Matters of Life and Death

For the next two weeks we’re dipping back into the Matters of Life and Death archive to bring you an episode we first broadcast last year. It’s all about simulation. We live in an era when digital technology is making it increasingly easy and cheap to create fake but compelling images or videos of people, or even entirely artificial human-like personalities. Machine learning tools and progress in artificial intelligence software means we are closer than ever to things previously only imaginable in sci fi: computer programs which can speak to us like a human or, androids which are indistinguishable from real people. In this episode we discuss examples of this kind of tech already in the world, what impact it may have in the future, and how we as Christians should think about these forms of simulated images, relationships and personalities. If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, find more resources to read, listen to and watch at John’s website: http://www.johnwyatt.com For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

Could it be that some knowledge – including whether your unborn child has a serious genetic condition – is actually not helpful, and even harmful to us? 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. If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, find more resources to read, listen to and watch at John’s website: http://www.johnwyatt.com For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

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. What ethical challenges does this knowledge, whether gained via the official NHS programmes or a growing number of DIY tests available online, pose? If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, find more resources to read, listen to and watch at John’s website: http://www.johnwyatt.com For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

Demographic trends reveal clearly the next century will be one increasingly dominated by older people. If God is giving us a lot more folk in their later years, what are they for in church life? Has the modern church, terrified of decline, alienated its faithful, older congregants in a desperate attempt to lure back the young? And what wisdom and service do older Christians have to offer their churches? If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, find more resources to read, listen to and watch at John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com Matters of Life and Death is part of Premier Unbelievable. Find out more at www.premierunbelievable.com

The world’s population is rapidly becoming older and older, with many developed nations seeing unprecedented proportions of their citizens in retirement age. Why is this taking place, and does this presage an era of economic stagnation or a utopia of stability? How have fears over demography shifted as fertility rates plummet across the world, and how can we avoid pitting the young against the ever more powerful old in bitter intergenerational conflict? If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, find more resources to read, listen to and watch at John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com Matters of Life and Death is part of Premier Unbelievable. Find out more at www.premierunbelievable.com

In the second part of our conversation on robot rights, we explore three Christian responses to calls for robot personhood, spanning the spectrum of hostility to optimism about the development. What Biblical truths and doctrines can we turn to as we wrestle with what is a fundamentally brand new dilemma? And how would our theology and practice as believers change should conscious, intelligent, autonomous robots come to live among us? You can find plenty of resources on the question of personhood and robotics on John’s website: www.johnwyatt.com John co-edited a multi-author book last year called The Robot Will See You Now which brought together Christian thinkers and writers to consider how the rise of robotics and AI might affect everything from the arts to healthcare. You can find out more and order a copy here: https://johnwyatt.com/2021/07/01/the-robot-will-see-you-now/

If and when autonomous and intelligent robots come into existence, should they be granted rights, or even personhood? A growing number of technologists argue governments must lay out what status conscious and rational machines would have before they actually have been invented. But how can we decide what is and isn’t a person, and what rights and responsibilities such a thing should have? And how could this philosophical and technical debate affect our Christian beliefs on human uniqueness? You can find plenty of resources on the question of personhood and robotics on John’s website: www.johnwyatt.com John co-edited a multi-author book last year called The Robot Will See You Now which brought together Christian thinkers and writers to consider how the rise of robotics and AI might affect everything from the arts to healthcare. You can find out more and order a copy here: https://johnwyatt.com/2021/07/01/the-robot-will-see-you-now/

Abortion is a flashpoint issue in both the church and wider culture, with the very language you choose used as a cudgel for either side. So how can Christians talk about it and respond to it in a way which cools tensions rather than inflames them? How has the church’s thinking on abortion and pregnancy changed over the many decades John has been involved in healthcare? And can a pro-life believer offer truly non-directive counselling to a pregnant woman considering termination, or work with integrity in a hospital which carries out abortions? (This episode was recorded before the news broke about the draft Supreme Court ruling in the United States which would revoke Roe v Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion.) A good place to get help if you or someone you know is experiencing an unplanned pregnancy (or if you'd like to find your local pregnancy crisis centre in the UK) is https://www.pregnancychoicesdirectory.com/info You can find more information and resources on abortion and the beginning of life on John's website: www.johnwyatt.com 

Rates of unplanned pregnancies rose significantly during the coronavirus lockdowns. What kind of support is out there for women (and men) facing this situation, and how can the church try and plug the gaps? In this episode we speak with Sophie Guthrie-Kummer, who runs a charity in London which has offered pregnancy crisis counselling (among other services) for two decades, to hear what this work looks like and how Choices juggles the theological and social hot potatoes of pregnancy and abortion.  You can find more information and resources on abortion and the beginning of life on John's website: www.johnwyatt.com  A good place to get help if you or someone you know is experiencing an unplanned pregnancy (or if you'd like to find your local pregnancy crisis centre in the UK) is https://www.pregnancychoicesdirectory.com/info  You can find out more about Choices here: https://www.choicesislington.org/ 

This is part two of our re-broadcast of last year’s John Stott episode, to mark what would have been his centenary. Is Stott’s vision of lay Christians persuading for Christ in the public square a naïve fantasy in the 21st century? And should we be more cautious before lionising evangelical titans like Stott in this age of scandal and disappointment? (Originally broadcast in April 2021). Resources from John's website from the Stott centenary: Talk and discussion: Quick to listen – lessons from John Stott on grace under fire Interview and talk: The John Stott Centenary – Equipping the people of God for ministry Interview: The life and legacy of John Stott