Lies and Statistics

Welcome to the final episode of Season 8 of With All Due Respect!This week, Minister Jeri Jones Sparks and former Sydney Archbishop (and Michael's Dad!) Peter Jensen joins the show for a panel discussion on different church generations. The team look at the highs and lows of recent Australian church history, as well as what different generations of Christians today can learn from one other.Our hosts then discuss the TV series Pachinko, a critically acclaimed show that follows the stories of four generations of a Korean Family, between 1915 and 1989.

This week, Michael and Megan are joined by Stephen Judd, the former CEO of HammondCare, to discuss how - if at all - an organisation can be "Christian".Our hosts then discuss whether the broader church is an organisation, and if ministers can gain anything from the world of corporate wisdom.Finally, they turn their attention to the hit drama Propser, a new show that follows a family as they build a super-powerful, super-wealthy megachurch.

This week, Megan and Michael hash out one of the most controversial issues currently ruling the discourse; the conflict in the Israel and Gaza region.Our hosts think through how the Bible can guide Christians’ response to the conflict.A Palestinian Christian and peacemaker joins the show to discuss the challenges facing faith groups in the conflict zone.Finally, our hosts discuss the film Women in Sink, which documents conversations with women of different faiths in the region.

Mark Twain once famously said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics".Our hosts this week are chatting about this third lie - statistics. With the age of social media now dictating how people access statistical data, are we literate enough to understand what we are reading when it comes to statistics? How does this affect trust in official information more broadly? And in a fallen world, where sin distorts everything, how much can we truly trust human knowledge?Statistician Alan Brnabic joins Michael and Megan to discuss these questions, and why we need statistics more broadly. Finally, our hosts cast their eye over Moneyball, a sports film that, against the odds, Megan quite enjoyed.

Michael and Megan are kicking off 2024 by checking in on the state of Evangelicalism.Karen Swallow Prior returns to the show to discuss her new book The Evangelical Imagination, which provocatively claims to take stock of a "culture in crisis".Our hosts then hash out the question: does Evangelicalism need another Reformation?Finally, the pair discuss the 17th-century classic The Pilgrim's Progress and take stock of its influence and legacy.

It's the 2023 Christmas episode of With All Due Respect, and we're talking all things Mary this year!New Testament scholar The Rev. Dr Sarah Harris joins the show to discuss the mother of Jesus, and makes some big calls about her place in theological history.Michael and Megan then discuss the place of Mary in Protestant tradition. Should the evangelical Christian church reclaim Mary? Is she in need of a "rediscovery?"Finally, our hosts turn their attention to the hit TV show The Chosen and discuss its portrayals of the Holy Matriarch.

It's the 100th episode of With All Due Respect!To mark their century our guests chat with Mike Bird, Academic Dean of Melbourne's Ridley College, discussing the question "Is the Bible clear in what it tells us?"They also discuss the differences in church tradition when it comes to interpreting scripture.Later, our hosts discuss Sarah Polley's confronting film Women Talking, which explores the consequences of misunderstanding - and abusing - The Bible.  

Home - it’s an evocative word and one that has instant access to our emotions, whether that’s when Dorothy knocks together her shiny red heels and says there’s no place like home or when angelic children’s choirs sing I still call Australia home on a Qantas ad. The Bible culminates with an image of God at home with humanity. Home speaks to us of familiarity, safety, welcome, love. Yet home doesn’t just have positive associations. Some are home less while many have found their homes to be anything but safe. This episode Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen begin by discussing whether human beings are actually any good at making home for themselves or others. Then the WADR team speak to former NSW Liberal Minister and newly appointed chair of the Faith Housing Alliance, Rob Stokes about the current housing crisis. And to finish, continuing 'the whole vibe' of the episode, they hang out with the Kerrigans in The Castle.

This week, Megan and Michael discuss the place of "civic religion" in Australian society.Defined as the implicit "religious" values of a nation - expressed through public ceremony, symbols, and rituals - our hosts ask if Australia even has a civic religion in the first place.They then turn their eyes to the place of the Welcome to / Acknowledgement of Country in Australia: specifically in the church. What does it mean that some churches have pushed back against this now largely normal part of public procedure?Finally, they take stock of a recent episode of Bluey and discuss why a children's show (of all things) brought Michael to tears.

Leisa Aitken joins Megan and Michael to discuss her dissertation on the psychology of Hope, and why the clinical definition of the word is missing the mark. On 'For Arguments Sake', our hosts discuss whether there may be a lack of hope within the church. Have Christians in the global west lost their eschatological hope?Finally, our hosts cast their eye over Christopher Noaln's blockbuster Oppenheimer. In true WADR style, they don't necessarily see eye-to-eye on its message.