Greta Christina has been writing professionally since 1989, on topics including atheism, sexuality and sex-positivity, LGBT issues, politics, culture, and whatever crosses her mind. She is author of
The Way of the Heathen: Practicing Atheism in Everyday Life, of
Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do with God, of
Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why, of
Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and of
Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More, and is editor of
Paying For It: A Guide by Sex Workers for Their Clients. She has been a public speaker for many years, and many of her talks can be seen on YouTube. Her writing has appeared in multiple magazines and newspapers, including Ms., Penthouse, Chicago Sun-Times, On Our Backs, and Skeptical Inquirer, and numerous anthologies, including
Everything You Know About God Is Wrong and three volumes of
Best American Erotica. (Any views she expresses in this blog are solely hers, and do not necessarily represent this organizations.) She lives in San Francisco with her wife, Ingrid. You can email her at gretachristina (at) gmail (dot) com, or follow her on
Facebook.
I assume you mean that a better working society promotes atheism. Be prepared for people to misread that as if atheism makes societies work worse, despite that this would contradict the rest of the meme.
I misread th`t `t first and was very confused. Thanks for clearing that up, Deen.
I understood that sentence the first time. Then again, I’ve heard that before. Most people who talk about this do seem to think that it is societal health that brings about widespread atheism, rather than the converse.
Admittedly it took me a couple seconds to get the meaning. But it’s a very good message, and one I had never thought of when I hear the argument for society needing religion.
To be honest, I’m not sure a society already mired as thickly in religion as the US could healthily survive a sudden change; many of the already religious probably wouldn’t do well if they lost their faith, at least for a while.
It almost makes religion seem like a societal addiction — take it away and people will suffer withdrawal, but eventually it’ll be better for it!
I think lack of religion and prosperity are mutually reinforcing to at least some extent, and the inverse factors function likewise.