Épisodes

  • Are men really coming back to church? with Justin Brierley

    Are men really coming back to church? with Justin Brierley
    Mar 11 2026
    It’s been impossible to miss the growing excitement in some corners of the church in recent years that there is a turnaround in church attendance and interest in faith. After generations of secularism and apathy, lots are convinced things are changing, and in particular younger people and especially young men are coming to church in large numbers. Podcaster and journalist Justin Brierley spent years curating conversations between Christians and non-believers during the height of New Atheism; now he is tracking what he calls the “surprising rebirth of belief in God”. In this episode we chat with Justin about what evidence there is for the so-called Quiet Revival and what might be driving disaffected young men towards traditional Christianity. And, how those of us already established in the church can and should respond to those exploring faith via the unusual intermediaries of social media influencers or right-wing culture warriors. You can find Justin’s writings and podcasts at his website: www.justinbrierley.com • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to molad@premier.org.uk • 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 • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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    1 h et 1 min
  • Rediscovering evil

    Rediscovering evil
    Mar 4 2026
    Both the Old and New Testaments are quite clear that bad things are not simply the result of bad choices by free human beings. There are also personal, malevolent, demonic forces at work, and our lives as followers of Jesus are caught up in cosmic spiritual battles. And yet while we may pay lip service to this, many Christians live as functional materialists, finding talk of Satan and spiritual warfare all a bit confusing and distasteful. In this episode we explore why it is some streams of Christianity have lost sight of the reality of spiritual evil, and how recovering this theology might help us better live faithfully and wisely in our present age. • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to molad@premier.org.uk • 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 • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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    1 h et 1 min
  • Touching grass and witnessing to truth: the church in an era of AI fakery and misinformation

    Touching grass and witnessing to truth: the church in an era of AI fakery and misinformation
    Feb 25 2026
    Tim recently spent a few weeks researching AI misinformation in the church context for a newspaper article, and that serves as the jumping off point for today’s conversation. What are Christian AI experts saying about the way our online world is filling up with AI generated nonsense and fake images and videos? Are there useful ways to use this increasingly powerful new technology for the kingdom? Or is the church’s role to stand against a society losing its grasp on objective reality and the difference between the real world outside and the world on the screen? • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to molad@premier.org.uk • 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 • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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    53 min
  • Psychedelics: Shamans, the philosophy of Harry Potter and the neuroscientific turn

    Psychedelics: Shamans, the philosophy of Harry Potter and the neuroscientific turn
    Feb 18 2026
    Tim is away this week, so we’re dipping into the MOLAD archive for a classic episode from 2024. Culture is increasingly interested in psychedelic drugs. Whether it’s Silicon Valley execs micro-dosing LSD to turbocharge their meetings, Americans doing 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. But what does this all mean? Should we welcome this as simply another frontier in medical science, or is it occultic and anti-Christian? Have believers been wrong all along in their traditional hostility to mind-altering substances? What is at stake with our spiritual lives when we start to fiddle around with chemicals in the brain? • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to molad@premier.org.uk • 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 • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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    54 min
  • The social media addiction trial: Can Christians use the courts to protect the vulnerable?

    The social media addiction trial: Can Christians use the courts to protect the vulnerable?
    Feb 11 2026
    A landmark trial is beginning in Los Angeles, as a series of people, parents and schools sue major social media giants, accusing them of harming their teenage users through the platforms’ addictive design. While some governments (such as Australia with its ban on under-16s) are taking bold steps to regulate social media, in other places legal action seems the only plausible route. How should we think about these developments as believers? Is trying to shake down tech companies in court a wise way to protect vulnerable teenagers? Can we adopt a ‘harm-minimisation’ strategy or is a blanket ban the only ethical option? What does it look like to be salt and light and prophetically speak for the needy in our secular societies? The BBC News article referenced at the start of the episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24g8v6qr1mo • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to molad@premier.org.uk • 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 • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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    52 min
  • Q&A: Were we unfair on the House of Lords over its assisted dying scrutiny? And the Church of England prepares to welcome its first nurse-Archbishop

    Q&A: Were we unfair on the House of Lords over its assisted dying scrutiny? And the Church of England prepares to welcome its first nurse-Archbishop
    Feb 4 2026
    Last week’s episode about the parliamentary wrangling over the UK’s assisted suicide bill prompted a fair amount of disagreement from listeners who felt we were wrongly accusing members of the House of Lords of bad faith. We read out some emails and consider different ways to interpret the logjam in the Lords caused by the 1000+ amendments tabled to the controversial bill. Then we move on to the incoming Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, who has just been confirmed in the role. As well as the first woman to lead the Church of England, Mullally also had an earlier career as a nurse, rising to become the most senior nurse in England aged just 37. What difference might this experience make to how she leads the church, and could she help rebuild bridges between the increasingly secular NHS and the churches which were once the foundation of healthcare in Britain’s past? • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to molad@premier.org.uk • 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 • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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    37 min
  • Do the ends justify the means? The dubious campaign by unelected lawmakers to destroy the assisted dying bill

    Do the ends justify the means? The dubious campaign by unelected lawmakers to destroy the assisted dying bill
    Jan 28 2026
    Last year, the democratically-elected MPs of Britain’s House of Commons passed by a margin of 23 votes a bill to introduce assisted suicide for the first time. Before it can come into force, the bill has to also be approved by the UK’s unelected upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords. Here it has started to founder, as opposition grows and the parliamentary procedure is gummed up by a thousand separate amendments. For those of us who think assisted dying will be a disaster, is this kind of political dirty war the right way to go to stop a bad bill becoming law? Or should we admit defeat and allow a bill approved in a free vote by the representatives of the people to pass, rather than tear up democracy in the process? What could be lost as collateral damage in the increasingly ugly battle over assisted suicide? And what are the Christian roots of the tradition of giving our lawmakers the freedom to vote their consciences on ethical issues like this, anyway? Our last podcast after the assisted dying bill was first approved by the House of Commons: https://www.johnwyatt.com/the-assisted-suicide-bill-has-been-passed-by-parliament-what-comes-next/ John’s briefing on the legislation, circulated to all MPs ahead of the original vote: https://www.johnwyatt.com/leadbeaterbill/ • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to molad@premier.org.uk • 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 • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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    53 min
  • What makes the church vulnerable to abusers?

    What makes the church vulnerable to abusers?
    Jan 21 2026
    Abuse has been exposed in every corner of the church in recent times, but the evangelical tradition has been particularly badly hit with a litany of respected leaders revealed to have been prolific abusers. One of the worst was John Smyth, but the official Church of England investigation into him including a fascinating appendix from Elly Hanson, a psychologist who specialises in abuse. Elly unpicked not just the psychology of why Smyth sadistically beat dozens of young men in his garden shed, but also the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the evangelical sub-culture which he exploited: hierarchies, loyalties, patriarchy, alongside assumptions about the nature of sin and repentance. In this episode she joins us to talk through her conclusions, and discuss whether evangelicalism can be purged of its risky communal practices and made safer, without losing its fundamental theological convictions. You can read Elly’s appendix here, starting on p67: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/john-smyth-review-all-appendices.pdf Tim’s analysis of the whole Makin report into John Smyth and its implications for the church: https://tswyatt.substack.com/p/sparing-the-rod • You can send in your questions for us to discuss on the podcast, or ideas for future episodes, to molad@premier.org.uk • 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 • Find some of Tim's journalism and sign up for free to his weekly church news newsletter The Critical Friend: https://tswyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
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    1 h et 1 min