Volume 123 Issue 6 November/December 2008

Editorial: Vive la Revolución!: Amid the battered bankers and pessimistic pundits why are humanists so happy?

Columns

Thinkers: Thomas Aquinas: Thomas Aquinas does not deserve his reputation as a friend of reason, argues Shadia Drury
Time for Accord: Rabbi Jonathan Romain introduces a new front in the fight against faith schools

Dangerous mind?: Stephen Howe chases the storm of controversy surrounding the ideas of Edward Said
Highland fling: Sally Feldman finally discovers what lies beneath the kilt
Something to declare: As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights celebrates its 60th birthday in December, Conor Gearty calls for a fresh definition of this most humanist value
Uncertainty principle: Alexei Sayle tells Laurie Taylor why he no longer has to be right all the time
Changing our minds: Left brain, right brain, hard-wiring? Think again, says Norman Doidge
Fifty years of solitude: Half a century after the revolution, is Cuba turning to new gods? Roger Davidson reports from Havana
God Trumps Part I: Struggling to choose the top religion? Can't decide between Bible-thumping evangelism or benign, gentle Buddhism? Make the process fun and easy with God Trumps, our cut-out-and-keep metaphysical card game for all the family. Devised by Christina Martin. Cartoons by Martin Rowson.
Deep trouble: Will Turkey take the Yugoslavia option? Kerem Oktem on a country caught between Islam and ultra-nationalism
Zero confidence: Banks collapsing, homes repossessed, jobs disappearing . . . no wonder the world is in despair. Steven Lukes turns to Durkheim to make sense of the real depression

Diary: Hitchen' a ride: Atheist Bus Campaign creator Ariane Sherine on what was probably the craziest week of her life
End Game: Nailed down: Laurie Taylor puts his foot in it

Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People: Now in its fourth year, our Christmas shows are becoming an institution. Curator Robin Ince explains the origins of our yuletide rationalist romp, and past performers Ricky Gervais, Simon Singh, Richard Herring, Natalie Haynes and Ben Goldacre with some seasonally inappropriate winterval witterings
All that is solid melts into art: Daniel Miller witnesses the death of a tradition at Sotheby’s

The Family by Jeff Sharlet: James Crabtree is not quite convinced by Jeff Sharlet's family
The Philosopher and the Wolf by Mark Rowlands: Nina Power takes philosophy lessons from a wolf
Novel 11, Book 18 by Dag Solstad: Philip Womack finds redemption in a Norwegian classic
Beyond Terror and Martyrdom: The Future of the Middle East by Gilles Kepel: Michael Binyon is impressed by Gilles Kepel's analysis of Jihad
The Turnaround by George Pelecanos: Stuart Sim visits George Pelecanos's mean streets
Aquinas and Modernity by Shadia Drury: Jenny Bunker rues a missed opportunity