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
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Do people actually use this argument against atheists?
Absolutely. I have heard this argument used so many times.
Anti-diversity? Wow. You know, at the very least, you do have to give these people credit for their amazing creativity 😛
That argument drives me crazy. A good chunk of western Europe is largely atheist or wishy-washy-not-really-bothered religious, but the cultural diversity remains. And vastly different cultures emerge from the countries with the same religious beliefs; are Ireland and Italy to be considered tediously similar just because they both have a lot of Catholics?
If anything I’d say that religions are anti-diversity, because they want everyone to perform the same rituals and believe the same things and have the same opinions. The irreligious don’t mind so much if you put up a tree or light a menorah or whatever, as long as you enjoy it and aren’t hurting anyone.
Er, that sounded a bit contradictory. I think different cultures *do* emerge from countries with the same religious foundations, suggesting that religion is irrelevant to diversity. OTOH it seems to be the (not necessarily achievable) *goal* of religion to institute sameness.
The only real counter-answer I can think of, besides the courtier’s reply that No One Really Says That, is that some people just-can’t-help being religious, so insisting that they consider the alternatives is like insisting that someone with a lactose allergy just try some milk.
I actually have seen some arguments kinda like that from faitheists — “Oh, you surely don’t mean that African Americans in the ghetto should drop their churches — they need them!” I find the attitude condescending. Nobody is too [whatever] for atheism.
Whenever I encounter yet another creationist, the first thing I think about is how depressingly short they are cutting themselves, not to mention their children. They really are smarter than their mere knowledge would suggest! I mean, just by being human, they are capable of so much more.