Greta: Keynote Speaker at Secular Student Alliance Conference!

Secular student alliance logo
Am looking over my blog, and realizing I somehow forgot to announce this earlier. D’oh! I’m going to be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Secular Student Alliance Annual Conference, being held next week in Columbus, Ohio.

You heard me right — the freaking keynote speaker.

The conference is being held July 23-25, at Ohio State University. Registration is still available, and dorm housing is both available and super-cheap. Other speakers include Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist fame, Jen McCreight of Blag Hag and Boobquake fame, Skepticon host JT Eberhard, and more. I’m going to be giving the full- length, expanded disco version of my talk on What Atheists Can Learn From the LGBT Movement. Summary: The atheist movement is already modeling itself on the LGBT movement in many ways — most obviously with its focus on coming out of the closet. What else can the atheist movement learn from the LGBT movement… both from its successes and its failures? I’ll be speaking on Saturday evening, July 24, at 8:30 pm.

As the keynote speaker.

Did I mention that part?

Li’l ol’ me, blogging in my pajamas.

Atheist blogging is awesome.

Greta: Keynote Speaker at Secular Student Alliance Conference!
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Why Did God Create Atheists – Jesus and Mo Edition

Eep!

I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy!

The brilliant, celebrated, freaking hilarious atheist comic strip, Jesus and Mo, has done a comic inspired by one of my blog posts! They even said so, right on the site! “A big tip of the hat to Greta Christina”!

Jesus and mo

EEEP!

(Click to enlarge, or else go to the site.)

I feel that on this occasion, I ought to say something dazzling, or at least ponderous, or at least witty and clever. But really, I’m too busy running around the apartment fluttering my hands and squealing. I am all a-twitter with girlish glee.

EEEEEEEEP!

Why Did God Create Atheists – Jesus and Mo Edition

Greta Speaking in San Francisco, Sat. May 29: "What can the atheist movement learn from the gay movement?"

SFAbanner
One final reminder: I’ll be speaking in San Francisco tomorrow — that’s Saturday, May 29, at 6pm — for San Francisco Atheists group.

My topic: What can the Atheist movement learn from the gay movement? The atheist movement is already modeling itself on the LGBT movement in many ways — most obviously with its focus on coming out of the closet. What else can the atheist movement learn from the LGBT movement — both from its successes and its failures? I’ll be talking about coming out; making atheism a safe place to come out into; defusing the ongoing battles between the firebrands and the diplomats in our movement; avoiding squabbles about language and self-definition; making our movement more diverse; and other lessons that can be learned from the history of the LGBT movement.

The talk will be at Schroeder’s Restaurant, 240 Front St (meeting room in back), in downtown San Francisco (between California and Sacramento Streets, near Embarcadero BART). The talk will start at 6pm; I’ll be talking for about an hour, and there’ll be plenty of time for Q&A afterwards. If you’re in the Bay Area, I hope to see you there!

Greta Speaking in San Francisco, Sat. May 29: "What can the atheist movement learn from the gay movement?"

Greta Speaking in San Francisco, May 29: "What can the atheist movement learn from the gay movement?"

SFAbanner
What can the Atheist movement learn from the gay movement? The atheist movement is already modeling itself on the LGBT movement in many ways — most obviously with its focus on coming out of the closet. What else can the atheist movement learn from the LGBT movement — both from its successes and its failures?

I’ll be speaking on this very subject in San Francisco, for the San Francisco Atheists group, on Saturday, May 29, at 6pm. I’ll be talking about coming out; making atheism a safe place to come out into; defusing the ongoing battles between the firebrands and the diplomats in our movement; avoiding squabbles about language and self-definition; making our movement more diverse; and other lessons that can be learned from the history of the LGBT movement.

The talk will be at Schroder’s Restaurant, 240 Front St (meeting room in back), in downtown San Francisco (between California and Sacramento Streets, near Embarcadero BART). The talk will start at 6pm; I’ll be talking for about an hour, and there’ll be plenty of time for Q&A afterwards. If you’re in the Bay Area, I hope to see you there!

Greta Speaking in San Francisco, May 29: "What can the atheist movement learn from the gay movement?"

Atheism and Sexuality – Greta Speaking at Stanford Monday, May 10

Greta.med
The sexual morality of traditional religion tends to be based, not on solid ethical principles, but on a set of taboos about what kinds of sex God does and doesn’t want people to have. And while the sex-positive community offers a more thoughtful view of sexual morality, it still often frames sexuality as positive by seeing it as a spiritual experience. What are some atheist alternatives to these views? How can atheists view sexual ethics without a belief in God? And how can atheists view sexual transcendence without a belief in the supernatural?

I’ll be speaking on this very subject at Stanford on Monday, May 10, at 7pm. Building 420 (Psychology) Room 041, Stanford Main Quad. I’ll be speaking for an hour, with plenty of time for a question and answer session after — so come with good questions!

The event is sponsored by Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics (AHA!) at Stanford, and is part of my ongoing gig on the speakers’ bureau of the Secular Student Alliance. (Who are awesome, by the way, and you should become a fan of them on Facebook.) If you’re in the Bay Area, come by and say howdy!

Atheism and Sexuality – Greta Speaking at Stanford Monday, May 10

Why I Am an Atheist Writer

The question here is not, “Why am I an atheist?” I think I’ve answered that question ad nauseum. (Not that that’s going to stop me from continuing to answer it…)

Computer_keyboard
The question is, “Why am I an atheist writer?” Or maybe, since I consider my writing to be a form of activism: Why am I an atheist activist? Why am I involving myself so deeply in the so-called “new” atheist movement?

This question sometimes gets asked of me by trolls. People who don’t want anyone to be involved in the atheist movement. People who think the whole movement is a waste of time (or who want to convince people in the movement that it’s a waste of time… probably because it’s anything but).

But it also gets asked of me by… well, by me.

I have become involved in this movement to a degree that surprises even myself. It’s taken over my writing career, my personal life, my time wasted on the Internet, my time just in general, my conversations with Ingrid, the inside of my head… to a degree I never would have expected when I first picked up a copy of The God Delusion.

I’ve been thinking about why. And I think my reasons boil down to three basic categories: the noble and inspired, the pragmatic and Machiavellian, and the broad sweep of history/ just plain fun.

Inspired
1) The noble, inspired reasons.

I’m an atheist writer and activist because I think atheism is important. Really, really important.

Religion, obviously, is a hugely influential force in human society. And I have come to the conclusion that it’s (a) a mistaken idea about the world, and (b) an idea that, on the whole, does significantly more harm than good. I think the world would be far better off without religion, and while of course I passionately defend people’s religious freedom and their right to believe whatever the hell they want, I also think that trying to persuade people out of religious belief — and trying to make the world a safer place to be a non-believer — are goals worth reaching for.

(To be more specific — and to give credit where credit is due — I’m an atheist writer and activist because of Richard Dawkins and The God Delusion. I argued my way through the entire length of that book; I called Dr. Dawkins an astonishing assortment of rude names during the course of reading it… and by the end, I had not only given up calling myself agnostic and was proudly calling myself an atheist, but had been persuaded that atheism was an important issue, and one that deserved a significant portion of my time and writing career. I was inspired by his writing, and I want to pass on this inspiration to others.)

Machiavelli
2) The pragmatic, Machiavellian reasons.

Atheism is a growth industry.

Whenever I’m commiserating with a fellow writer about the trials of a writing career, I always take pains to point this out. I’ve gotten more traction out of my atheist writing than I have out of any other topic I’ve written about. And yes, that includes the sex writing. My atheist writing gets me more traffic, more recognition, more credibility, than anything I’ve ever written. By several orders of magnitude. (And it earns me more money, too.) Any hope I have of being a seriously successful full-time writer hinges on the atheism. I’d be an idiot not to ride this pony all the way to the finish line.

Gay liberation day 1970
3) The broad sweep of history/ just plain fun reasons.

It’s easiest to explain this one to queers. Whenever I’m explaining my atheist activism to queer activists, I always ask them, “If you could go back in time and be part of the queer movement right after Stonewall… wouldn’t you do it? Wouldn’t you want to be part of this movement right as it was getting off the ground — when it was all new and exciting, and you could make a real mark and shape the direction it went in?”

That’s how I feel about the atheist movement.

When it comes to social change movements, I’ve always been late to the party. I was late to the feminist party; I was late to the LGBT party; I was late to the lesbian sex wars (although not as late as I was to these other parties).

But I’m not late to the atheism party. Or at least, not very late. The atheist movement, in my opinion, is very much where the LGBT movement was about 35 years ago, right after the Stonewall riots. Like the post-Stonewall LGBT movement, there’s been an atheist movement for decades (if not longer) — but in the last few years, it’s become more visible, more vocal, more outspoken, less apologetic, more activist, better organized. Dramatically. By several orders of magnitude. We’ve gone from being on almost nobody’s radar, to being a major topic of conversation on TV news shows and in op-ed pages, at water coolers and on Facebook… in a stunningly short amount of time.

And I get to be part of it. Now. Not twenty or thirty years from now — now. I get to be in on the ground floor. (Or the floor just above the ground floor, anyway.)

Which means two things about my involvement.

History
It means I have a chance to make a real mark. As I’ve gassed on pompously in the past: If the atheist movement succeeds — if those of us trying to persuade people out of religion eventually succeed, if current trends continue and the number of people who don’t believe in God continues to grow, if eventually everybody (or almost everybody) abandons the religion hypothesis entirely — it will be one of the most important developments in human history. It will be like the Enlightenment, or the Industrial Revolution. It will be the sort of thing historians write about. People will see human history as divided into two eras: When We Believed In Gods, and When We Stopped Believing In Gods. Having a chance to be part of that — having a chance to be even a small footnote when the history of this movement gets written — is one of the most richly rewarding things I’ve ever done.

Joy
And it means that it’s a hoot and a holler.

The atheist movement, right now, is more fun than a barrel of narwhals. (Causing a commotion, ’cause we are so awesome!) As I’ve also gassed on about before: Activists in the early days of a movement tend to be totally freaking amazing. They tend to have strong personalities, independent spirits, a huge amount of self-confidence, a passion for social change, a vision for the future, a wicked sense of humor, a metric shitload of courage, and an unbelievably thick skin. (They can also be stubborn, aggravating, arrogant pains in the ass… but that comes with the abovementioned territory, and IMO it’s a price totally worth paying.)

And that makes this movement exciting, and inspiring, and hilarious, and intellectually stimulating, and wildly entertaining.

I get to work for something I believe in. I get to advance my writing career. I get to be part of history. And I get to have a ball doing it.

Who on Earth wouldn’t want to do that?

Why I Am an Atheist Writer

Greta Speaking at Stanford About Atheism and Sexuality, May 10

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I have a new speaking gig scheduled! I’ll be speaking at Stanford University about atheism and sexuality — my two favorite polite dinner-table topics — on Monday, May 10, from 7 to 9 pm. I’ll be speaking for an hour, with plenty of time for Q&A afterward. The event is sponsored by Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics (AHA!) at Stanford, and is part of my ongoing gig on the speakers’ bureau of the Secular Student Alliance. (Who are awesome, by the way, and you should become a fan of them on Facebook.)

The event will be at Building 420, Room 041, Main Quad, Stanford (here’s a map). If you’ll be in the Bay Area, stop by, listen to me gas on, and come say howdy!

Greta Speaking at Stanford About Atheism and Sexuality, May 10

Greta Speaking This Weekend at Secular Student Alliance New England Regional Summit

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Ingrid is (a) doing somewhat better and (b) spending the weekend with her mom, so I’m off to the Secular Student Alliance New England Regional Summit. I’ll be giving my talk on What Atheists Can Learn from the GLBT Movement. If you’re going to be there, be sure to say howdy. (And on Friday, I’ll get to see Mythbusters on Humanism the Mythbusters are getting the Annual Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism, presented each year by the Harvard Secular Society on behalf of the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard and the American Humanist Association. Neat!)

I’ll be back on Sunday, hopefully back to blogging at a semi-regular schedule, although my time and energy may still be pretty shredded, and I’m making no promises. Anyway, see y’all soon!

Greta Speaking This Weekend at Secular Student Alliance New England Regional Summit

Ingrid Update/ Continued Blog Semi-Break

Hi, all. Just wanted to update you yet again on the situation with Ingrid and the blog. Ingrid’s back is doing better, but she still needs a fair amount of attention and care, pretty close to round the clock. Also, I’m going out of town this weekend for the Secular Student Alliance East Coast regional conference, and I need to prepare for that.

So my own time and energy are still very much limited, and I’m still not going to be able to do much blogging. It’s mostly going to be reprints and Memes of the Day, for at least another week. Thanks to everyone for your patience. We will soon return you to your regularly scheduled rabble-rousing.

Ingrid Update/ Continued Blog Semi-Break

Ingrid Update/ Continued Blog Semi-Break

Hi, all. Just wanted to update you on the Ingrid situation, and the blogging situation which is directly related. Ingrid’s bad back turns out to be a ruptured disc, which is pretty effing serious. The long-term prognosis is very good — over 90% of people who get this get better — but at the moment she’s fairly incapacitated, and I’m spending a lot of my time taking care of her. So the blogging is going to be somewhat sparse in the next week, and possibly longer (we don’t really know how long her recovery is going to take). I’ll keep my hand in with reprints and Atheist Memes of the Day and maybe an occasional original piece, but it’s going to be a little more sporadic than usual. I’ll be back on track as soon as I can. Thanks for understanding.

Ingrid Update/ Continued Blog Semi-Break