There's around 80 countries where being a humanist or an atheist can land you in trouble. There are 13 countries that have the death penalty for blasphemy or for apostasy. Humanism is not about pursuing your own happiness but connectedness to other people and community. I don't really don't think that there's a strong strand of trying to make everybody a humanist still less of trying to making everybody an atheist which is a different thing.
The writer Sarah Bakewell explores the long tradition of humanist thought in her latest book, Humanly Possible. She celebrates the writers, thinkers, artists and scientists over the last 700 years who have placed humanity at the centre, while defying the forces of religion, fanatics, mystics and tyrants.
But placing humans at the centre isn’t without problems – critics point to its anthropocentric nature and excessive rationalism and individualism, as well its Euro-centric history. The philosopher Julian Baggini guides the listener in unpicking the tenets of humanism. His latest books is How to Think Like a Philosopher: Essential Principles for Clearer Thinking.
Humanism may have relegated the divine to the side lines, but for the characters in Leila Aboulela’s novels faith and devotion are integral to their sense of themselves. In her latest book, River Spirit, set in Sudan in the 1880s, her young protagonists struggle to survive and find love amidst the bloody struggle for Sudan itself.
Producer: Katy Hickman