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Circumcision: the human rights violation that no one wants to talk about
From the Freethinker cover page, January 2000. 23 years later, what has changed? Suppose it were reported that three baby girls had bled to death following Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK....
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Secularism in the Welsh valleys
Tylorstown, Rhondda Valley, Wales (2021). Image: ProfDEH via wikimedia Commons. When Rhodri Morgan, the former First Minister of Wales, was given a public, humanist funeral at the Welsh Parliament in...
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Image of the week: Back-door Theocracy
Open Door, by Freethinker cartoonist Polyp, aka Paul Fitzgerald. The post Image of the week: Back-door Theocracy appeared first on The Freethinker.
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Artificial intelligence and algorithmic bias on Islam
Laboratory in the Islamic University of TEchnology, Bangladesh (2014). Image: Ibrahm Husain Meraj via Wikimedia Commons. Advancements in scientific research have been overturning clerical hegemony in...
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Humanists and ethical reform in mid-twentieth-century Britain
Bertrand Russell in 1957. Image: Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo via Wikimedia Commons. Humanists contributed immeasurably to ethical debates in Britain in the mid-twentieth century. Relatively small in...
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The perils of dropping a book
Jesus and Mo, ‘Book’, 1 March 2023. Image: Mohammed Jones. The trial of Ashfaq Masih will mean little to people in Britain today. It could be suggested that it means even less in Pakistan, where his...
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Divine right of kings?
Divine right of kings? Charles I and Charles III. Image of the week: Charles I and Charles III. Plus ça change? The portrait of Charles I, now in the National Portrait Gallery, dates to the late 17th...
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Traditional religion in Zimbabwe: was God a Christian import?
Shona stone sculpture, Zimbabwe. Image: Ishmael Muchena (2014) via Wikimedia Commons. The purpose of this article is to briefly discuss the absence of the concept of a deity in the Shona traditional...
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Cancel culture and religious intolerance: ‘Falsely Accused of Islamophobia’,...
Image: Academica Press. On April 26, I returned to my alma mater, the University of Edinburgh, to attend a film screening hosted by the Edinburgh chapter of Academics for Academic Freedom. The film,...
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Breaking the silence: Pakistani ex-Muslims find a voice on social media
Nuriyah Khan, an ex-Muslim who runs a YouTube channel. In Pakistan, religion exerts a significant influence over society. This often results in restricted freedom of expression for those with...
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Blasphemy and bishops: how secularists are navigating the culture wars
St Stephen’s Hall, Houses of Parliament, Westminster. IMage: Snapshots of the Past, via Wikimedia Commons. In the last fortnight, the National Secular Society participated in two quite different...
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How laïcité can save secularism
Same-sex marriage equality demonstration in Paris, 27 January 2013. Image: Vassil via Wikimedia Commons. Official secular states are falling like dominoes into the hands of radical religionists the...
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Bring on the British republic – Graham Smith’s ‘Abolish the Monarchy’, reviewed
Abolish the Monarchy, cover of first edition. Image: Penguin, 2023. During the coronation of King Charles III, the Metropolitan Police arrested 64 people, most of whom they claimed were there to...
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How Turkey abandoned secularism
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) in 1917. Image via Wikimedia Commons. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan triumphed in a closely contested election in May, ensuring another five years in power and...
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Faith schools: where do the political parties stand?
‘Children at Fen Ditton Junior School sit at their desks and say Grace before they drink their mid-morning milk’, 1944. Image: Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer, via Wikimedia...
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Campaign ‘to unite India and save its secular soul’
Shalu Raizada (Middle). Photo provided by the author. On August 15, India’s 76th Independence Day, Aditi* and Shrey*, a married Hindu couple, visited Ishrat Kazmi, a retired school principal, at her...
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Freethinkers in conversation
The Freethinker editorial team: Daniel Sharp and Emma Park. A round-up of recent and upcoming talks by the Freethinker editorial team, as well as a couple from the National Secular Society and Conway...
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The hijab is the wrong symbol to represent women
Protest against Iranian Theocracy in Trafalgar Square, London, 16 September 2023. Image: Alisdare1 via Wikimedia Commons. A 16 year old girl, Armita Geravand, is one of the latest victims of the...
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Britain’s liberal imam: Interview with Taj Hargey
Taj Hargey, interview with the Freethinker. Image: E. Park Introduction Dr Taj Hargey is one of the most dynamic, outspoken and controversial figures in Islam today. He is a citizen both of the UK and...
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An Islamic (mis)education about Israel
This article is the third in our series of reflections from different perspectives on the Israel-Palestine conflict, one of the most complex, contentious and emotive conflicts of recent times, and one...
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