Rosetta comet-chaser phones home Rosetta, Europe’s comet-chasing spacecraft, has woken from its slumber. A signal confirming its alert status was received by controllers in Darmstadt, Germany, at 18:17 GMT. Rosetta…
Last Friday, a Greek court sentenced Filippos Loizos to 10 months imprisonment for “malicious blasphemy”. Loizos was arrested in September 2012 for hosting a satirical Facebook page, which depicted a…
The Deputy Prime Minister is enthusiastic, but the Mayor of London is opposed. Are new towns mere folly, or do they offer a humanist solution to the housing crisis?
It was good to see an article in the Independent this weekend on the growing number of British atheists from Muslim backgrounds. In the piece, several ex-Muslims discuss their experiences…
UN invites Iran to Syria peace talks UN chief Ban Ki-moon has invited Iran to take part in preliminary Syrian peace talks this week in Switzerland, an offer Tehran has…
There are powerful arguments on both sides of the debate, but the reluctance of all three parties to talk about euthanasia means those seeking the right to die are forced…
A short documentary explores the experience of being an atheist in a society that equates blackness with being a believer
House of Lords to debate religious animal slaughter The House of Lords will today debate the ethical, legal and religious factors that influence the way animals are slaughtered in the…
This piece is from the Winter 2013 edition of New Humanist. Subscribe here. Whenever I’m asked for a short biography, for a talk or a panel appearance, I always send…
After the UK granted asylum to an Afghan man on the ground of his atheism, Anna Vesterinen surveys the countries where a lack of belief can put your life at…
Vatican facing UN showdown on sex abuse record The Vatican is gearing up for a bruising showdown over the global priest sex abuse scandal, forced to defend itself publicly for…
How effective are western threats to withdraw aid, asks Samira Shackle
Atheist Afghan granted religious asylum in UK An Afghan citizen has been granted asylum in the UK for religious reasons – because he is an atheist. He was brought up…
Some people are Muslim. Many of those people will have children. It’s possible to measure the rate of births among people who are Muslim and compare it to the rate…
While the grizzled veterans of US atheism continue their head-on fight against religious dominance, a younger crop of skeptics are pursuing a more open and creative form of non-belief. Having…