Waaaay back at Skep-Tech, we had the opportunity to sit down and record a podcast with Greta Christina to talk about her book – “Why are You Atheists so Angry – 99 Things that Piss off the Godless.” Not only did we have an opportunity to talk about a lot of things that piss us off, we asked Greta our five questions. Among other things, we got to learn about her secret geeky hobby which, we have to say, is pretty awesome. Also, in the tradition of Geeks Without God giving away stuff, we have a copy of Greta’s book to give away! Just listen to the podcast and you will learn the very simple rules you need to follow to be a winner!
Show notes below the fold:
You can click on Greta’s name up above to link to her blog on FreeThought Blogs.
Greta’s blog post “Atheists and Anger.”
In case you haven’t seen it, here’s a link to Greta’s Skepticon talk.
Greta metions the book “The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children.” If you have kids, we definitely recommend the book.
Here’s a picture of the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan being dynamited by the Taliban:
Greta talks about the movie The Sessions.
Greta also edited “Paying for it: A Guide by Sex Workers for their Clients.”
Also, Greta’s latest book is “Bending: Dirty, Kinky Stories about Pain, Power, Religion, Unicors & More”
A link to Pal’s Takeaway in San Fransisco. Also Dynamo Donuts.
“If only there was a way to combine the two into some kind of donut sandwich.”
Grilled cheese donut FTW: http://www.tomandchee.com/
I love to go to their Newport location, and get a grilled cheese donut before going to the movie theater nearby. Mmm, grilled cheese donut and fountain red pop.
Atheist anger issues: One of the things that really pisses me off about organized religion is taking money from anyone who will give it… and people thinking they are “giving to the Lord” but it really going to support lavish lifestyles (of people who already get massive tax breaks and such anyway). I think of this church near where I grew up and their giant Jesus statue (version one AND two, since the first one was struck by lightning and burned to the ground) and I think about all the money wasted on crap like that when it could actually be used to help people in need. Or “Let’s raise money to travel to 3rd world countries to spread the word of God.” Hey, here’s a thought. Maybe use those funds to help the people who live there have clean drinking water, for example. I mean, damn, praying isn’t going to make dysentery or cholera go away. Heh. I better stop now before I really get this rant going. After all, I live near the Creation Museum, too…
The megachurch up the street from Molly and I donated over $50,000 to try to add a gay marriage ban to our state constitution, an amendment that (thankfully) failed.
We are forced to vote in this Churchstrocity. Inside, they have 42″ flat screen televisions imbedded in the walls every 20 feet or so, showing what’s happening inside the chapel.
Tax-free conspicuous consumption instead of helping the needy. Blech.
I know this is petty but something that pisses me off with people who know I am an Athiest and I use a phrase like Oh My God or Bless you. I have had people reply how can you say that you are an Athiest. Just because I am an Athiest I cannot use a phrase oe saying.
Exactly. I say “Jesus Christ” and even “Christ on a cross” sometimes. They’re idioms at this point, in my mind.
What makes me angry is the looks I get when I don’t celebrate Easter (or any other holiday) like Christians do. Of course, I mean the Christians who make a big deal out of it – going to church, having family get-togethers, that sort of thing. I once told a Christian woman that after my sister and I grew out of Egg Hunts, we didn’t celebrate Easter all that much. Mom still gave us cards and baskets and cook Sante Fe eggs for breakfast, but that was it. We never went to Church or talked about Jesus or anything. Easter was an excuse for candy and decorating eggs. After telling her this, the Christian woman gave me a startled and sad look, like she just heard that I wasn’t allowed to read. And this woman usually is very cool and fun to be around, even when God is brought up. But the thought that I enjoyed a Christian holiday in a non-religious way was so foreign to her that she couldn’t do anything but feel pity for me. It burns me even worse because it took me a while to really understand that look and now I can’t confront her about it because it’s been months and that’d be extremely awkward.
“like she just heard I wasn’t allowed to read”
This made me laugh out loud.
The list of things that pisses me off is quite long but top of the list for me has to be believers who think human beings are the special hand crafted (and thus more important) creations of a divine being placed here on earth to lord over the rest of this same divine creator’s “lesser” creations all while thinking this elevated position of divine power has no bearing on our individual and societal responsibilities to be good stewards of our earthly home.
It is as if the divine is only invoked as a means to make the individual feel special and good about themselves. They take all the self proclaimed positives inherent in this elevated position of power and none of the responsibilities…
Just recently discovered your site and podcasts. Great stuff!
I find it most annoying when people invite me to their church services or other functions. Do they really think that I’ll magically become a believer (especially at my age) after a visit to their church? I have neighbor who is otherwise nice who asks at least once every month or two if I want to go to church with him. So far I’ve been nice about it and just politely decline, and he doesn’t persist (until the next time, anyway).
Once or twice, that’s polite, but more than that is kind of insulting. I would have to say something, you know? “Look man, I appreciate that you think you’re trying to help me, but I don’t think the same way. I think we can agree to disagree, but either way, if feels disrespectful to me, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop asking.”
The top thing on my list is the wilful ignorance of fundies. I just met someone the other day and was casually talking about the book I was reading “40 Days and 40 Nights” by Matthew Chapman, regarding Kitzmiller v. Dover. When she said she had an education in the law and that she works in higher education, I immediately thought here is a kindred spirit. But then, instead of asking about the outcome of the case, she said, “but evolution is a theory.” I was speechless. It’s like she hadn’t heard a word I said! She couldn’t have surprised me any more if she’d told me she was Holocaust denier. It appears that, like most of the devout, she knew absolutely nothing about either intelligent design (except that she believed in it) OR natural selection. She was pretty much like the dumbest defendant in the Kitzmiller case. Fortunately, she is not on the curriculum committee.
I get infuriated at the mental gymnastics that religious folk use to always put themselves in the right, even when they’re conveniently ignoring the full implications of their beliefs. A woman is dying from her pregnancy, say with a spouse and child as in El Salvador, and it’s just fine and “pro-life” to let her die, never mind the suffering of her and her husband and the already-living child. It’s just, “We’ll pray for you,” and “Offer your sufferings to God” and “This is your cross to bear”–and that is supposed to make everything OK. See also the assumption of martyrdom whenever they don’t get the deference they think they are due for their beliefs.
I actually had a co-worker tell me last December that people like me were to blame for the Sandy Hook shootings, and when I didn’t simply accept the blame, things degenerated into a shouting match; even so, he had the temerity to say he didn’t mean anything bad by what he said and that I should not have been offended, since he meant well. Road to hell, indeed.
I think the thing that pisses me off the most is that I can’t just “not believe”. It’s the whole “but where do you get your morals” together with the “but you have to believe SOMETHING, or why do you wake up in the morning”. I’m doing just fine defining my own existence in my little brain, and I’m sorry I’ve come to different conclusions about it than you, but that doesn’t mean you get to go and spout of your platitudes and indoctrinate the rest of society, especially when you’re indoctrinating them to their detriment. Just leave me the FUCK alone. Correction…go make me a nummy sammich.
What I can’t stand is they idea that because “everyone is entitled to their beliefs” that means that “everyone is entitled to enforce their beliefs on other” if they are in the majority. Like a co-worker who lectures another co-worker who is gay on the evils of homosexuality as if there were any actual metrics he could use to back up his claim. If I don’t believe in a
loving godvengeful asshole who tortures people for eternity for loving someone with matching genitals, than you arguments have no hold over me or anyone. Oh and by the way fuck you for trying to legislate it so that it does.I hate having to tell people over and over again how much I fucking hate rock music.
What pisses me off is the suppression of sex. Everything from slut shaming to abstinence only education. The worse is probably female circumcision of little Muslim girls. Really anything that makes people ashamed of their bodies and a beautiful natural act.
There’s too much oppression of women *without* the help of religion, which seems practically made for the task, at times.
As a childless couple I get awful tired of hearing my 25 year marriage declared worthless because marriage is only about procreation.
I also get pissed about pharmacists being allowed to refuse to dispense the pill. My wife had to be on a hormone releasing IUD PLUS the pill to prevent her from bleeding out and dying until she was healthy enough to have a hysterectomy. Contraceptives are not just about birth control, for some women it’s life saving medicine.