Sept. 7, 2026

Humanism as Resistance: Live from the World Humanist Congress 2026 Part 1

Quickfire interviews from day one in Ottawa, with humanist leaders from Luxembourg, the US, Lithuania, Norway and Humanists International.

Show Notes

Support Humanism Now & Join Our Community! Something a little different this week. James Hodgson took Humanism Now on the road to the World Humanist Congress 2026 in Ottawa, hosted by Humanists International and Humanists Canada, where more than 500 attendees from over 60 countries gathered around a single theme: resistance. Between sessions, James grabbed five minutes each with fellow attendees, some returning guests and many new faces, to hear what brought them there and what they are building back home.

The result is a whistle-stop tour of the global humanist movement: civic participation and chaplaincy, coalition-building between atheists and humanists, humanist confirmations and ceremonies, and a first look at where the next Congress will be held.

"One of the ways we build power to ensure society better reflects our values is by coming together." — James Croft

Featured in this episode

Bob Reuter, president of the Alliance of Humanists, Atheists and Agnostics (AHA) Luxembourg and co-host of the radio show Iwwer Gott an d'Welt
James Croft, humanist chaplain and lead faith advisor at the University of Sussex
Nick Fish, president of American Atheists
Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė, founder of HERE (formerly Happy Human Lithuania)
Christian Lomsdalen, president of the Norwegian Humanist Association
Maggie Ardiente, president of Humanists International

Highlights

Why "humanism as resistance" is the theme for this moment, and Maggie Ardiente on a movement responding to authoritarianism worldwide (plus a first look at the next Congress)
James Croft and Nick Fish on civic participation, building coalitions, and why atheists and humanists share the same fight
How Norway's 75 years of humanist confirmations built a movement approaching 198,000 members, and Lithuania's drive to scale humanist ceremonies around the world

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: live from the World Humanist Congress 2026 00:52 Bob Reuter, AHA Luxembourg 02:44 James Croft, humanist chaplaincy at the University of Sussex 10:16 Nick Fish, American Atheists 17:06 Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė, HERE (Lithuania) 20:53 Christian Lomsdalen, Norwegian Humanist Association 26:34 Maggie Ardiente, President of Humanists International

Links and references

Bob Reuter, AHA Luxembourg: https://www.aha.lu
James Croft: https://www.croftspeaks.org
Nick Fish, American Atheists: https://www.atheists.org
Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė, HIA: /https://www.hia.lt/en/
Christian Lomsdalen, Norwegian Humanist Association: https://www.human.no
Maggie Ardiente, Humanists International: https://humanists.international

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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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