Matters of Life and Death

In the United States, a surprising coalition of MAGA Republicans and progressive Democrats have united in their shared opposition to animal testing in medical research, and are pushing to shut it down for good. But what should Christians think about using animals in research to find new drugs or treatments for humans? John spent years conducting just this kind of research himself as a doctor, and so we discuss how he came to believe this was morally appropriate and his own run-ins with Britain’s animal rights activists. We also think through the theological foundations of human exceptionalism, and how the idea we are different (and indeed more valuable) than everything else God has made is coming under fresh challenge today.

The original Economist article we cite at the start: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2026/08/05/how-a-bipartisan-coalition-is-taking-aim-at-animal-research

• 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

Tim is away this week, so please enjoy a classic episode from the MOLAD archive:
Francis Collins is one of the leading scientists of his generation, a world-renowned geneticist who led the international project to map the human genome. Later he served under three presidents as the director of the National Institute of Health, which led him to play a pivotal role in America’s battle against the covid pandemic. He’s also an evangelical Christian who has often shared his convictions that science and Biblical faith are never in conflict. His experience trying, and often failing, to persuade sceptical American Christians to get vaccinated, while culture wars tore apart churches and communities alike, prompted him to write a book calling for a return to traditional sources of wisdom: science, truth, and faith. In this episode we talk through his experiences in public office as a Christian scientist and discuss how the US evangelical church became so polarised, divided and sceptical of good science, even when presented by faithful believers like him.

• 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

An influential British church leader has issued a ‘prophetic’ warning to the church to prepare for armed conflict in the near future. This has triggered a minor frenzy, with reactions ranging from panic to suspicion. But his warnings actually echo quite a lot of what the British government and military have also been saying in recent months too. In today’s episode we consider the different ways Christians think about war and what it might look like to seriously get ready if you believe conflict is coming. Is there a piece of theological reflection on pacifism and just war theory to be done, alongside stockpiling tinned food and drinking water? How could pastors prepare their flocks for the possibility of being conscripted into World War Three? And why are some Christian voices apparently egging on the very state which is threatening to throw Europe back into war?

• You can listen to Pete Greig’s full prophecy here https://wildfiresfestival.com/venue/labs/ or read his statement online here https://www.dirtyglory.org/blog/2026/10/5/prepare-for-war-a-statement
• John Heathershaw’s blog responding to Greig is here https://substack.com/@johnheathershaw/p-218503397

• 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

Two stories about capital punishment in the United States have grabbed attention across the world: the doubly-botched attempt to execute Christa Pike, which left this convicted murderer alive but hospitalised, and plans by the federal government to livestream their own execution of the army officer behind the Fort Hood shooting. In today’s episode we reflect on the death penalty, which has been abolished for most of the Western world for generations yet persists in the US, and consider the arguments for and against from a Christian perspective. Does God sanction governments to carry out this ultimate punishment? What effect does taking another’s life have on us? Can the death penalty be reconciled with the gospel of grace and God’s offer of redemption in Christ?

• 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

John is away, so here's a classic episode from the MOLAD vault. Once dismissed as quackery or New Age woo, near death experiences are seeing something of a modern revival. A slew of serious scientists and doctors have begun studying the phenomenon, even constructing clinical trials to try and see what, if anything, goes on when someone is on the brink of death but is resuscitated successfully. And there is now an entire Christian industry of books and films about believers who claim to have ‘gone to heaven and come back’ after nearly dying. What are the scientific claims behind these experiences, and what do we know and not know about what happens to the brain as it begins to die? Should believers embrace near death experiences as concrete proof of the afterlife? And how does Jesus and the New Testament encourage the Christian to approach questions and fears about death?

• 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