Tags: Reviews
Women Leaving Islam: the rights of those who leave religion must be protected
Posted: Wed, 14 Apr 2021 by Helen Nicholls
The film Women Leaving Islam shows the risks facing those who stand up for the fundamental right to leave religion and the ongoing neglect of minorities within minorities in public life, says Helen Nicholls. Read More »
'By the Grace of God' shows the need to hold the Catholic Church accountable on child abuse
Posted: Fri, 25 Oct 2019 by Keith Porteous Wood
Keith Porteous Wood says a film highlighting the struggle to bring a senior Catholic cardinal to account for covering up child abuse is a sign that the Vatican's wall of silence cannot hold. Read More »
Barbara Smoker’s remarkable life should inspire us all
Posted: Thu, 17 Jan 2019 by Helen Nicholls
Former NSS president Barbara Smoker's book My Godforsaken Life: Memoir of a Maverick reminds us of the value of ordinary people's principled activism and provides a link to secularists of the past, says Helen Nicholls. Read More »
Review: The Children Act
Posted: Thu, 08 Nov 2018 by Emma Park
Emma Park says Ian McEwan's book and the film it has inspired prompt the questions of what the state should do when a young person's religion conflicts with their welfare, and how this affects religious freedom.
This review contains spoilers.
Does the state... Read More »
God, Guys and Guns. A review of The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Posted: Thu, 14 Jun 2018 by Emma Park
Emma Park on what Margaret Atwood's modern dystopian classic (and its TV adaptation) tells us about the relationship between theocracy, gender and self-identity.
The Handmaid's Tale is Margaret Atwood's contribution to the twentieth-century tradition of dystopian... Read More »
What comes after The Silence of the Liberals?
Posted: Fri, 16 Mar 2018 by Chris Sloggett
Nick Cohen has skewered the hypocrisy of leftists who apologise for Islamic intolerance, says Chris Sloggett. To defeat it we must assert the value of free speech as the most precious right which citizens share.
"I'm as interested in what isn't said as what... Read More »
Book review: 'Persepolis'
Posted: Tue, 16 Jan 2018 by Megan Manson
In light of the recent protests in Iran, and the rise of Islamist extremism throughout the world, Megan Manson looks back at the graphic novel Persepolis, published nearly 20 years ago.
If there were ever a perfect time to read Persepolis, it would be now.... Read More »
Book review: ‘The rage: the vicious circle of Islamist and far-right extremism’
Posted: Tue, 17 Oct 2017 by Dale Claridge
Julia Ebner's new book explores the symbiotic relationship between Islamist and (other) far right extremism, how Islamist and anti-Muslim narratives feed each other, and how we can challenge both.
While its roots predate 2001, Islamist terrorism has plagued... Read More »
Book review: ‘The Jesus Candidate: Political religion in a secular age’
Posted: Fri, 06 Oct 2017 by Megan Manson
Megan Manson and Alastair Lichten consider the importance of the Christian secularist view in James Paul Lusk's book. Lusk argues that attempts to re-establish Christian religious privilege and roll back equalities, undermine true religious freedom.
Thoughts... Read More »
Lessons from the frontline of Islamic fundamentalism
Posted: Thu, 21 Sep 2017 by Megan Manson
Megan Manson explores autobiographies by two Muslim secularists whose lives have been directly intertwined with Islamist extremism, and asks if the secular pluralism extremists most fear could be our best hope.
"Extremists have shown what frightens them the... Read More »
Review: The Battle for British Islam, by Sara Khan with Tony McMahon
Posted: Thu, 27 Oct 2016 by Benjamin Jones
There are three million Muslims in the UK. The evidence shows they are becoming more religiously conservative, thousands are thought to have joined Islamic State; vast majorities would criminalise blasphemy and homosexuality. What hope is there?
'The Battle... Read More »
Book review: 'Christian Nation' by Frederic C. Rich
Posted: Thu, 21 Jul 2016 by Alastair Lichten
Alastair Lichten explores the themes of identity, resilience and redemption in Frederic C. Rich's counterfactual dystopian novel and its defence of secular democracy.
Rich's debut novel depicts America's evolution into a theocratic state following the political... Read More »
Spotlight: This hard-hitting film salutes the journalists who exposed the power of a deeply corrupt institution
Posted: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 by Keith Porteous Wood
Keith Porteous Wood previews Spotlight, the hard-hitting film which depicts the Boston Globe's investigation into the cover-up of child sex abuse by the Catholic Church.
Spotlight, a film released this Friday (29 January), follows the Boston Globe's dogged... Read More »
The English Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis
Posted: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 by Richard Scorer
In England, Catholic leaders have fostered the impression that the English church has been relatively scandal-free, and that such problems as did exist were eliminated by the Nolan reforms. A new book by Richard Scorer, head of the abuse unit at Slater &... Read More »
Book Review: The Public Woman by Joan Smith
Posted: Thu, 30 May 2013 by Elizabeth O’Casey
In her book The Public Woman (The Westbourne Press, 2013), published this month, Joan Smith catalogues the various forms and dimensions of control, coercion and misogynist abuse of women in the UK and beyond. Her book seeks a reconfiguration of the public... Read More »
Where there is state religion, there is less freedom
Posted: Thu, 04 Apr 2013 by Elizabeth O'Casey
In a recent paper, "State Religion and Freedom: A Comparative Analysis", published by the Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, Professor Steven Kettell discusses the findings of his comparative analysis on the relationship... Read More »
Interculturalism: The new era of cohesion and diversity
Posted: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 by National Secular Society
Book Review: Interculturalism: The new era of cohesion and diversity (Ted Cantle, Palgrave, £19.99)
Reviewed by Steve Sparrow
Who are you? Ask me to describe myself and I may give you five hundred words. Often though, we're happy to identify people different... Read More »
Dare To Stand Alone: The Story of Charles Bradlaugh
Posted: Fri, 04 Feb 2011 by Terry Sanderson
Charles Bradlaugh, the man who founded the National Secular Society in 1866, had a short but dramatic life, which is vividly portrayed in this new biography. Reviewed by Terry Sanderson.
Bryan Niblett makes clear that since his childhood he has been thrilled... Read More »
