At 89, the venerable Australian biologist, ecologist and theologian Charles Birch has written a new book, Science and Soul, a memoir in which he looks back with gratitude to the long list of world-famous scientists and philosophers of religion who have influenced his work - Theodosius Dobzhansky, J.B.S.Haldane, Paul Erlich, Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, Margaret Mead, and many more.

In a speech given to New College at the University of New South Wales in 2005, Kevin Rudd outlined his vision of the appropriate relationship between Church and State in Australia. While Jesus teaches compassion for the marginal, Catholic social teaching emphasises the proper balance between the rights of organised capital and labour. And Australian author Val Webb tries to 'catch water in a net' as she surveys the multiple ways in which people have tried to describe God.

"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth" says God in the book of Genesis. Today, with a global poulation of over six billion, can we now say we've filled the earth, and set the commandment aside? Or should we be more worried about declining fertility rates? This week Encounter explores the numbers and the ethics behind the population debate.

The Jewish tradition is full of rituals, old and new, and in Australia artists are creating new ritual objects (Judaica) now on display at the Jewish Museum of Australia in Melbourne. The cup for a girl's naming ceremony and tiny dreidels (spinning tops) for Hanukkah are among the objects that curator Rebecca Forgasz has included in this third such exhibition since 1991.

A new book by Rachael Kohn (ABC Books) explores the frontiers of religion and science.
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Peter Kirkwood investigates the growth of interfaith communication in a time of deep transformation- a movement begun over one hundred years ago but propelled to necessity by the tragic events of September 11
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ABC TV's Four Corners' retrospective of its coverage of Islamist Terrorism between 2001 - 2004