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Fashion Friday: Fine-Mesh and Flesh-Tone Fishnets

Let’s say you’re putting together a somewhat dressy look, with a skirt or a dress, and dressy shoes that aren’t boots.

Let’s say you want something covering your legs: either for the dressiness, or for a little bit of warmth. Let’s say that patterned black stockings, as awesome as they are, would be a bit much: a little too sexy for this particular event, or a little too complicated for this particular look.

And let’s say you hate, hate, HATE pantyhose.

I’m going to propose a fashion solution that Ingrid pointed out to me years ago: Fine-mesh or flesh-toned fishnets. Continue reading “Fashion Friday: Fine-Mesh and Flesh-Tone Fishnets”

Fashion Friday: Fine-Mesh and Flesh-Tone Fishnets

Why Should Religion Get A Free Ride?

This piece was originally published on AlterNet.

Why should religion, alone among all other kinds of ideas, be free from attempts to persuade people out of it?

We try to persuade people out of ideas all the time. We try to persuade people that their ideas about science, politics, philosophy, art, medicine, and more, are wrong: that they’re harmful, ridiculous, repulsive, or simply mistaken. But when it comes to religion, trying to persuade people out of their ideas is somehow seen as horribly rude at best, invasive and bigoted and intolerant at worst. Why? Why should religion be the exception?

I’ve been writing about atheism for about six years now. In those six years, I’ve asked this question more times, and of more different believers, than I could possibly remember. And not once have I gotten a satisfying answer. In fact, only once in my career do I recall getting any answer at all. I’ve asked this question more times than I can remember… and with one exception, what I’ve gotten in response has been crickets chirping and tumbleweeds blowing by. I’ve been ignored, I’ve had the subject changed, I’ve had people get personally nasty, I’ve had people abandon the conversation altogether. But only once have I ever gotten any kind of actual answer. And that answer sucked. (I’ll get to it in a bit.) I’ve heard lots of people tell me, at length and with great passion, that trying to persuade people out of their religion is bad and wrong and mean… but I haven’t seen a single real argument explaining why this is such a terrible thing to do with religion, and yet is somehow perfectly okay to do with all other ideas.

So I want to get to the heart of this matter. I don’t want to bring it up as a side point in another discussion: I want to focus on this question alone. Why should religion be treated differently from all other kinds of ideas? Why shouldn’t we criticize it, and make fun of it, and try to persuade people out of it… the way we do with every other kind of idea? Continue reading “Why Should Religion Get A Free Ride?”

Why Should Religion Get A Free Ride?

Greta Interviewed by Chris Mooney on "Point of Inquiry" Podcast

And more fun for podcast fans! I did an interview yesterday with Chris Mooney on the Center for Inquiry’s “Point of Inquiry” podcast, talking about my new book, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless.

It’s a really interesting conversation, I think. We disagree about a lot of things, but it’s a civil and friendly talk, with more areas of agreement than I was expecting. We talk about anger as a driving force behind the atheist movement; how the image of atheists as angry gets used against us (and how this has happened with every other powerful social change movement); how emotion is necessary for reason to function; how anger can be used in a social change movement; the limitations of anger; the goals of the atheist movement; whether religion is necessary for human society; whether atheists will be able to build alternative communities to religious ones; and more. Check it out!

Greta Interviewed by Chris Mooney on "Point of Inquiry" Podcast

Why Are You Atheists So Angry? Ordering Info

Where can you buy my book, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless?

Why Are You Atheists So Angry
Here is the most current ordering info for my book, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless — in ebook, print, and audiobook editions.

Ebook editions:

The Kindle edition is available at Amazon. (That’s the link for Amazon US, btw — it’s available in other regions as well.)

The Nook edition is available at Barnes & Noble.

Smashwords has the book in multiple formats, including iBooks, Sony Reader, Kobo, Kindle (.mobi), Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, any other reader that takes the Epub format, Palm Doc (PDB), PDF, RTF, Online Reading via HTML, and Plain Text for either downloading or viewing.

All ebook editions and formats cost just $7.99.

Print edition:

The print edition is available at Powell’s Books.

The print edition is also available at Amazon. However, be advised (if you haven’t been already) that seriously abusive labor practices have been reported at Amazon warehouses. Please bear that in mind when you’re deciding where to buy my book — or indeed, where to buy anything. (For the record: Powell’s employees are unionized.) Again, that’s the link for Amazon US — it’s available in other regions as well.

The print edition is available at Last Gasp.

The print edition is $14.95 USD. It is published by Pitchstone Publishing.

Wholesale sales of the print edition:

Bookstores and other retailers can get the book from Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and other standard wholesale distributors. It can also be purchased directly from the publisher, Pitchstone Publishing.

Audiobook edition:

The audiobook version is available at Audible.

The audiobook version is available on iTunes.

The audiobook version is available on Amazon.

And yes, I did the recording for it!

Here is the description of the book, and some wonderfully flattering blurbs. Watch this space for future announcements! Continue reading “Why Are You Atheists So Angry? Ordering Info”

Why Are You Atheists So Angry? Ordering Info

Greta's Podcast Interview with The Angry Atheist

UPDATE: There was a temporary problem accessing this interview, due to traffic overloading the site. It’s been fixed now, and the interview is available once again.

Hey, all you podcast fans! I’ve just done a podcast interview on The Angry Atheist podcast show. We talk about marriage, anger, atheists, attitude, my book (Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless), and more.

Good times. Check it out!

Greta's Podcast Interview with The Angry Atheist

Edwina Rogers

Can a Republican be an atheist?

Of course.

Can a long-time operative in the Republican party be an effective executive director of a national atheist/ secularist organization?

That’s a different question.

And can a long-time operative in the Republican party be an effective executive director of a national atheist/ secularist organization… when they respond to serious questions about whether their values are in alignment with the atheist community by evading, spinning, telling flat-out falsehoods, and generally treating with contempt the very community they were hired to represent?

That’s a very different question indeed.

When I first heard that the Secular Coalition for America had named a long-time Republican political operative, Edwina Rogers, as their new Executive Director, my first reaction was extreme skepticism. To put it mildly. Actually, my first reaction was the top of my head blowing off. But then I thought, “Calm down. Maybe this is one of those ‘only Nixon can go to China’ things. Maybe a Republican could be uniquely effective at pitching secularism to Congress, and to America. The people who hired her aren’t idiots. This is worth considering. Keep an open mind.”

But I did have some serious questions about her. I knew that other people in the community had serious questions about her — many of them the same questions I was having. And the materials I’d read about her seemed somewhat dodgy, not addressing any of these questions in any serious way. Ditto the interview she did with Hemant Mehta at Friendly Atheist. So when I was given the opportunity to interview Rogers and ask her these questions, I took it.

And I have come to the conclusion that this is a disaster. Continue reading “Edwina Rogers”

Edwina Rogers

Why Atheists Have Become a Kick-Ass Movement You Want on Your Side

Atheists are becoming a force to be reckoned with. They are a powerful ally when inspired to take action — and a powerful opponent when they’re treated like dirt.

Why would any organization or social change movement want to ally itself with a community that’s energetic, excited about activism, highly motivated, increasingly visible, good at fundraising, good at getting into the news, increasingly populated by young people, and with a proven track record of mobilizing online in massive numbers on a moment’s notice?

If you need to ask that — maybe you shouldn’t be in political activism.

And if you don’t need to ask that — if reading that paragraph is making you clutch your chest and drool like a baby — maybe you should be paying attention to the atheist movement.

The so-called “new atheist” movement is definitely not so new. Atheists have been around for decades, and they’ve been organizing for decades. But something new, something big, has been happening in atheism in the last few years — atheism has become much more visible, more vocal, more activist, better organized, and more readily mobilized — especially online, but increasingly in the flesh as well. The recent Reason Rally in Washington, DC brought an estimated 20,000 attendees to the National Mall on March 24 — and that was in the rain. Twenty thousand atheists trucked in from around the country, indeed from around the world, and stood in the rain, all day: to mingle, network, listen to speakers and musicians and comedians, check out organizations, schmooze, celebrate, and show the world the face of happy, diverse, energetic, organized atheism.

Atheists are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Atheists are gaining clout. Atheists are becoming a powerful ally when we’re inspired to take action — and a powerful opponent when we get treated like dirt.

*

Thus begins my latest piece for AlterNet, Why Atheists Have Become a Kick-Ass Movement You Want on Your Side. To read more, read the rest of the piece. (Which has also been reprinted in Salon.) Enjoy!

Why Atheists Have Become a Kick-Ass Movement You Want on Your Side

Interview with Greta Christina and Teresa McBain on Minnesota Public Radio

I did an interview yesterday on Minnesota Public Radio with Teresa McBain, the former minister who came out as an atheist at the recent American Atheists convention (the one that NPR did the story on). The interview is now available on the Internet, and you can listen to it and everything! We talk about coming out atheist, whether atheists tend to be people who took religion more seriously when they believed, atheist morality, how atheists deal with death, and more. Check it out!

Interview with Greta Christina and Teresa McBain on Minnesota Public Radio

Greta Reading at "Perverts Put Out," Sat. 5/12

Hi, all! I’m going to be reading in San Francisco this Saturday, as one of the readers in the legendary Perverts Put Out reading/ performance series of San Francisco Bay Area sex writers and performers.

Perverts Put Out!, San Francisco’s long-running pansexual performance series, has featured stellar line-ups of truly twisted, mega-talented artistes — even an occasional naked mayoral candidate — since way back in 1998. They’ve even been the subject of a Faux News exposé! May 12th is the Maypolar Disorder Edition, celebrating erections, resurrections, and the rising sap. It’ll be a glorious cast, including me, Midori, T. R. Moss, Thomas Roche, Sam Sax, Lori Selke, horehound stillpoint, Mollena Williams, and co-hosts Carol Queen and Simon Sheppard. If you’re in the Bay Area, I hope to see you there!

EVENT/ HOSTS: Perverts Put Out
DATE: Saturday, May 12
TIME: 7:30 pm
LOCATION: The Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission Street, San Francisco (near the Civic Center BART station)
COST: $10-20, sliding scale

Greta Reading at "Perverts Put Out," Sat. 5/12