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This week Gary and Leon zoom out from day-to-day advocacy to reflect on the wider global climate shaping freedom of thought. From rising populism and religious nationalism to legal battles and cultural shifts, the episode explores how political, legal, and social trends are reinforcing division, and what that means for humanists globally.

They revisit key Humanists International declarations, discuss pressures on courts and human rights systems, and examine how anti-rights actors coordinate across countries. We then turn to culture, including the “quiet revival” controversy, the rise of the manosphere, and what these trends reveal about meaning, identity, and the challenges facing young people today.

In this episode we cover:

• Growing Humanists International’s advocacy team
• The enduring relevance of the Auckland Declaration against the politics of division
• How anti-rights actors coordinate across law, lobbying, and international advocacy
• The “quiet revival” controversy and why bad religion data matters
• The manosphere, nihilism, and the search for meaning among young men

References

• Auckland Declaration against the Politics of Division - Humanists International
• London Declaration on Secularism - Humanists International
• Statement on upholding the independence of the ECtHR - Norwegian
  NGO Forum for Human Rights
• Bible Society retracts false Quiet Revival claims - Humanists UK
• Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization - Wikipedia
• Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere - Netflix
• Adolescence - IMDB
• Almost a third of Gen Z men agree a wife should obey her husband - Kings College London

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This podcast is produced by Humanise Live.

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🎶Music: Horizon by Simon Folwar

Podcast transcripts are AI-generated and may contain errors or omissions. They are provided to make our content more accessible, but should not be considered a fully accurate record of the conversation.