By Maggie Hall
“Explaining Atheism” (BBC Radio 4 “Sunday”)
A team of researchers from a programme called Explaining Atheism, led by Queen’s University Belfast, has spent the last three years exploring why people around the world become atheists and agnostics. In October 2024 they published their interim results. The team surveyed nearly 25,000 people from six countries (Brazil, China, Denmark, Japan, UK and USA) and found that the UK now has more atheists than theists, ushering in the "UK’s first atheist age". On BBC Radio Four’s “Sunday” programme (from 23.09) Dr Lois Lee, who was part of the research team, and Chine McDonald, Director of the think tank Theos, discussed the survey’s findings. I was rather struck by a paragraph in a release from the press office of Brunel University, one of the participating organisations:
Professor Lanman, a cognitive anthropologist from Queen’s University Belfast, explained: “Our large cross-cultural surveys reveal that while many factors may influence one’s beliefs in small ways, the key factor is the extent to which one is socialised to be a theist. Many other popular theories, such as intelligence, emotional stoicism, broken homes, and rebelliousness, do not stand up to empirical scrutiny.”
Andrew Copson discusses assisted dying on BBC1 TV
Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of Humanists UK, took part in a debate on BBC1’s Sunday Morning (introduced at 1.37) on whether assisted dying should be legalised, after it was announced that a bill proposing this measure would be introduced to Parliament. The other participants in the debate were Rebecca Wilcox (a TV presenter and daughter of Esther Rantzen who has terminal cancer), Katherine Bennett (a Catholic broadcaster and writer), and Dr. Miro Griffiths (a Disability Studies Scholar at the University of Leeds).
Humanism in Nigeria on BBC World Service programme “The Comb”
The Comb is a radio programme and podcast “combing Africa for stories about the unseen forces that bind us together and tear us apart”. This episode, entitled “Finding Humanism”, will be of particular interest to many of our readers. Navigating life as a non-believer in a highly religious society such as Nigeria can be a deeply lonely experience. This episode features two Nigerians who have had direct experience of this: a woman identified as “Balm”, and “Leo”, who of course is well known to humanists as the founder of the Humanist Association of Nigeria and a fearless activist for humanism in Africa. The whole episode is really worth a listen.
My thanks to Will van Zwanenberg of Brighton Humanists for bringing the Nigeria item to my attention. If you catch a TV or radio item, podcast or news article that you think might interest our readers please do let us know.
Since the untimely death of our correspondent Lynda Tilley, who was based in Durban, South Africa, we haven't had a regular Africa correspondent to keep us abreast of what is happening in humanism in that region of the world. If you know of anyone who might fill this slot, the editors would be very pleased to hear from you. Email humanistically.speaking@gmail.com
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