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Our main theme this month is the danger of religious certainty; of course, the two usually go together.  In particular, we examine the Pope’s extremely homophobic Christmas message, but certainty is not confined to Christianity, as our articles from the writer and activist Maryam Namazie and M A Khan of Islam Watch testify.

A round-up of what’s been happening on our Pink Triangle blog.

Each month we look at a blog that takes our fancy. This time it’s the turn of Citizen Warrior, which logs the encroachment of  Islam into the lives of non-Muslims.

Harold Blackman believed in action. Faith without works, he said, was not Christianity. But, then, “unbelief without any effort to shoulder the consequences for mankind”, as he put it in his book Objections to Humanism, “is not humanism”.

Recently, Freethinker editor Barry Duke and G&LH joint editor Andy Armitage found themselves on air on the same BBC Radio Wales radio programme, a recording of which is available here.

Alistair Cooke was one of Britain’s best-known broadcasters – or was he America’s? In truth, he was a bit of both. On the eve of the fifth anniversary of his death, Andy Armitage takes a look at the life of the journalist, broadcaster and agnostic.

As part of the 2009 International Women’s Day, an event organised by the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain will take place in London. Maryam Namazie tells us all about it.

Is assisting someone to commit suicide as simple as it sounds? Could a law permitting such an act cover all the bases? Or would it be a legal and moral quagmire? Neil Richardson looks at the issues.

Prince Harry is prone to embarrassing gaffes, such as when he once donned a Nazi uniform for a fancy-dress do. But should we be getting worked up over the use of the word Paki in his video diary? Diesel Balaam thinks not.

This is the fourth in a series of reprints of articles from earlier issues of the print version of G&LH.

This article was first published in G&LH in Summer 2005. However, in light of Pope Ratzinger’s recent  comments to the effect that homosexual relations are as big a threat to mankind as the destruction of the rainforests, it is a relevant now as it was then.

Islam Watch is a website set up by a group of Muslim apostates who left Islam out of their own conviction when they discovered that Islam is not a religion at all. Here, one of its founders, M A Khan, explains their mission and describes the challenge ahead for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

“Surely this most progressive of programmes should not be filming one of this year’s specials in such an unsavoury place,” says the Gareth McLean On TV blog in a piece headlined The Doctor in Dubai: dubious indeed. Doctor Who fan Stephen Blake reports.

Sir Paul Stephenson, who has already been accused as being soft on homophobia, was recently appointed London’s new Metropolitan Police Commissioner. In this follow-up to the article “Murder Rap” – which we ran in the November issue of G&LH – Peter Tatchell  explains why he thinks the new police chief is a hypocrite when it comes to hate crimes.

What are we to make of Joseph Ratzinger’s latest condemnation of gays, in which he said that man needed protecting from homosexuality just as much as the tropical forests needed protecting from destruction? George Broadhead has been looking at the Pope’s pronouncement, and pronounces it paranoid.

A new report in the UK from the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, showing that Muslim women suffer discrimination and gross bias in sharia adjudications, has been welcomed by the new One Law for All campaign, which is supported by a variety of organisations and individuals. Maryam Namazie tells us more about women under Islam in the UK, and brings us news of a symbolic demonstration planned for 7 March in London.

All doubt and no faith? All faith and no doubt? Neil Richardson puts these two polar opposites into some perspective.

Roy Speckhardt reflects for G&LH on how his country’s new President – Barack Obama – is “living proof that family values without religion build character”.

Can a new broom sweep clean, if that new broom is the President of the United States of America? The British gay- and human-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell clearly hopes so. He wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama, urging him, among other things, to create a better climate for lesbians and gays, which we reproduce here.

Auschwitz Liberation Day was marked on 27 January. Many gay men were sent to the notorious concentration camp, and here Colin de la Motte-Sherman reflects – in a recent talk he gave – on homosexuals under the Nazis.

Morality must always be distinct from religion, argues Roy Saich.

When lights dimmed on the theatre marquees of Broadway and London on the day of Harold Pinter’s funeral on New Year’s Eve, you knew tributes were being paid to a great man of the theatre. But he was also a noted nonbeliever. Andy Armitage reviews some highlights of the life of the man who gave us the Pinter Pause.

Peter Tatchell reviews Edward Carpenter – A life of Liberty and Love, by Sheila Rowbotham (Verso).

A man who claimed not to be a philosopher, but whose words of wisdom will inspire humanists for years to come has died. Aiming to ensure that the thoughts of H J Blackham live on has been longtime humanist, campaigner and writer Barbara Smoker, who put together a collection – the “Best” – of Blackham’s thoughts. Andy Armitage reviews her book of Blackham gems.

What is it about the supernatural that’s got television producers salivating? Stephen Blake takes a look.

Warren Allen Smith on an important new book from America that is filled with acerbic humour, is a valuable reference source and is a joy to read.

So, he isn’t a woman, won’t be changing colour or batting for the other side. Matt Smith is the Doctor, and Gran’s claiming all the credit.

This month's selection of topical ’toons.

Events happening near you!

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