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Matters of Life and Death

Matters of Life and Death

Premier Unbelievable?

In each episode of Matters of Life and Death, brought to you by Premier Unbelievable?, John Wyatt and his son Tim discuss issues in healthcare, ethics, technology, science, faith and more. John is a doctor, professor of ethics, and writer and speaker on many of these topics, while Tim is a religion and social affairs journalist. We talk about how Christians can better engage with a particular question of life, death or something else in between.
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Top 10 Matters of Life and Death Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Matters of Life and Death episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Matters of Life and Death for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Matters of Life and Death episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Matters of Life and Death - Tech hype: Should Christians resist or lean into AI?
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03/20/24 • 57 min

As is probably obvious from previous episodes, John is extremely interested in generative AI and thinks it will be the next transformative technology to entirely up-end how society works. Tim, however, is much more sceptical and thinks a lot of the rhetoric around AI is overblown. So, prompted by Tim sharing an AI-sceptical blog, 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. How can Christians live responsibly and faithfully through these moments, where culture is running away with itself about something new and flashy? Is it incumbent on us not to get left behind and languish in ignorance about something which could change the world? Or should we be consciously opting out of the techno-optimist hype and preferring prudent caution over giddy excitement? • The Ed Zitron blog on AI scepticism https://www.wheresyoured.at/sam-altman-fried • Marc Andreessen’s Techno-Optimist Manifesto https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/ • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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This week’s episode picks up on our last conversation with paediatrician Julie Maxwell from 2023, and in particular the sweeping changes made to how gender-questioning children are treated in Britain in the last year. A weighty official report by an eminent doctor concluded that the NHS’s sole clinic for gender medicine should be shut down and the practice of treating young people with puberty-blocking medication abandoned entirely. We talk through the implications of the Cass Report, whether a return to evidence-based medicine instead of political ideology is really breaking out, and what the situation is in the education system, where culture wars over trans children continue to rage. How on earth can Christian parents navigate this fast-changing and very divisive issue with compassion and faithfulness? Julie’s article for Affinity on ‘Christian parenting in a confusing world of gender identity’: https://www.affinity.org.uk/social-issues/christian-parenting-in-a-confusing-world-of-gender-identity/ Julie also recommends for Christians interested in this topic: The Gender Revolution, by Patricia Weerakoon https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781925424973/the-gender-revolution-paperback Time To Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock's Gender Service for Children, by Hannah Barnes https://amzn.eu/d/77taYWm • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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Matters of Life and Death - Prenatal screening: Is all knowledge a good thing?
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10/23/24 • 69 min

Pregnant women today are offered a battery of tests and screening for their unborn child, looking for an ever-increasing range of conditions and risks. But is the onward march of technology in this sphere always an unmitigated good thing? With abortion for a disability legal in the UK up to term, women are being given terrible choices previous generations never faced: give birth to a child who probably has a life-limiting or even fatal condition, or end the pregnancy early. In this episode we dig further into the complex ethics of prenatal screening and explore what the Christian tradition makes of seeking to understand the future, and the different arguments for and against aborting children we know will be disabled. • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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Matters of Life and Death - Q&A: Did ending Roe v Wade actually save unborn children’s lives?
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04/17/24 • 38 min

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? Next we respond to a listener who is wondering if we might have got food culture a bit wrong in a church setting? Hospitality and sharing meals together is a huge part of Christianity, but is it possible to do so while making fresh, nutritious food from scratch? Should Christians be wary of ultra-processed food? Have we accidentally baptised our existing middle-class preferences for organic produce and home-made recipes, and pretended it is somehow more virtuous or moral? The Guttmacher Institute's research on abortion statistics: https://www.guttmacher.org/2024/03/despite-bans-number-abortions-united-states-increased-2023 • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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Christians normally explain away human-caused suffering by pointing to God giving us free will, and our sinful natures using that to harm ourselves and each other. But what about all the things entirely out of our control which cause so much sadness, from natural disasters to genetic diseases? In this episode we interview apologist and neuroscientist Sharon Dirckx about the origins of evil and how Christians can sensitively respond to objections to faith based in suffering. And, we consider the role of apologetics in general – should we still be doing traditional proclamational evangelism centred on knocking down intellectual objections to faith at all, or is that a 20th-century approach which no longer cuts through? You can find more about Sharon, including her latest book Broken Planet, at her website: dirckx.org. • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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We covered the case of Lucy Letby – a neonatal nurse convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven more – last year. Since then, there has been a growing campaign claiming she is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, as Letby herself appeals the judgement. In this episode we look at why some people have become convinced of her innocence, how well-suited our criminal justice system is at getting to the truth, and how as Christians we can live with the unknown and grey areas implicit in this fallen world. • The Appeal Court judgement rejecting Letby's appeal: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/R-v-Letby-Final-Judgment-20240702.pdf • The New Yorker article which makes the case for Letby's innocence: https://web.archive.org/web/20240702001406/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/20/lucy-letby-was-found-guilty-of-killing-seven-babies-did-she-do-it • A Guardian article which also explores some of those who are unconvinced by the prosecution case: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/09/lucy-letby-evidence-experts-question • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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In today’s episode we’re returning to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s been almost six months since we last dedicated an episode to covid, and since then a lot has happened. Hundreds of millions of vaccine doses have been delivered around the world, but are they going to the right people at the right time? We now know the vaccines increase by a tiny amount the risk you might experience a dangerous blood clot in the brain – how have we done at understanding that risk and putting it in its proper context? We’re also sadly much more familiar with long covid– what’s going on there and how should we as a society look after those suffering these symptoms? And finally, does the way we count – or rather, significantly undercount – deaths caused by coronavirus really matter?

Please take our three-minute listener survey to help us improve the podcast - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJjFoI3G6a-5lJ07S7vBm_yxOkDVoDQXQfI6RnrZSJNI2zuw/viewform

The ONS report on how many people in the UK have long covid - https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/1april2021

The BBC Radio 4 programme on long covid - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000w4t4

The Sun's front page on the blood clot risk - https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14589798/brilliant-front-page-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine/

The government's information page on the blood clot risk with the covid vaccines - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-and-blood-clotting/covid-19-vaccination-and-blood-clotting

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Matters of Life and Death - Coronavirus: Thinking as a Christian during Covid-19
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04/29/20 • 36 min

Our third episode on coronavirus zooms in to focus on how Christians should be thinking and acting during the pandemic. We ask how we might square this global crisis with our belief in a sovereign and loving God and if we should look for anything good to come out of it. And what shape will our faith be in when all this finally comes to an end and something like normal life resumes?

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Every tap, swipe and click we make on our phones, tablets and laptops is being recorded by big tech firms. This is often called surveillance capitalism – a network of products and services we use every day which sucks up large quantities of data about us and then sells it on to advertisers at huge profits. It’s garnering increasing concern from citizens and regulators around the world, but should we care as Christians? What impact is this system having on once flourishing industries such as journalism or bookselling, let alone on us as human beings? And why have tech companies made their products so addictively hard to put down and stop tapping, swiping and clicking?

Some extra reading...

Surveillance capitalism: the hidden costs of the digital revolution, Jonathan Ebsworth, Samuel Johns, Michael Dodson, Cambridge Papers June 2021

The Question of Surveillance Capitalism, Nathan Mladin and Stephen Williams, in The Robot will see you Now: Artificial Intelligence and the Christian Faith, ed John Wyatt and Stephen Williams, SPCK, 2021

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Shoshana Zuboff, Profile Books, 2019

Atlas of AI: Power politics and the planetary costs of artificial intelligence, Kate Crawford, Yale University Press, 2021

Irresistible: The rise of addictive technology and the business of keeping us hooked, Adam Alter, Penguin, 2017

Hooked: how to build habit forming products, Nir Eyal, Penguin, 2019

Weapons of Math Destruction, Cathy O’Neil, Penguin, 2017

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Today we are delving into a complex and sensitive topic – infertility and IVF. The statistics suggest about one in seven couples will be unable to conceive without some kind of medical intervention, and the most popular form of reproductive treatment is in vitro fertilisation – IVF. Partly because infertility is such a painful time for many of those experiencing it, we don’t talk about it much. The same is also true of IVF, even though today in some places the procedure now accounts for as many as five per cent of all births. In this episode we wanted to consider how infertility interacts with both church culture and broader society, for good or ill, and then examine the complicated ethical questions raised by IVF treatment.

Some links which may be helpful for Christians who are experiencing infertility:

Saltwater and Honey - a collection of voices sharing their stories about infertility, miscarriage, childlessness and faith, plus lots of resources

The Rhythm of Hope - an annual retreat and community for Christian couples

Waiting for Children - a course which many churches around the UK run, including HTB who are running it online

John's book Matters of Life and Death also has several chapters exploring infertility and reproductive technology.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Matters of Life and Death have?

Matters of Life and Death currently has 173 episodes available.

What topics does Matters of Life and Death cover?

The podcast is about Religion & Spirituality, Podcasts and Science.

What is the most popular episode on Matters of Life and Death?

The episode title 'Pregnancy crisis: A constructive Christian response, heads versus hearts, paternalistic gynaecologists, and ambiguity in the ultrasound clinic' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Matters of Life and Death?

The average episode length on Matters of Life and Death is 43 minutes.

How often are episodes of Matters of Life and Death released?

Episodes of Matters of Life and Death are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Matters of Life and Death?

The first episode of Matters of Life and Death was released on Apr 23, 2020.

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