Q&A: Why are we ignoring rising death rates among poorer ethnic minority children, and will the flesh-and-blood girlfriend become a thing of the past?

New official data in England reveals an alarming and much under-reported phenomenon – significant increases in mortality among children from the most deprived communities over the last two years. What is driving this concerning uptick in the statistics and why has it gone under the radar, both for mainstream society and the church? Also in the news this past week, we respond to the rise in popularity of ‘AI girlfriends’. New software apps allow lonely and frustrated young men to create the virtual girlfriend of their dreams, who is beautiful, sexy, dutiful, constantly available, and endlessly flattering. What impact is this having on real-world relationships, and will Christians ultimately need to walk away from AI technology if it keeps on tending towards these kind of exploitative and harmful applications? The National Child Mortality Database has all the data on the rise in child deaths here: https://www.ncmd.info/publications/child-death-data-2023/‘We Can’t Compete With AI Girlfriends’ by Freya India: https://www.freyaindia.co.uk/p/we-cant-compete-with-ai-girlfriendsSubscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.comFor more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com