Volume 127

Issue 1: January/February 2012

Cover story: Abby Ohlheiser assesses the God 'n' Guns Republicans hoping to challenge Obama for the White House; evangelists are enjoying a British TV revival, finds Francis Beckett; Paul Sims talks to veteran Middle East watcher Fuad Nahdi about the future of the Arab Spring; Andrew Mueller on faith in The Simpsons; is evidence-based policy a realistic expectation, asks Richard Wilson; Cullen Murphy on how the Inquisition ignited the modern police state; dieting can harm your humanism, argues Sally Feldman; medicine and superstition at the Wellcome Collection; Holocaust history is under attack in Hungary, finds Thomas Land; Claire Tomalin tells Matthew Adams about the conflicted life of Charles Dickens; PLUS: Andy Hamilton on his sympathy for the Devil; Kitty Ferguson in praise of Stephen Hawking; Marcus Chown on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io; Jamila Bey on being black, female and atheist; Frederick Sternfelt condemns the cartoon cowardice of the Anglo-American press; Lyndsey Jones surveys the irrationalism of the markets; Padraig Reidy welcomes Ireland's new humanist president; Myra Zepf on why you shouldn't answer your kids' questions; Laurie Taylor talks sadly too himself; Michael Binyon revisits Cold War brinksmanship; Natalie Haynes enjoys a Nigerian travelogue; Owen Jones explores redneck America; Adam Rutherford tires of zombie creationist arguments; Nina Power puzzles over a heavyweight intellectual partnership.

Issue 2: March/April 2012

Cover story: Nick Cohen and Kenan Malik on Rushdie, offence and beating the censors; Paul Sims reports on a new front in the war on science in America; Caspar Melville talks to Alain de Botton about his new book Religion for Atheists; a year on from Fukushima nuclear power is safer than ever, says Angela Saini; Matthew Adams meets the surreal Jonathan Meades; forget the selfish gene, it's altruism that made us, says Mark Pagel; even atheists can be saved, says an anonymous alcoholic; Laurie Taylor meets Stefan Collini, the Cambridge don fighting for the future of higher education; can we cheat death? Stephen Cave counts the ways; cutting-edge cosmologist Lisa Randall talks to Manjit Kumar; PLUS: we hack into the thoughts of campaigning MP Tom Watson; Elizabeth Wilson explains why she likes Tarot cards; Marcus Chown offers a sense of perspective; Sarah Ditum confronts the growing threat to abortion rights; Musa Okwonga examines the rise in Premier League piety; Jonathan Rée goes rogue on cultural psychology; Charles Haynes enjoys a portrait of Mumbai's slums; Caspar Melville relives the disappointments of Gil Scott-Heron; Andrew Mueller hears Nick Coleman's pain; Philip Womack is undazzled by Norway's new literary star.

Issue 3: May/June 2012

Cover story: Alom Shaha, author of The Young Atheist's Handbook, on losing his Muslim faith and why he's calling on non-believers to be honest if they don't believe; when did secularism become a dirty word? asks Paul Sims; James Gray explores Britain's growing religious sects; where would science be without the urge to know? asks Philip Ball; Ralph Steadman's celebration of man's best enemy – the domestic cat; neuroscience is revealing fascinating things about our politics, argues Chris Mooney; might Joan of Arc hold the key to the French elections? asks Sally Feldman; anti-torture campaigner Helen Bamber on how her experiences working with survivors in Belsen still drive her work today; Sarah Ditum explores what can be done to combat belief in witches and the abuse that can ensue; the former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway on his journey through religion and out the other side; PLUS: Shazia Mirza on life as a foul-mouthed Muslim comic; Marcus Chown watches the sun set on Mars; Martin Robbins on how he became the poster-boy for polygamy; Angela Saini hails the eradication of polio as a sign of Indian progress; Owen Hatherley questions the Olympic legacy; Eliane Glaser calls for less credulity; Keith Kahn-Harris on trouble-making Judaism; Francis Beckett revisits the Communist Manifesto; Richard Wilson on an important exposé of religious abuse; Will Wiles enjoys an ice-cool Peter Stamm novel; Stephen Sedley judges the memoirs of a jaded lawyer

Issue 4: July/August 2012

Cover story: Hope for heathens? Julian Baggini looks on the bright side; can Mitt Romney carry the Republican vote? asks Abby Ohlheiser; down with secularism! says Richard Smyth; modern versions of Snow White reflect what we think about women, says Sally Feldman; Adam Smith reveals the humans who want to live for ever; Kenan Malik's step-by-step guide to the ethics of tolerance; Musa Okwonga meets John Amaechi; Q&A with Iain Banks; Clive Stafford Smith has dedicated his life to freeing the innocent – Caspar Melivlle meets him; Sam Mills reveals why she started a Will Self cult; PLUS: Marcus Chown looks at the aurora from space; Stephen Shashoua on why interfaith needs atheists; Massimo Pigliuci on why science needs philosophy; are the Green anti-science? asks James Gray; Bidisha on the tragedy of the West Bank wall; Martin Robbins on the coming Christian battle over tax; Laurie Taylor beats the Pope; Jonathan Rée on philosophy superstar Bruno Latour; Moheb Costandi on the latest big idea in neuroscience; Philip Womack experiments with the new Ben Marcus novel; Mark Say on Anouk Markovits' novel about Orthodox Judaism

Issue 5: September/October 2012

Cover story: Caspar Melville talks to AC Grayling about his controversial New College of the Humanities; hundreds of children every year are being forced into marriages against their will. Sarah Ditum investigates; James Gray visits the New Age enclave of Totnes, and witnesses a sceptical fightback; is male circumcision dangerous abuse or a harmless cultural signifier? asks Toby Lichtig; Bidisha reveals the shocking truth about India's booming surrogacy trade; historian Roger Luckhurst lifts the lid on the mummy's curse; believer Francis Spufford tells atheists it's time they admitted they could be wrong; Raymond Tallis lays out the case for assisted dying; Sally Feldman salutes the unsung heroines of the Women's Institute; James Fenton is one of our very best poets. Matthew Adams meets him. PLUS: Marcus Chown on footprints on the Moon; Keith Kahn-Harris on what it means to be a secular Jew; Adam Rutherford says it's time to end the creationist "wedge"; Matthew Nutley considers God behind bars; atheism and secularism are not synonymous, says Jacques Berlinerblau; Laurie Taylor ticks of the ballet; Stephen Howe is missold an investigation of dictatorship; Hugh Pearman learns why we build; Alom Shaha admires the honest of former radical Maajid Nawaz; Tess Woodcraft is captivated by a Victorian divorce.

Issue 6: November/December 2012

Cover story: Alice Roberts on belief, evolution and why she loves bones; as a crude anti-Muslim film triggers protests across the globe, Paul Sims asks whether there can be any compromise on the right to free speech; Beena Sarwar examines Pakistan's notorious blasphemy laws; science has plenty to tell us about the 'why', says Michael Brooks; an atheist's Christmas survival pack, featuring Martin Rowson, Myra Zepf and Christina Martin; in America's Presidential election, the evangelical vote is up for grabs, says Abigail Ohlheiser; Matthew Adams profiles the President of the Rationalist Association, Jonathan Miller; sociologist Linda Woodhead argues that new forms of religion are on the rise; Kenan Malik assesses Salman Rushdie's memoir of the fatwa years; Caspar Henderson marvels at airborne beasts great, small and microscopic; Owen Hatherley revisits the work of Victor Serge. PLUS: Marcus Chown explores the rings of Saturn; Jonathan Rée on the Lady Gaga of philosophy; Martin Robbins takes some Bad Pharma; Philip Womack revels in the short stories of Joseph O'Connor; Michael Bywater is primed for atheism; Laurie Taylor springs a leak; Padraic Rohan on Syria's bitter struggle; James Randerson on how Darwin took on Intelligent Design; Darren Hayman is inspired by witch trials.

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