"You are unlocked to a whole new world... you're not alone, and it's that community that makes you reaffirming yourself"

Timothy David, known as Tim Talks, is a UK-based content creator whose TikTok videos on humanism, faith deconstruction, and Black freethinking have racked up millions of views. Drawing on his own journey away from Pentecostal Christianity, Tim uses social media to spark honest conversations about belief, identity, inclusivity, and what it means to question everything.

Topics we cover

✔︎ What deconstruction really means and why it is a lifelong process rather than a single moment

✔︎ Why social media is a powerful tool for humanists — and why more of us should be using it

✔︎ How to start questioning your own beliefs and build community on the other side of faith

Connect with Timothy

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_timtalks
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_t1m24
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TimTalksUK

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Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.

Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.live

Music: Blossom by Light Prism

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.

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"That's what humanism is about, isn't it? That we have the freedom to do whatever we feel is right for us."

Tale Pleym is Chair of the European Humanist Professionals and Senior Ceremonial Advisor of the Norwegian Humanist Association, where she has been conducting humanist ceremonies for more than 15 years. She joins us to explore how humanist ceremonies and secular services are shared and strengthened across Europe, and what organised humanism can achieve when it grows deep roots in society.

Topics we cover

✔︎ How the European Humanist Professionals network connects practitioners across borders through webinars, workshops, and conferences

✔︎ How Norway's humanist confirmation became a genuine secular rite of passage that now outgrows the church in major cities

✔︎ What other humanist organisations can learn from Norway — and what large organisations can learn from small ones

Connect with Tale and find out more

• Norwegian Humanist Association: https://www.human.no/om-oss/norwegian-humanist-association
• Email: tale.pleym@human.no
• European Humanist Professionals: https://www.humanistprofessionals.eu
• Festival of Humanism, Bournemouth — Humanists UK: https://humanists.uk/events/festival2026/

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Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.

Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.live

Music: Blossom by Light Prism

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.

Subscribe to Unholy Histories wherever you get your podcasts:

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unholy-histories-the-humanist-heritage-podcast-from/id1893320823
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Unholy Histories is the new Humanist Heritage Podcast from Humanists UK and inspired by the research of the Humanist Heritage Project.

Join Andrew Copson and Madeleine Goodall as they uncover the rebels, reformers, and freethinkers who shaped a more open and compassionate Britain.

The first episodes go live very soon. Subscribe now via your preferred podcast app to be notified the moment new episodes are released.

• Join Humanists UK: humanists.uk/join
• Discover more Humanist Heritage: heritage.humanists.uk
• Send us your questions or feedback to unholy@Humanise.Live

Unholy Histories is produced by Humanise Live a production agency creating values-led podcast content. Start podcasting today at humanise.live

Music: Small Things by Simon Folwar

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Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.

Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.live

Music: Blossom by Light Prism

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.

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Micki McAllen, known online as Apostate Barbie, spent 30 years as a Jehovah's Witness before leaving in 2021. Now based in the UK, she uses social media to raise awareness of high control religious groups, support others navigating life beyond faith, and advocate for an end to mandated shunning.

Topics we cover

✔︎ What life inside a high control group really looks like — and how coercive control works without physical force

✔︎ The Norway Supreme Court case challenging government funding of the JWs over shunning practices

✔︎ How to rebuild community, identity, and agency after leaving a high control religion

Connect with Micki

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apostatebarbie/

References and further reading

• JWFacts.com — ex-Witness resource recommended by Micki: https://www.jwfacts.com
• Faith to Faithless — UK support for those leaving high control religion: https://faithtofaithless.com
• Stop Mandated Shunning — organisation Micki volunteers with: https://www.stopmandatedshunning.org/
• BITE Model of authoritarian control — Steven Hassan: https://www.bitemodel.com
• Decult Conference, New Zealand: https://www.decult.nz

Send us Fan Mail

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Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.

Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.live

Music: Blossom by Light Prism

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.

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“Curiosity leads to fully understanding someone’s situation and being empathetic to that person.”

Steve Ghikadis is a Humanist Officiant, author, and speaker who leads secular weddings, memorials, and other life-affirming ceremonies in Ontario. In this conversation, he explores street epistemology, interfaith family life, raising curious and compassionate children, and why humanism needs to lead with empathy as well as reason.

Connect with Steve

• steveghikadis.com
• Humanist Canada Officiant Profile
• facebook.com/steve.ghikadis
• instagram.com/steve.ghikadis/
• tiktok.com/@humanismfromtheheart
• Goodreads – Steve_Ghikadis

Topics we cover

• Street epistemology in practice
• Disagreeing with kindness & curiosity
• Interfaith relationships
• Raising curious, empathetic kids
• Humanist weddings in Canada
• Morality without religion

Resources & further reading

• Humanism from the Heart: Building Bridges Beyond Belief – Steve Ghikadis (2024)
• Recovering from Religion
• Sunday Assembly
• Evidence and Understanding –The Humanist (2025)
• What the Heck Is That!?!” The Humanist (2024)
• Interfaith Family – Marriage and Parenting with Mutual Respect – Humanist Canada (2024)

Send us Fan Mail

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Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.

Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.live

Music: Blossom by Light Prism

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.

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"Science is not objective. It is subjective. And I think having conversations about it is very important."

Dr Jenny Lange is a neuroscientist specialising in uncovering the mechanisms of rare neurological disorders. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the UK Dementia Research Institute, University College London. Outside the lab, Dr Lange is a public speaker and writer on medical history, the intersection of science and literature, and scientific ethics.

Things we discuss

• The history of quackery and why charlatans follow the same playbook
• Research abuses that have legitimately fueled mistrust in science
• How to practice healthy, proportional skepticism and spot the difference between real and pseudoscience

References:

• William J. A. Bailey and Radithor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._A._Bailey
• The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: https://www.history.com/articles/the-infamous-40-year-tuskegee-study
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6493208-the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks
• Andrew Wakefield and the discredited MMR-autism study: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield
• Paolo Macchiarini trachea implant scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Macchiarini
• Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub: https://www.meetup.com/greenwich-skeptics-in-the-pub/

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

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Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.

Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.live

Music: Blossom by Light Prism

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.

"Home Office officials do not understand what apostasy is — and this affects how non-religious asylum seekers are recognised, questioned, and believed."

Dr Lucy Potter returns to Humanism Now to share the findings of her landmark new report on non-religious asylum claims in the UK, produced in collaboration with Humanists UK. Drawing on three years of in-depth qualitative research, the report is the first study to analyse Home Office decision-making policies for those seeking asylum on the basis of leaving religion or non-religious identity.

Things we discuss

✔︎ Why the Home Office misunderstands apostasy
✔︎ Cultural bias in credibility assessments
✔︎ How interpretation errors can undermine asylum claims
✔︎ Policy recommendations for fairer decision-making

Read the report

Available from Humanists UK (https://humanists.uk) from 24 March 2026.

Attend the report launch

📍 Online
📆 Tuesday 24 March, 1.00–2.30pm GMT
➡️ Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/report-launch-non-religious-apostasy-asylum-claims-in-the-uk-tickets-1982976511125/

Event Speakers:

• Dr Lucy Potter, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of York
  https://humanismnow.buzzsprout.com/2246305/episodes/14031059/
• Lizzie Collinge MP, Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group
  https://humanismnow.buzzsprout.com/2246305/episodes/17588288/
• Andrew Copson, Chief Executive, Humanists UK
  https://humanismnow.buzzsprout.com/2246305/episodes/17849032/
• Jamie Bell, Solicitor, Public Law and Immigration, Duncan Lewis

Connect with Dr Lucy Potter

• University of York profile:

Send us Fan Mail

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Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.

Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.live

Music: Blossom by Light Prism

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.

"An estimated one person in three seeking asylum in the UK has experienced torture in their home country."

This is a bonus episode of Humanism Now, recorded as part of Podcasthon 2026: the global initiative uniting podcasters to raise awareness for charitable causes.

This year, we are supporting Freedom from Torture, a UK charity that has spent more than 40 years providing specialist therapeutic care, rehabilitation, and advocacy to survivors of torture. Their work centres on restoring dignity, safety, and hope to people who have endured unimaginable harm and campaigning to hold perpetrators accountable worldwide.

We are delighted to be joined by Ann Salter, Head of Clinical Services Northwest at Freedom from Torture, who has worked clinically with survivors of torture for over 20 years.

How to support Freedom from Torture

• Donate
• Get involved in their campaigns
• Refer yourself or someone else for support

Things we discuss

• How Freedom from Torture has supported survivors for 40 years
• The shocking scale of torture globally — and why it still demands our attention
• The psychological impact of torture and what recovery really looks like
• Why community belonging is central to rehabilitation
• Freedom from Torture's role in the Pinochet case and blocking the Rwanda deportation scheme

About Podcasthon

Podcasthon is a global initiative uniting podcasters around the world to shine a light on the charities and causes that matter. If you host a podcast and want to get involved, find out more and register at podcasthon.org.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Support Humanism Now & Join Our Community!

Follow @HumanismNowPod | YouTube | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | X.com | BlueSky

Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.

Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.live

Music: Blossom by Light Prism

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.