His Dark Materials Gift Set: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (Scholastic Point, 2001)
Pullman has recently found his work under strong attack by some Christian groups.
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Platform by Michel Houellebecq (Vintage, 2003)
Houellebecq has received death threats from Muslim groups infuriated by his portrayal of Islam.
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Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (Vintage, 1994)
No book in modern times has matched the uproar sparked by Rushdie's Satanic Verses, much admired by many, but which earned its author a fatwa requiring his death.
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Brainwashing: The science of thought control by Kathleen Taylor (Oxford University Press, 2004)
How our brains respond when invited, or pressurised, to accept beliefs.
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The Qur'an translated by Muhammad Abdel Haleem (Oxford University Press, 2004)
This new translation is written in a contemporary idiom that remains faithful to the original.
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Links

Act with Honour
www.thestage.co.uk/features/
feature.php/5850
The artistic director of Man Mela Theatre Company looks at the continuing controversy over the cancellation of the play Behzti.

The Christopher Hitchens Web
www.hitchensweb.com
Official website of the polemicist who has recently blasted oppression carried out in the name of religion.

Geza Vermes: A child of our time
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/
interviews/story.jsp?story=474492
Interview with renowned scholar who has spent 40 years arguing that Jesus can be understood only as a Jew.

National Secular Society
www.secularism.org.uk
Official website of this group campaigning to keep religion out of education and government.

Not in my name
www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/
0,3604,1454850,00.html
Polly Toynbee looks at the roles the Pope and Catholicism have played in the lives of Africans and women around the globe.

Should religious hatred be illegal?
www.opendemocracy.net/debates/
article.jsp?id=5&debateId=57&articleId=2018#
Julian Baggini (for) and Nick Cohen (against) debate the new law.

The World of Richard Dawkins
www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/
WorldOfDawkins-archive/index.shtml
Dawkins is a zoologist, author and high-profile atheist. This website highlights his work and his public appearances through the year.