Abolitionism did not find positive response in Africa as it did in Western societies and cultures.

I always have tendency to form very strong local attachments, so I was very keen to find out about the school I was going to, its history, and the countryside. I was acquiring a kind of English character if you like, Englishness about things and my attitudes.

It is the West that has liberated women, racial minorities, religious minorities, and gays and lesbians, recognizing and defending their rights. The notions of freedom and human rights were present at the dawn of Western civilization, as ideals at least, but have gradually come to fruition through supreme acts of self-criticism.

Discussions of Western civilization are too often confined to works of high art that reflect a relatively narrow element of public taste and experience.

All religions are sick men's dreams, false - demonstrably false - and pernicious.

In Saudi Arabia, among other countries, Muslims are not free to convert to Christianity, and Christians are not free to practice their faith. The Koran is not a rights-respecting document.

I wish more people would belabor the obvious, and more often.