Volume 122 Issue 5 September/October 2007

Editorial: Those calling for partition in Iraq should remember the consequences of another attempt to carve up a diverse society along religious lines

Cover Story

Degrees of separation: This year, a record number of student activists have been found guilty of terrorist crimes. As the new academic year begins, Paul Sims assesses how universities are dealing with the challenge

Quack science: Award-winning crime writer Christopher Brookmyre explains why his latest book is dedicated to Dawkins, Randi and the debunkers of pseudo-science

When worlds collide: Scientists must not indulge mysticism, argues Yves Gingras
Virtue rewarded: Virgins of the world unite, says Sally Feldman. You have nothing to lose
Forced labour: 200 years since it was abolished, slavery is not only still happening, reports Rahila Gupta, it’s actually increasing all over the world
Secrets and lies: Survivors of child abuse at religious schools are finally making their case, reports Francis Beckett
Finger on the trigger: If Pakistan falls, Jihadis will have the bomb. Maruf Khwaja warns of his country’s deepening crisis

End Game: Faking it: Laurie Taylor comes clean
Thinker: Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach: Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was the man who brought religion down to earth, says Nina Power
Diary: Lucy Mangan is lacking put-downs for the pious

Native son: 175 years after the death of Scotland’s most celebrated novelist, Murray Pittock asks if Walter Scott was an enemy of the Enlightenment, or its champion
God slot: Radio 4's Thought for the Day has for four decades infuriated humanists with its daily dose of religious platitudes. But, argues David Hendy, it could be a force for freedom
Out of this world: Why is fantasy taking over our TV screens? Natalie Haynes unravels a mystery
Only joking: Introducing our recent public debate on humour at London’s Royal Society of Arts, Laurie Taylor discovered that laughter can be a serious business

A Living Lens: Photographs of Jewish Life from the Pages of the Forward: Keith Kahn-Harris on a Jewish photographic history
Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the Post-Islamic Turn by Asef Bayat: Sami Zubaida questions Islamic democracy
The Art of Listening by Les Back: Stuart Sim is impressed by Les Back's approach to sociology
From Anger to Apathy: The British Experience Since 1975 by Mark Garnett: Stephen Howe is bored with apathy
Diary of a Bad Year by JM Coetzee: Stan Cohen reviews JM Coetzee's latest
The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong: Rev'd Dr Giles Fraser on why you should read the Bible