As people across the globe respond to uncertainty by embracing division and dogma, our latest issue explores how to hold on to our shared humanity
The Summer 2025 issue of New Humanist is on sale now! This issue is all about how communities are uniting in the face of global challenges.
It’s also a special issue for us: Not only does it mark our 140th anniversary, but also the start of an exciting new era for the magazine as we come together with our new publisher Humanists UK.
Read on for a peek inside!
Subscribe now from just £10 – and get access to the new issue, as well as our full 140-year archive – or buy a single issue online and in all good newsagents.
Protecting American freedoms
As Trump and his army of Christian nationalists trample on rights and freedoms in the US, we speak to Nick Fish, head of American Atheists, about the masses of people volunteering for the fight back.
“We are tracking almost 700 bills right now that impact church-state separation, and many of them are attacks on public education, trans people and abortion.”
Meaning in the modern world
At times of instability, the big questions of life are brought into sharp relief. But in an increasingly secular world, some claim we’ve lost our sense of meaning and purpose.
Is 2025 a year of existential crisis, or is this idea being overblown by the prophets and pundits who benefit?
In our new “Voices” section, we bring together five diverse perspectives on the search for meaning in the modern world.
“The loudest voices warning of our existential vacuum are those who have something to sell – literally or metaphorically.”
The joy and politics of play
Can art remind us of what we have in common? Ken Worpole explores two exhibitions that give us a glimpse of daily life around the world – and highlight how children build community through play, even as their right to do so is threatened.
“Throughout history, and in all cultures, children have gathered together, agreed rules, played and dispersed, leaving little evidence behind … Yet while they last, games are a form of bewitchment, a way of temporarily forgetting the difficulties of life and escaping into another world.”
Diaspora dialogue
We speak to writer Selma Dabbagh about how Palestine’s literary scene is thriving, despite – or because of – the horrors of war.
“Palestinian literature is going through a very exciting juncture. There are so many new voices coming out. It’s like a dam is breaking in terms of the urgency of the voices, the variety of them, the experimentality of it.”
The Summer 2025 issue of New Humanist is on sale now! Subscribe or buy a copy here.
Also in the Summer 2025 issue of New Humanist:
- Journalist Ahmer Khan reports on Bangladesh as its democracy hits a bloody crossroad
- Legendary writer Michael Rosen explores the history and meaning of the word “ceasefire”
- Clinical psychologist Frank Tallis argues that therapy is failing to help us with the big questions
- Marianne Brown visits the Bristol estates generating their own energy
- Ralph Jones talks to Alex O’Connor about his journey from atheist YouTube star to praying for divine revelation
- Becca Warner meets the mushroom mappers as they unearth a hidden kingdom
- Greg Graffin, evolutionist and lead singer of pioneering band Bad Religion, makes the case that Darwin was punk
- Simon McCarthy-Jones analyses Elon Musk’s misguided love for The Hitchhiker’s Guide
- Jessica Furseth discovers what we lose when we’re plugged in to constant entertainment
- Marcus Chown explains the latest efforts to uncover the shape of the Universe
- Samira Ahmed talks Lycra, Reagan and our new love for the 80s
- Marie Le Conte hails Lady Gaga, the weird sister of pop!
- Shaparak Khorsandi regales us with bonkers tales from the ski slopes
- Daniel Callcut explores the upside of pessimism
Plus more fascinating features on the biggest topics shaping our world today, book reviews, original poetry, and our regular cryptic crossword and brainteaser.
New Humanist, a quarterly magazine of culture, ideas, science and philosophy, is published by Humanists UK.
