

Humanism Now | A Podcast on Secular Ethics and Compassionate Change
Humanism Now is the weekly podcast for everyone curious, interested or actively engaged in secular humanism. Each Sunday, host James Hodgson—founder of Humanise Live—welcomes scientists, philosophers, activists, authors, entrepreneurs and community leaders who are challenging the status quo and building a fairer, kinder world.
Together we unpack today’s toughest ethical questions—using reason and compassion instead of dogma—and champion universal human rights and flourishing. Expect in-depth interviews on today's pressing issues, from climate action, protecting freedoms, equality & justice to AI ethics and cosmic wonder. Every episode delivers practical take-aways for living an ethical, purpose-driven life while discovering more about ourselves, others and the universe.
Whether you’re a lifelong secular humanist or simply curious about a naturalistic worldview, hit follow for insight-packed conversations that challenge ideas, celebrate human potential and inspire positive change. Join our global community working toward a fairer, kinder and more rational world—for this generation and the next.
Contributors

Guests

Adrián Núñez
Adrián Núñez is a Founding Member of the Peruvian Atheist Association (APERAT). A lifelong atheist, he has been actively involved in the secular movement in Peru for more than 15 years. He is also a former member of the Secular Humanist Society of Peru, which he left in 2023 to return to APERAT.
Adrián studied electronic engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and currently works in software development. He has over 25 years of experience in projects related to recycling and environmental impact.
He has also been part of a radio show dedicated to promoting critical thinking and debunking pseudoscience and paranormal beliefs, as well as a podcast focused on skepticism and rationality.
Adrián is married, and the father of two daughters. He is currently part of the team leading a project to introduce and promote humanist ceremonies—such as non-religious weddings and funerals—within the Peruvian cultural context.
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Alan Palmer
Alan Palmer is the former Chair of Central London Humanists and a long-serving member of its committee for over 17 years. A former trustee of Humanists UK and NHS Trust Director, Alan helped grow CLH into the UK’s most active humanist group and pioneered interfaith dialogue initiatives following the Protest the Pope campaign. His work spans ethical decision-making in healthcare, humanist community-building, and promoting respectful dialogue across worldviews.

Alavari Jeevathol (AJ)
Guest appearance on:
- 5. Emma Park, Editor of The Freethinker plus Humanism in Education & Science Communication
- 4. Jamie Woodhouse on Sentientism plus Humanist Approaches to Asylum Policy
- 2. Prof. Christopher Cameron on Black Freethinkers plus Ending Conversion Therapy
- 1. Roslyn Mould, Humanists International & Why Humanism Now?

Alex Williams
Alexander Williams is a teacher, writer, singer, and poet and author of Secular Verses, a collection of humanist poems. Alex has also penned a number of books, including the LGBT-themed young adult novel Hidden Wings.
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Bo Bennett
Dr. Bo Bennett is a social psychologist, entrepreneur, and author of over a dozen books on psychology, critical thinking, and humanism. He built one of the first web-based affiliate systems and sold his company Adgrafix for $20M before founding Archieboy Holdings, home to ventures like eBookIt.com. Bo holds a PhD in social psychology, teaches at Lasell College, and is a longtime advocate of rational thought and secular humanism. He created Logically Fallacious, runs Socially Psyched, and formerly hosted The Humanist Hour. Bo is also a public speaker, success coach, martial artist, and creator of FreeToastHost, which now powers 10,000+ Toastmasters clubs worldwide. Through writing, teaching, and media, he champions not what to think, but how to think—using reason, science, and a touch of humour.

Bridget Shirvell
Bridget Shirvell is a freelance journalist and the author of Parenting in a Climate Crisis, a book that explores the challenges and opportunities of raising children in an era of climate change. With a focus on environmental issues, social justice, and family dynamics, Bridget’s writing delves into the emotional and practical aspects of navigating climate concerns while parenting. Her work has been featured in various publications, including Teen Vogue, Fast Company and Martha Stewart Living, where she combines personal insights with expert perspectives to inspire and inform readers.
Bridget writes at raisingclimateresilientkids.substack.com, and is available for commissions.

Chris Cameron
Christopher Cameron is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is a founder of the African American Intellectual History Society, the author of To Plead Our Own Cause: African Americans in Massachusetts and the Making of the Antislavery Movement and Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism, and a coeditor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition.
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Emma Park
Emma Park is a freelance writer based in London. Her interests include art, design and craft, especially glass and ceramics; literature and culture; classical antiquity; education; free thought, secularism and humanism; and the sea.
Emma is a contributing editor at Glass Quarterly, Associate member, Contemporary Glass Society and has written for the Financial Times, Spectator, Apollo, Literary Review, Crafts, The Design Edit, New Humanist, Ceramic Review, Ceramics Now, Neues Glas and more.
Latest arts writing and images: @emmaparkglass
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Faith to Faithless
Faith to Faithless is a non-profit organisation in the United Kingdom dedicated to confronting discrimination against non-religious people, in particular discrimination towards individuals who have left minority religions.
Faith to Faithless is Humanists UK’s support programme for people who have left high-control religious groups. These people are often called ‘apostates’.
The service is led by apostates themselves, who have knowledge and experiences of apostate communities facing serious and systemic issues.
The Faith to Faithless Helpline
Freephone: 0800 448 0748
Calls are free from all mobiles and landlines and won’t appear on itemised bills.
- Wednesday 10:00 – 13:00
- Thursday 16:00 – 19:00
- Friday 08:00 – 11:00
You can also email helpline@faithtofaithless.com for support.
Guest appearance on:

Gerda Surgautaitė
Gerda Surgautaitė is the Co-Founder of Laimingas Žmogus (Happy Human) a social enterprise based in Lithuania, dedicated to making ceremonies accessible and meaningful.
Happy Human have played a key role in developing humanist ceremonies throughout Lithuania, training over 60 celebrants and overseeing nearly 2,000 ceremonies. In 2025 they launched the global Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator, a pioneering initiative designed to help humanist organisations around the world establish sustainable social enterprises through humanist ceremonies.
Guest appearance on:

Iván Antezana Quiroz
Iván Antezana Quiroz is a Board Member with APERAT, the Peruvian Association of Atheists. He is also a freelance journalist and editor whose work has focused on economics and archaeology
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JC Candanedo
JC Candanedo is a queer, Catalan-Panamanian multidisciplinary artist based in London.
He uses photography, mixed-media and performance to start conversations around issues of identity, migration and displacement. His practice is socially-engaged and his work tries to answer the question: how can we use the arts to promote social transformation?
In the search for the answer to that question he founded Noria Collective, a collective of socially-engaged artists who use the arts to create inclusive spaces and solidarity for people from the Global Majority, with a focus on the Latin American and North African/Arab diasporas.
JC is currently the Co-chair of the Board of Trustees of Axis, a national charity dedicated to supporting contemporary artists and making the arts more accessible and engaging for all.
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Julie Pham
Dr Julie Pham founded CuriosityBased to help people practice curiosity in the world, starting in the workplace. She wrote the #1 Amazon New Release and Bestseller 7 Forms of Respect: A Guide to Transforming Your Communication and Relationships at Work and gave the TEDx talk: Curiosity as a practice.
Dr. Pham is an award-winning leader who applies her community-building experience to strengthening teams. She has worked as a journalist, a historian and a non-profit executive. She got her “real-life MBA” by running her family’s Vietnamese-language newspaper, Northwest Vietnamese News, during the Great Recession. She earned her PhD in history at Cambridge University and graduated magna cum laude from UC Berkeley in history.
Guest appearance on:

Katherine Stewart
Katherine Stewart is an award winning author and journalist, specialising in the intersection of faith & politics, policy, education & the threat to democratic institutions.
She has been covering religious nationalism and the assault on American democracy for over 15 years. Her books include; The Power Worshippers (the base for the 2020 documentary God & Country), The Good News Club and most recently Money Lies and God .
Stewart was awarded the 2024 Freethought Heroine Award and writes for The New York Times opinion, New Republic and many others, and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC and NPR.
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Lindsay de Wal
Dr Lindsay de Wal is an accredited humanist chaplain, humanist celebrant, trained counsellor and humanistic coach, renowned for her pioneering work in inclusive pastoral care. As the first appointed Head of Chaplaincy in the UK as a humanist, Lindsay’s appointment made national and international headlines, marking a significant milestone in recognising non-religious pastoral support within healthcare.
Lindsay holds a PhD in Psychology from Middlesex University, where her research focused on the lived experiences of non-religious chaplains working within faith-based healthcare chaplaincy teams.
With a career dedicated to advancing equity and holistic care, Lindsay’s leadership roles include Head of Spiritual and Pastoral Care at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Network Manager for the Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network with Humanists UK. She is passionate about fostering relational safety and person-centred care.
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Madeleine Goodall
Madeleine Goodall is the Humanist Heritage Coordinator for Humanists UK, which celebrated 125 years of existence in 2021. Since 2019, she has been researching the history and influence of the organisation and its members since its founding in 1896 as the Union of Ethical Societies, and building the Humanist Heritage website to share this little known heritage. Madeleine is also Humanists UK’s Wikimedian in Residence, advocating for the improvement and diversification of Wikipedia. Prior to undertaking the Humanist Heritage project, Madeleine worked in schools, for the Wordsworth Trust in Cumbria, and on a National Lottery Heritage funded project in Norfolk.
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Michael Bauer
Michael Bauer, is the President and Treasurer of the Humanistische Vereinigung, Germany’s leading humanist organisation with a history dating back to 1848. Under his leadership, the organisation reaches and supports 30,000 persons a year, among them some thousand members, and operates schools, kindergartens, refugee support programs, social services, popular scientific exhibitions — all based on humanist values.
Michael is also a political scientist, author, and was President of the European Humanist Federation from 2020 to 2023. He’s been a tireless advocate for human rights, freedom of belief, and the development of pluralistic, values-based public services.
Guest appearance on:
Nathan Stilwell
Nathan Stilwell is Humanists UK’s Assisted Dying Campaign Coordinator.
Nathan has been instrumental in advocating for this campaign, bringing both his passion for the cause and extensive background in political communications. He is a long-standing advocate of the right to die, and a published critic of the UK’s current legal regime.
Before joining Humanists UK, Nathan worked for the Jo Cox Foundation, where he championed social justice causes, and spent time working in Brussels on political campaigns.
Nathan's work with My Death, My Decision since early 2022 has made him a key figure in the movement for assisted dying, and today he continues that vital work with Humanists UK. Nathan is also a board member of The Assisted Dying Coalition.
Contact: nathan@humanists.uk
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Nick Cooney
Nick Cooney is the founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Lever VC and the author of What We Don’t Do: Inaction in the Face of Suffering and the Drive to Do More. His work has been covered in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Bloomberg, Reuters, TIME, the Los Angeles Times, NBC, Forbes and more.
Nick is also the founder and board chair of Lever Foundation, a non-profit focused on advancing a humane and sustainable food system and previously founded and co-founded the non-profits The Humane League and the Good Food Institute. He advises on philanthropic giving and is the author of several books on how to effectively carry out charity work including How to Be Great at Doing Good and Change of Heart.
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Rachael Reign
Rachael Reign is a survivor, speaker, and founder of Surviving Universal UK—a grassroots initiative supporting those impacted by high-control religious groups. Drawing from her lived experience, she now leads national conversations on spiritual abuse, coercive control, and survivor justice. Featured by BBC Panorama, Rachael is also a trusted consultant for TV and media, helping shape nuanced, survivor-led narratives that promote healing and accountability.
https://msha.ke/rachaelreign -Bookings
https://linktr.ee/survivinguniversaluk -Surviving Universal UK
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Roslyn Mould
Roslyn Mould is the first African Vice President of Humanists International. She was Secretary and Chair of the Young Humanists International African Working Group from 2014 to 2019 and a Board Member for Humanists International from 2019 to date
She was a member of the Humanist Association of Ghana since it was founded in 2012 and held several positions, including President of the group from 2015 to 2019. She is the Coordinator for the West African Humanist Network, an Advisory Board member of the FoRB Leadership Network (UK), a former Board member for LGBT+ Rights Ghana and President of Accra Atheists. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and Modern Languages.
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S.I. Martin
S.I. Martin is a British historian, author, and educator specialising in Black British history and literature. He has published both fiction and non-fiction, including the acclaimed Britain’s Slave Trade, written to accompany the Channel 4 documentary of the same name, and the historical novels Incomparable World and Jupiter Williams.
A tireless advocate for inclusive education, Steve works with museums, schools, and libraries across the UK to bring hidden histories to life, and founded the popular "500 Years of Black London" walking tours. He is also a patron of Humanists UK, championing humanist values, critical thinking, and the importance of diverse narratives in understanding Britain’s past.
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Susie Alegre
Susie Alegre is an international human rights lawyer and author specialising in technology, AI, and human rights. Her first book, “Freedom to Think” (Atlantic Books 2022) was a Financial Times Technology Book of the Year 2022 and shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize 2023. Her latest book, “Human Rights, Robot Wrongs: Being Human in the Age of AI” published in May 2024.
With over 20 years of experience, she has worked on key global issues, from human rights and security to corruption and climate change. Susie has held roles at Amnesty International, the UN, the EU, and the Council of Europe, shaping international law and policy.
Guest appearance on:

Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė
Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė, Founder and CEO of Laimingas Žmogus (Happy Human) a social enterprise based in Lithuania, dedicated to making ceremonies accessible and meaningful.
Happy Human have played a key role in developing humanist ceremonies throughout Lithuania, training over 60 celebrants and overseeing nearly 2,000 ceremonies. In 2025 they launched the global Humanist Ceremonies Accelerator, a pioneering initiative designed to help humanist organisations around the world establish sustainable social enterprises through humanist ceremonies.