SEPTEMBER &OCTOBER 2010

REGULARS 5 Editorial Reason rules 6 Parish news 10 Yours sceptically Readers’

letters 49 Chris Maslanka’s Quiz 50 Endgame Laurie Taylor keeps his meter running

FEATURES 12 There will be blood

Is non-religious animal slaughter better than halal? asks Harold Hillman 14 An audience with the

Pope What Richard Dawkins, Philip Pullman and many others would say to His Holiness 18 Interview: MaryWarnock

Laurie Taylor meets the down-to-earth ethicist 23 It’s all just words Standup comedian Stewart Lee tells Caspar Melville why he’s so offensive 26 Debate: Should Britain ban the burqa? Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and KenanMalik head-to-head 28 Lies, damn lies and

Chinese science Sam Geall on the brave debunkers going after fraud in China 32 Great Pretender Is Pope

Joan amyth? asks Sally Feldman 36 Stargazer Galileo’s letters reveal what he really saw in the sky, says David Wootton 38 Becauseyou’reworth it?

You can’t pay the bills with social capital, finds Ben Fine 40 Aid wars

Humanitarianism has hit a crisis of its own, reports Susie Linfield

[18]

Whybishops irritate MaryWarnock

[23]IsStewartLeehappy now?

COLUMNS

9 Diary Stephanie Merritt on why Giordano Bruno is her hero 11 Opinion Is forgiveness only for the religious? asks Eve Garrard 22 Chown’s Cosmos Marcus

Chown sees the Sun at night BOOK REVIEWS

45 Books Q&A Orange prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson reveals what a soul is 46 AC Grayling learns to live without God 46 Francis Beckett gets the inside scoopontheimplosionof NewLabour 48 Louise Foxcroft on a bloody murder and the birth of forensic science 49 Owen Hatherley embraces the society of the body

[14]

His Holiness is in town. What would you ask him?

[36]

DidGalileo believe in God?