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for your school or college Visit www.exacteditions.com JULY & AUGUST 2009

REGULARS 5 Editorial Support Singh 6 Yours sceptically Readers’

letters 8 Parish news 49 Chris Maslanka’s Quiz 50 Endgame Laurie Taylor

ruffles a few feathers

FEATURES 13 Prometheus bound Paul

Kurtz, pioneer of American humanism, has been ousted from the organisation he founded. R Joseph Hoffman, a former colleague, traces the origins of the split 16 Interview Laurie Taylor meets

the Marxist critic gunning for the New Atheists 22 Pimping Ida The real missing

link in the Ida story is that between modern science and PR, says Kenan Malik 25 What kind of humanist are

you? Are you hardline or happy, hedonist or hounded? Try our quiz 28 Liberty, the Left and Lolita

Great liberal or shallow dilettante? Jonathan Rée assesses the legacy of Isaiah Berlin 30 Rhythm rites Crispin

Robinson explains why he has become initiated in an Afro-Cuban drumming cult 34 Truth, hope and light The

language of morality has been hijacked by the Right, argues Susan Neiman 37 A gospel of our own

How does humanism go down with the kids? Danny Postel reports from the front line of the dogma wars 40 Shock and bore Cult rocker,

provocateur and now “living work of art”. Fiona Russell Powell tracks down her old friend Genesis P-Orridge 43 What kind of humanist are

you? Answers to the quiz

[16]

Why is Terry Eagleton backing Jesus?

[34] How to build a secular morality

[30]

The musical spirits of Cuba

COLUMNS 9 Diary Dawkins and Dylan

Thomas made a fitting funeral for the late Sir John Maddox 11 Opinion The child abuse

scandal has finally opened Irish eyes, says Newton Emerson

BOOK REVIEWS 44 Michael Bywater takes on the

corporations with Douglas Rushkoff 46 Philip Womack praises a

formidable Egyptian novel 46 Nina Power on a good Dark

Ages argument made for the wrong reasons 48 Louise Foxcroft is perplexed

by a book that squeezes the life out of the Black Death 48 Andrew Mueller appreciates

a note-perfect history of recorded music

[25][25]

What kind of humanist are you?

JULY AUGUST 2009 New Humanist 3