NEW HUMANIST VOLUME 123 No 3 Tel 0207 436 1151 Fax 0207 079 3588 Email info@newhumanist.org.uk Editorial Offices 1 Gower Street, London WC1E 6HD

Editor Caspar Melville Commissioning Editor Laurie Taylor Associate Editor Sally Feldman Editorial Assistant Paul Sims Designer Nick McKay Cover Martin Rowson Business Manager Judith Walker Subscriptions Jillian Gibbins Subscriptions enquiries jillian.gibbins@newhumanist.org.uk Tel 0207 436 1171 Advertising info@newhumanist.org.uk Website www.newhumanist.org.uk ISSN 0306-512X

Published by the Rationalist Association registered charity No 1096577 RA President Jonathan Miller Vice presidents Baroness Susan Greenfield, Paul Kurtz, Laurie Taylor Honorary associates David Aaronovitch, Peter Atkins, Lord Birt, Harold Blackham, Colin Blakemore, Alan Brownjohn, Colin Campbell, Philip Campbell, Noam Chomsky, Bernard Crick, Helena Cronin, Richard Dawkins, Sanal Edamaruku, Paul Edwards, Ekow Eshun, Winston Fletcher, Michael Foot, AC Grayling, Stuart Hall, Tony Harrison, Simon Heffer, Christopher Hitchens, Eric Hobsbawm, Richard Hoggart, Ted Honderich, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Richard Leakey, Sir Michael Levey, Sir John Maddox, Haydn Mason, Edwin Mullins, Conor Cruise O’Brien, John Postgate, Claire Rayner, Amartya Sen, David Starkey, Ralph Steadman, DJ Stewart, Ian Stewart, Claire Tomalin, David Tribe, Baroness Turner of Camden, Arnold Wesker, Francis Wheen, Lewis Wolpert

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RegulaRs 3] Editorial Backwards and forwards 6] Parish news 8 ] Yours sceptically Readers’ letters 49] The goings on at Ithaca terrace Chris Maslanka’s quiz 50] Endgame Laurie Taylor gets medieval with the cults

featuRes 10] Power to the pulpit In the US presidential campaign the evangelical vote is up for grabs, says James Crabtree 14] Death on air Sanal Edamaruku on the night a guru tried to kill him live on Indian TV

24] Forked tongue Can Muslim “moderate” Tariq Ramadan be trusted? asks Doug Ireland 26] Field of nightmares Summer festivals should be avoided at all costs, says Andrew Mueller 28] Drambuie in Damascus Winston Fletcher finds drinking in Syria is easier than you might think 31] Writing on the wall Forty years after the riots he inspired Henri Lefevbre’s politics of everyday life still matters, says Daniel Miller 34] Heights of madness Sally Feldman celebrates the agony and ecstasy of the high heel 39] Western front Creationism is on the march in Europe, says Peter C Kjaergaard

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