Iran-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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Trains of (Free)Thought #1: Marc Bloch, History, and Freethought
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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US feeling cross: a review of ‘Cross Purposes’ by Jonathan Rauch
Religion—meaning, in practice, Christianity—has an essential role to play in upholding liberal democracy in the United States, in the view of US author Jonathan Rauch, propounded in his latest book,...
View ArticleGods, monsters, and scripture: interview with Gavin Evans
Gavin Evans is a writer and lecturer whose most recent book, Bible Stories: Fact, Fantasy and Fiction in Scripture, is the subject of this interview. Topics discussed include: the origins of the...
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Trains of (Free)Thought #2: Doubt, Dissent, and Death at the Duomo di Milano
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...
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 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,...
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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...
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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...
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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