dr Shaun Blanchard, Senior Lecturer in Theology, University of Notre Dame Australia. Author of the forthcoming Catholicism and Enlightenment. Dr Devleena Ghosh, Professor, School of Communication and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney. Dr Abdullah Kunde, Founder and President of the Muslim Debate Initiative Australia. This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation
Rulers throughout history have used tolerance and intolerance in their pursuit of power. In our modern context, tolerance is often lauded as an unqualified good, but are there limitations? Should we extend tolerance to those who commit acts of violence? In the first of two episodes on the rise and fall of tolerance, God Forbid looks at the religious roots of tolerance and intolerance. Can lessons of the past be applied today, in an increasingly divided world? GUESTS: Shaun Blanchard, Senior Lecturer in Theology, Notre Dame University. Jürgen Overhoff, Professor of the History of Educational, University of Münster, Germany. Francisco (Paco) Garcia-Serrano, Professor of History, Saint Louis University, Madrid. This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation