Looking back, looking forward: a message from the editor

So, here we are, more than a quarter of the way through the century. And it is not going well. To enumerate all of the ways in which the human species seems to be regressing would take too long, so let us focus on just one, one which has particular relevance to this magazine. Launching the Freethinker in 1881, G.W. Foote wrote:

The Freethinker is an anti-Christian organ, and must therefore be chiefly aggressive. It will wage relentless war against Superstition in general, and against Christian Superstition in particular. It will do its best to employ the resources of Science, Scholarship, Philosophy and Ethics against the claims of the Bible as a Divine Revelation; and it will not scruple to employ for the same purpose any weapons of ridicule or sarcasm that may be borrowed from the armoury of Common Sense.

For a short while, this mission seemed to have been more or less accomplished. And indeed, for all the crowing of today’s Christian apologists, the cultural and demographic movement towards secularism continues unabated. Christianity will never regain the numbers or the power that it once had, of that I am fairly certain.

But that does not mean that it is something freethinkers can afford to ignore. In recent years, a Christian revival of sorts has taken place, best epitomised by the ascent of the authoritarian, racist, lying, sexual predator Donald Trump to the heights of power in the world’s oldest secular democratic republic, an ascent made possible by his white evangelical base.

Christian nationalism in the White House and the rise of the New Theism—whose proponents argue that religion, specifically the Christian religion, is the foundation of Western civilisation and utterly necessary for its maintenance, whether or not it is true—demonstrate that the old superstitions remain as powerful as ever. The dangers that Christianity continues to pose to civilisation, Western or otherwise, are ignored by the New Theists. The authoritarianism of Trump and the Russian Orthodox imperialism of Vladimir Putin trouble their thoughts not at all (some of them even approve of these things).

Are Trump and the New Theists merely the last gasp of a dying faith? Possibly. It hardly matters. Inevitable as the end of Christianity is, its partisans can still do great damage in the meantime. They are doing great damage. All of this is why, over the past couple of years, I have made it a particular focus of the Freethinker to combat the New Theism and to reenergise Foote’s ‘relentless war…against Christian Superstition’.

But as Foote said, our war is against all superstition. It is against all illiberalism, all that is anti-human. So while we shall continue waging war against Christianity, we shall not forget the evils of Islam or secular authoritarianism. And we shall also not forget to celebrate science, philosophy, literature, or any of the other fundamentally humanist, secular approaches to life, the universe, and everything. And lest I seem a bit po-faced, we shall strive to do all this, as we have always done, with humour and generosity. But we shall not sacrifice seriousness or integrity. (For more on the New Theists, see our continuously updated list of articles and interviews relevant to it—a handy store of ammunition, I hope.)

In short, as I look back on 2025 and forward into 2026 and beyond, I almost feel that the Freethinker is little different from what it was in 1881. Formats have changed, editors have moved on, emphases have shifted, but our heart is still the heart of G.W. Foote. At the present moment, however, we need to pump that muscle ever harder. Relentless war, indeed.

While 2025 was something of an annus horribilis for me personally, I hope readers will agree that the magazine kept up the same frequency and quality that they have come to expect. In 2026, I shall try to do even better.

What can readers look forward to, then? More Freethought History Webinars, for one thing. These webinars, launched last year, have been a great success—as well as a great joy to host. The next one is happening on 27 January and will feature historian Bill Cooke taking on the thorny, controversial issue of how freethinkers should approach the question of the historicity of Jesus. Find out more and sign up here.

A Freethinker book, collecting some of the best essays of the past few years and including exclusive material, is also in the works, so keep an eye out for news on that.

Before signing off, let me just say that the Freethinker survives only due to the generosity of its readers, past and present. Your support is essential to its future. If you are able to make one, a donation would be mightily appreciated.

And with that, a Happy New Year to all readers of the Freethinker. Onwards!