SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2012

REGULARS 5 Editorial The side of the angels? 6 Godless globe 8 Yours sceptically Letters 9 Witness Adam Rutherford,

Matthew Nutley, Jacques Berlinerblau 49 Chris Maslanka’s Quiz 50 Endgame Laurie Taylor ticks off the ballet

FEATURES 12 Too much, too young

Hundreds of children every year are being forced into marriages against their will. Sarah Ditum reports 16 The town that’s twinned with Narnia James Gray visits the New Age enclave of Totnes, and witnesses a sceptical fightback 20 Cut it out Is male circumcision dangerous abuse or a harmless cultural signifier? Toby Lichtig reports 24 Outsourced labour Bidisha reveals the shocking truth about India’s booming surrogacy trade 26 Interview: AC Grayling

Caspar Melville speaks to the philosopher about his controversial New College of the Humanities 30 Unwrapping the mummy’s curse What lies behind the tenacious myth of the Pharaohs’ revenge? Roger Luckhurst lifts the lid 34 Dear Atheists... Believer

Francis Spufford tells the godless it’s time they admitted they could be wrong 37 The case for assisted dying

Acting in the name of their god, a small number of believers are inf licting needless suffering on others, says Raymond Tallis 40 Jam & Jerusalem Sally

Feldman salutes the unsung heroines of the Women’s Institute 42 Ballads of unsuccess James

Fenton is one of our very best poets. Matthew Adams meets him

COLUMNS

19 Chown’s Cosmos Footprints in the dust 33 Keith Kahn-Harris What it means to be a secular Jew

BOOK REVIEWS

[26]

Master of the university

44 Stephen Howe is missold an investigation of dictatorship 46 Hugh Pearman learns Why

We Build 47 Alom Shaha admires the honesty of the former radical Maajid Nawaz 48 Tess Woodcraft is captivated by a Victorian divorce

[ FREE ] [20]Thefirstcutisthe deepest

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[24]

India’s baby factories

Pull-out poster Back to College by Martin Rowson, plus what I learnt at Uni – Philip Pullman, AL Kennedy, Iain Banks and many more by Martin Rowson, plus what

Pullman, AL Kennedy, Iain Banks

Pullman, AL Kennedy, Iain Banks and many

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SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2012 New Humanist 3

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2012 SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2012 New Humanist New Humanist New Humanist New Humanist 3