Ghana's Award Winning Humanist on Billboards, Bills and Backlash

Content note: this episode includes references to rape and sexual assault. Sign up for the Humanists International Newsletter https://humanists.international/sign-up-for-the-newsletter/ Gary and Leon return from the World Humanist Congress in Ottawa — the biggest Congress in over a decade, bringing together 500 people from 60 countries under the theme Humanism as Resistance. They discuss the Ottawa Declaration on Humanism as Resistance adopted at the General Assembly, the launch of the Amsterdam Circle (HI's new major donor initiative), the announcement of Lima, Peru as host of the 2027 World Humanist Congress, and a historic first: a UN independent expert report specifically mentioning humanist organisations. Rosalind Mould is President of Accra Atheists and Coordinator of the West African Humanist Network. She was formerly President of the Humanist Association of Ghana (2015-2019) and Chair of the Young Humanist International African Working Group (2014-2019). In 2019, she became the first African Vice President of Humanists International, concluding a seven-year board tenure at the 2026 General Assembly in Ottawa, where she received the Distinguished Service to Humanism Award. In this episode we cover How Roz found humanism in Ghana when there was no language for it, no community, and no one she knew who had done it before Building Accra Atheists from a group who met in person just to check whether each other were real The economic cost of being visibly non-religious in Ghana: half of Accra Atheists members have had to leave the country Advocating for Ghana's LGBT community — the resource center raid, the anti-LGBT bill, and how a coalition defeated it after three years Seven years on the HI board: what it meant to be the first African woman VP, and why she believes it can be done again Further reading and references Amsterdam Circle: https://humanists.international/amsterdam/ Accra Atheists: https://www.facebook.com/AccraAtheists/ Lima Congress: https://humanists.international/event/world-humanist-congress-2027/ Freedom of Thought Report: https://fot.humanists.international Follow Humanist International Sign up for our free Newsletter Support Humanists International Follow our Campaigns About - Humanists International  Freedom of Thought Report This podcast is produced by Humanise Live. Start your podcast today, visit: humanise.live 🎶Music: Horizon by Simon Folwar 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.