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Legacies of 9/11: Reflections on Islamic Fascism, 25 Years On
The essay below was originally published on 11 September 2021 in Areo Magazine, where I worked for some years under Helen Pluckrose and Iona Italia, including as assistant editor. Areo is now closed,...
View ArticleLegacies of 9/11: On Suicide and Paradise
The recent 25th anniversary of what Americans confusingly call ‘9/11’ (it would have been 11/9 over here) should make us think about what goes on in the minds of suicide bombers. The idea that...
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Gods and aliens of the world, unite!
The origin, among our species, of belief in gods and other supernatural beings is so ancient—it seems that no matter how far back we go in human prehistory, we find hints of it—that we really ought to...
View ArticleGolders Green, antisemitism, and the right to criticise Israel
Six days after the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green, London, on 29 April, Prime Minister Keir Starmer warns Iran that fomenting hatred in the UK will not be tolerated. Given the number of...
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Honoured in the breach: a review of ‘Love Thy Stranger’ by Bart D. Ehrman
The subtitle to Love Thy Stranger is How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West. Author Bart D. Ehrman, a former Episcopalian, later fundamentalist Christian who...
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Online Extremism’s Challenge to the Enlightenment
We uphold the importance of free inquiry and the free exchange of ideas. But what happens when they lead someone to mass murder? In an interesting and often-overlooked passage in his foundational work...
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The Big Bang, animal suffering, and debunking apologists: interview with Phil...
Introduction Phil Halper is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a science communicator and sceptic with a large online following. On his YouTube channel, he engages with some of the biggest...
View ArticleJudeo-Christian religionists cannot ‘liberate’ Muslims (or Iran)
In a Pentagon press briefing this month, amid the ongoing war with Iran, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quoted Psalm 144: ‘Blessed be the lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers...
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Islam’s tyrannical costumes
Jeunes mères et grandes soeurs aux regards pleins de pèlerinages, sultanes, princesses de démarche et de costumes tyranniques… —Arthur Rimbaud, Illuminations The female veil provides a rich...
View ArticleIran: Between Bombs and Theocracy
In this compilation of various interviews for WBAI NYC Radio, BBC 5 Live, and Times Radio, which has been edited for clarity, Maryam Namazie argues that the real struggle in Iran is not between rival...
View ArticleA Thought for Darwin Day: The Perfect Scam
To celebrate Darwin Day (Charles Darwin’s birthday), let’s look at how Darwin, unwittingly and unfortunately, played into the hands of his detractors. Unwisely, he used a word that stimulates...
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Trains of (Free)Thought #4: On Liberty, Lightning, Luther, and Lawrence
Trains of (Free)Thought is a four-part series of reflections prompted by the author’s travels through France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany between 26 August and 23 September 2025. Other instalments...
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The Anatomy of Zionism: Interview with Shlomo Sand
Shlomo Sand, 2014. photo: Michel Abada. CC BY-SA 3.0. Shlomo Sand is an Israeli historian and the author of many books about Judaism, Zionism, and the Israel-Palestine conflict, including The...
View ArticleThe Christmas Story
Many well-known ancient characters, both real and fictional, were alleged to be the products of miraculous births, usually fathered by a god and an earthly mother. Perseus and Heracles’ dad was Zeus,...
View ArticleOn Israel, Hamas, and Refusing the Binary
Maryam Namazie spoke about the undoubted harm that militaristic, Islamic organisations such as Hamas pose to women—that was the bit that proved contentious because, while there wasn’t much there to...
View ArticleIran-Israel, and beyond: the religious perspective
The religious dimension of the open war between Iran and Israel has tended to take a back seat to other issues in analyses of the situation. The spotlight has favoured factors whose driving force,...
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Badenoch, Starmer, ‘Adolescence’, and the ignored problem of religious misogyny
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, was recently confronted by the presenters of BBC Breakfast in a compelling discussion about the Netflix show Adolescence. This gripping show, which...
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From the archive: the case for free speech and against anti-prejudice...
Reproduced below is an evergreen article by David Tribe arguing the case for free speech in the context of proposed (and, in the end, unsuccessful) anti-prejudice legislation. Though it was published...
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‘Do as I say, not as I do’: a review of ‘Dominion’ by Tom Holland
In the city of Valladolid, Mexico (not to be confused with Valladolid in Spain, the capital of the ‘Catholic monarchs’ Isabella and Ferdinand, but clearly also religion-centred like its eponym), there...
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Satan Will See You in Court: A Florida Battle for Religious Freedom
‘The Satanic Amendment’, by Paul Fitzgerald, AKA Polyp.Does Religious Freedom Apply to Everyone?In the United States, particularly here in South Florida, the principle of religious freedom is supposed...
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