Modern Humanism: Science, Ethics and the Stewardship of Earth by Kai Taraporevala was published in 2025 by MH Eudaimon Editions. It has been widely praised by reviewers as a masterful synthesis of science, philosophy, and environmental ethics. The South African Secular Society conducted the following interview with the author. How do you define modern Read more
Modern Humanism: An Interview with the Author Read More »
By the South African Secular Society You don’t need a god to be good. You don’t need the promise of heaven to treat people with kindness, or the threat of hell to stop you from doing wrong. Millions of people across the world live rich, ethical, meaningful lives without religion ~ and many of them
In many parts of the world, including South Africa, death remains one of the last great taboos. We plan for births, celebrate milestones, and share our achievements openly—but when it comes to death, we often fall silent. For members of the South African Secular Society and the broader secular community, this silence raises important questions.
Talking About Death Over Coffee: Why Death Cafés Matter Read More »
Belonging is not a luxury. It is not a soft, sentimental idea. It is a fundamental human need. Psychologists have long recognised that the need to belong sits alongside our need for safety and security. We are social beings. We thrive when we feel seen, understood and accepted. We suffer when we feel excluded, misunderstood
The Human Need to Belong – and the Courage to Live Authentically Read More »
This opinion piece was written by SASS member “Joy” Bless. It started with some rather personal experience: first with a friend of mine, in South Africa, then with a niece in Latin America. Two very different regions of the world, two very different cultures and religions, but with the same reaction: “How can you not
The Growth of the Non-religious Population and its Challenges Read More »
Human dignity, equality, critical thinking, and evidence-based progress South Africa enters 2026 carrying both promise and strain. We are a constitutional democracy founded on human dignity, equality, and freedom, yet we continue to live with deep inequality, social fragmentation, and a persistent gap between policy intention and lived reality. In this context, secular values are
What Secular Values Offer South Africa in 2026 Read More »
When the South African Secular Society (SASS) was established in 2014, a Secular Charter was adopted. This outlines the principles of the secular state that SASS strives to achieve. Comparative approaches to secular charters around the world Across the world, societies have found different ways to formalise the principle of secularism — the separation of religion
Our Secular Charter: Your Rights, Explained Read More »
An opinion piece by Secular Society member Declan Ahern. The Halloween-industrial complex is a marvel of late-stage capitalism: an American industry now projected to be worth over R227 billion built entirely on a fiction we collectively agree to enjoy. Think about that for a moment. We live in the age of CRISPR, quantum computing, and
Halloween, the Tokoloshe and the Algorithm: How We Engineer Our Own Ghosts Read More »
An opinion piece written by SA Secular Society member Louise Golding. What Everyday Beliefs Reveal About the Human Mind South Africa’s cultural landscape is beautifully diverse — a meeting place of traditions, superstitions, and spiritual interpretations passed down through generations. But where do these beliefs come from? Why do we still hold them, even when
Rational Explanations for Common Beliefs Read More »
Some South African superstitions are unique to this country, while others are found in many other places. Many superstitions, passed down through generations as explanations for life’s mysteries or warnings to keep people safe. From an anthropological point of view, superstitions are part of a society’s “cultural toolkit” — symbolic ways of coping with uncertainty,
South African Superstitions: Myths, Meanings and the Science Behind Them Read More »
