Free from crooked things
Buddhism is fatalistic, deeply misogynist and riven with superstition. And yet, argues Karen Connelly, it also inspires resistance to tyranny and the fight for freedom
Rationalism, Atheism & Humanism
The Threat to Reason by Dan Hind
Jonathan Derbyshire is unthreatened by an enlightenment sceptic
Thinker: Jean Meslier
Colin Brewer on Jean Meslier, a priest who left a deathbed bombshell
Through the looking glass
AC Grayling finds that in the work of leading philosopher John Gray, everything is the wrong way round and upside down
Clouded judgement
Its not just the flickering flames, the calm and cool that humanists are giving up, argues Sally Feldman. It's a precious part of themselves
Atheism à la mode
What is the outspoken French atheist philosopher Michel Onfray really saying? Caspar Melville meets him and canvasses some expert opinion.
Irish stew
In the fledgling Stormont democracy, discovers Newton Emerson, some are more equal than others
Bosphorus Straits
Ahead of a critical election columnist Ahmet Altan warns that his country’s current political crisis could have fateful consequences for us all
Monkey business
A new book on apes has nothing to teach us about human nature says Steven Rose
French lessons
Jim Herrick reports from the world's largest gathering of freethinkers