With great pleasure and pride, and much anticipation, Humanists, Rationalists, Secularists, Freethinkers and Atheists met in the first week of July in Paris in the hallowed halls of UNESCO headquarters and Sorbonne University for the 16th World Humanist Congress. Over 300 defenders of secularism reviewed the state of separation of religion and state, and assessed the prospects for Humanism and Freethought in their respective countries and worldwide. The Congress was also attended by a number of UNESCO officials as well as leading academics and activists.

This was the first time an IHEU event of such a scale and prestige was organised in France - indeed in the Francophone world. The coming together of Humanists from different cultures and historical contests revealed the surprising extent to which there exists a common agenda and areas where there are interesting differences. It was time for sharing information, for engaging in lively debates, for looking at differences, and for finding a way forward.

Reuters News Agency in an article that was picked up worldwide provided the curtain raiser for the Congress. With reports of the situation in the UK and in India, in Nigeria and in the US, in China, in Pakistan, in Bangladesh and in Iraq, analysing various trends in the struggle for separation of religion and state, the article accurately painted an image of Humanists and Freethinkers who are defending freedom of conscience for all, in the context of growing intrusion of religious values in public life. This image of the organised Humanist movement is well known to the French establishment, as was revealed through the speech of a French Senator who addressed an IHEU and Libre Pensee delegation invited to lunch at the prestigious French National Assembly.

The confused multi-culturalism of many western governments, and the deliberate misrepresetation of secularism came in for special attention of the Congress. The special session on Science raised the issues of what the scientific method means, and examined the role of science in advancing the development of third world countries. Another parallel session helped understand how Humanist activism could help empower women. An important question that engaged all was whether the State should be completely cut off from religion or whether the state should treat all religions equally. This debate has implications for the way in which Humanist organisations around the world are organised, and in fact spilled over into the discussion on the IHEU Congress Declaration - welcomed by the IHEU's General Assembly but not yet adopted as IHEU policy. The Congress gave an opportunity to showcase IHEU's efforts in the field of bioethics, as well as get a picture of progress towards the legalisation of euthanasia. Other workshops examined education from a Humanist point of view and making use of the media. Sustainable development is another field in which Humanists in the third world have worked and have special perspectives to offer. And yet not all was just debate and discussion - an opportunity to learn about the rationalist history of Paris and a wonderful boat trip on the river Seine, organised specially for the Congress participants in a bateau mouche, paved the way for informal networking among Congress participants. The Congress dinner in a Tapas bar was unique.

It is difficult to capture in a few words the wide variety of Humanist, Rationalist and Freethought activism that was on display at the World Humanist Congress - and at the World Congress of Freethought and Atheism that preceded it - at the workshops, during the coffee breaks, in the corridors of UNESCO headquarters and in the courtyard of the Sorbonne. A flavour can however be found from the papers presented and the workshop summaries that can be accessed from IHEU's website at www.iheu.org