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.
While this is a step in the right direction, certainly, it’s important to remember that having no religious affiliation is not at all the same thing as being an atheist. I know many, many people who do not want to affiliate themselves with any particular religion, but who definitely believe that there’s a god. It’s one thing to want to separate yourself from the Pat Robertsons and Eddie Longs of this world; it’s a completely different struggle to be able to sever ties with the entire idea of the existence of a deity. In fact, I’d say the two concepts have almost nothing to do with one another.
While I agree with Melissa, I think that the majority of the problems caused by theism are related to the nature of organized belief.
It is my opinion that most of the older people who have lived with a belief in god and an afterlife will die with it. I’m fine with that as long as they don’t listen to the frauds and shysters who use this belief as a power base. Moderate believers can function without problems in a secular society.