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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

Animals and humans Anthropology Archaeology Automation and robotics Cities Demography and migration Economic history Economics Education Environmental history Fairness and equality Future of technology Gender Global history History History of technology Human rights and justice Information and communication Making Nations and empires Politics and government Poverty and development Progress and modernity Public health Race and ethnicity Religion The ancient world The environment The future War and peace Work

Traditional Indian painting of a deity reclining on a serpent on water with another figure on a lotus against a red background.

video

Stories and literature

Two variants of a Hindu myth come alive in an animated ode to Indian storytelling

14 minutes

Photo of a person sitting in a dimly lit church with stained glass windows and sun rays filtering through.

video

Spirituality

Through rituals of prayer, a monk cultivates a quietly radical concept of freedom

4 minutes

A speaker on stage addressing a large audience in an indoor venue with screens displaying his image.

essay

Religion

Prosperity versus liberation

How Pentecostalism’s prosperity gospel replaced Catholic liberation theology in Latin American life

Elle Hardy

Vintage sepia photo of a Black man in a buttoned coat against a plain background with decorative border.

video

History

From Afghanistan to Virginia – the Muslims who fought in the American Civil War

22 minutes

People in a church with raised hands in worship, expressions of joy and devotion on their faces.

essay

Nations and empires

Utopia brasileira

Within less than a decade, Brazil will have as many evangelicals as Catholics, a transcendence born of the prosperity gospel

Alex Hochuli

Black and white photo of a group of people standing outdoors on a slope by a pond with trees and bushes in the background.

essay

Religion

The script creator

Pau Cin Hau dreamt of an alphabet for a language that had never been written down. So began the religion of Laipianism

Bikash K Bhattacharya

Close-up photo of a wooden mask with fur eyebrows, hollow eyes, a rounded mouth opening and long black hair against a dark background.

essay

Anthropology

Witches around the world

The belief in witches is an almost universal feature of human societies. What does it reveal about our deepest fears?

Gregory Forth

Photo of colourful light reflections on a dark tiled floor, possibly from a stained glass window in a dimly lit interior space.

essay

Values and beliefs

My leap across the chasm

After years of debate and contemplation, I’ve come to think a heretical form of Christianity might be true. Here’s why

Philip Goff

A walking figure made of black shapes, with a pink ticket for “The Moviegoer” by Walker Percy as its body, on a yellow background.

video

Meaning and the good life

‘Everydayness is the enemy’ – excerpts from the existentialist novel ‘The Moviegoer’

2 minutes

Photochrom image of a narrow street lined with Middle-Eastern buildings; people are walking down the middle of the street and some are holding umbrellas.

essay

Nations and empires

The paradoxes of Mikha’il Mishaqa

He was a Catholic, then a rationalist, then a Protestant. Most of all, he exemplified the rise of Arab-Ottoman modernity

Peter Hill

A bustling 19th-century cityscape featuring a wide street with construction activity, carriages and pedestrians. Hills and a bridge are also visible under a cloudy sky.

essay

Religion

Conscientious unbelievers

How, a century ago, radical freethinkers quietly and persistently subverted Scotland’s Christian establishment

Felicity Loughlin

Illustration of a female group in white togas and red headbands, standing with arms raised before a flaming brazier in a Roman temple with columns.

video

The ancient world

The six priestesses who kept the flame of ancient Rome alight at risk of death

5 minutes

A portrait of a man with glasses and a cap, adorned with garlands of flowers, and surrounded by strings of marigolds and leaves.

essay

Religion

Inventing Hindu supremacy

Vinayak Savarkar ridiculed Gandhi, preaching that anti-Muslim violence was the only means to unite India into a nation

Mihir Dalal

Person holding a painting of Jesus Christ amid a rubble-strewn landscape with damaged buildings and trees in the background.

essay

Religion

There was no Jesus

How could a cult leader draw crowds, inspire devotion and die by crucifixion, yet leave no mark in contemporary records?

Gavin Evans

A woman with grey hair lies down, partially covered with a colourful, patterned blanket against a textured wall.

video

Human rights and justice

Witch hunts persist as a horrifying, deadly reality in pockets of rural India

24 minutes

Marble statue depicting Apollo and Daphne, set against a detailed, ornate ceiling in a classical style room. Daphne is reaching upward with flowing hair.

video

Art

The overlooked polymath whose theatrical oeuvre made all of Rome a stage

30 minutes

Men are seen in a nondescript office type rooma against sunlight streaming through the window, their hands raised in devotion

essay

Religion

Indomitable Sufis

Once a centre of Afghan culture, Sufism seems to have disappeared in the maelstrom of war and upheaval. But still it survives

Annika Schmeding

Medieval illustration of a crowned figure, holding a sceptre, wearing a blue cloak over an intricately patterned robe, seated against a parchment background.

video

Religion

Hear from blasphemes, sceptics and free-thinkers in this ‘tour of medieval unbelief’

52 minutes

Two fashionably dressed women in modern style hijabs descend steps beneath a blue sky

essay

Religion

Secularism in Iran

Postcolonial intellectuals and Iran’s rulers agree that secularism is just Western imperialism in disguise. They are wrong

Patrick Hassan & Hossein Dabbagh

Ancient bronze statue of a winged figure with raised hand, displaying a humanoid form and detailed feathered wings, set against a dark background.

video

The ancient world

Meet the absentee gods and nefarious spirits of ancient Mesopotamia

6 minutes

A black and white photo showing a group of men in traditional Middle Eastern attire, with two men seated in the foreground and several standing behind.

essay

Religion

Praying in shoes

The Sunni movement of Salafism was born at the beginning of the 20th century, with the goal of modelling life on the 7th

Aaron Rock-Singer

Woman with brown hair in a “Jews for Reproductive Freedom” shirt smiling and holding papers and a water bottle at an outdoor event.

video

Religion

How Jewish leaders in the US are fighting abortion bans on religious grounds

24 minutes

A person gently caressing a calf’s head, both looking content, in a field during sunset.

video

Values and beliefs

How the plight of holy cows is used to radicalise teenagers in small-town India

24 minutes

A man in traditional attire with a colourful beaded headdress and a staff over his shoulder, standing outdoors.

video

Spirituality

Trek alongside spiritual pilgrims on a treacherous journey across Pakistan

6 minutes