Religion is not something that’s discussed in polite society. At least that’s the myth. But a year-long festival in London is confronting the big questions in a spirit of openness and tolerance

When I walk in, a chess grandmaster is talking about the number 42. Jonathan Rowson, British chess champion for three consecutive years, former director of the Social Brain Centre at the Royal Society of Arts and now co-founder and director of Perspectiva, a “research institute that seeks to build the intellectual and spiritual foundations for a more conscious society”, is riffing on Douglas Adams’ famous answer to the meaning of life.

He is talking to the Sunday Assembly, the famous “church for atheists” which, each weekend, is exploring the themes of the year-long festival, “Belief and Beyond Belief”, at London’s Southbank Centre. The audience is large, engaged and amused. Elsewhere in the building, preparations are under way for a debate on “Meaning for Atheists: What do Atheists Believe?”, at which I am speaking. Later, there will be sessions on mindfulness, and a short film about what it means to lose your memory. This is the first weekend.

Through talks, debates, exhibitions and music, ranging from ritual to science, the festival seeks to explore the “seemingly innate need for humans to find meaning for their lives and a sense of where they fit into the universe, with all its mystery and majesty”.