And she’s a 14 year old girl!
“There’s so much violence that comes with religion. So you know what? Stop giving these things to children. Let them form their own decisions when they’re older and actually have the intelligence and mental capacity to make up their own minds.” This.
I’d say someone needs to tell her to start a Secular Student Alliance at her high school…but she may not even be in high school yet. I freaking love young activists. We are the future of secularism!
I wish I were that skeptical at her age.
The internet is helping to get rid of Middle East dictators and Middle Eastern gods.
Same here. I always have this dual reaction to seeing things like this. Most of me is jumping for joy to know that there are kids like this out there. Then there’s a little man in my brain shouting “If *I* have to live with the memory of blasting my friends with nonsensical religious arguments as a teenager, then SHE SHOULD TOO! >.>”
Luv her….her parents must rock too…
Yee-ha! The derision with which she says “All you Xtians”. Zowie! Good on you, girl.Plus, she gets extra credit for looking at the camera and not at herself monitor the whole time ;)
So, it means atheism will be mainstream when she’s fully an adult? Perhaps not, but it’s a start.
And she’s only 14? Jersey Shore notwithstanding, maybe there IS hope for our future after all!
That’s fantastic. BTW Jen I have a daughter who is 12, has read The God Delusion and started Greatest Show on Earth, and who is a big fan of your blog too (she especially likes the trip to the Creationist Museum). I think I see my future here…I look forward to her reaction to this when she gets home from camp on Sunday.
@Laurie: “And she’s only 14? Jersey Shore notwithstanding, maybe there IS hope for our future after all!”I certainly hope so.
I certainly wish I could convince my 13 year old sister to have this level of logic….unfortunately as she’s growing up with the same tyrannically xtian parents that I broke away from, and they’ve made it clear if I try to “corrupt her” I’ll lose all rights to see her, I doubt it’ll happen.
A new candidate for your “large list of awesome female atheists”?
At 14, she’s almost certainly in high school. Saw her on Pharyngula – impressed at both her technical acumen (splicing together movies that tidily isn’t easy!) and her clear-headedness.I didn’t become nearly as serious an atheist until university.
I’m going to assert my white, middle-aged, male privilege to say: She is aDORable!
I hope my newborn daughter is like her in a few years..
i’ll bet you do! let the pseudo-rebellion continue.
I’m feeling a little bit uncomfortable about this… is it really alright to flip open a bible at random and take any bits out of their original context? On those same pages that she opened could she have found a positive passage also? I’m quite surprised that I am the first peron to mention confirmation here. Doesnt secular society plow violence and cruelty into kids heads all the time? TV, Books, Games… Cant we use the same points of argument against those too?She is intelligent and questioning which is excellent. I hope she keeps that attitude, and I hope that she finds a good devils advocate to test herself against.
Ditto from another late-middle aged white guy! If she were my granddaughter I’d be sending that YouTube vid to every geezer & geezette I know!
In what context is slavery okay?
It would have been harder, and that’s a poor excuse for something that purports to be the word of god.
Maybe we can. She didn’t say, “We shouldn’t teach the Bible to children, we should teach them that Grand Theft Auto is a holy work handed down by prophets instead.” And I’m not aware of any media intended for preteens that is as violent as the Bible. Hell, even GTA doesn’t have slavery and genocide.
Slavery isnt OK. However it was extremely common practice back in the day of writing. Context is very important if you are interpreting meaning and making judgements from words drawn at random from a page. The new testament section that she picks is taken horrifically out of context.Not really, and anyone who takes the bible as the literal works of god is a complete tool. You might find it hard if you were only looking for negative things though which was kinda my point. For a book that lays down a suggested moral code that the elders of past tribes reccomeded for their societies, if you cant find any positivity there, then you really are’nt trying.There is plenty of moral abivelence in media aimed at preteens. To take the moral highground only when you are talking about a holy book is pretty weak. “Is “Hell, even GTA doesn’t have slavery and genocide.” meant to be a point of some kind? Pimping and indiscrimite mass murder is alright then?
Why should I try to find positivity in something so bursting with negativity?GTA is the big bad of secular societal violence and what not. It’s not designed for kids (though yes, kids do play it). You know I didn’t mean everything depicted in the game is completely fine, but it’s not institutionalized slavery, genocide, rape, etc. There are degrees of immorality.If you look hard enough, you can even find moral lessons in GTA. That doesn’t mean we should package it for preteens as guide to a moral life.
Most fourteen year-olds that I’ve met are good at eye-rolling, sarcasm and righteous indignation, but I have to say that I’ve never seen these skills so wonderfully put to use!“You know it’s a terrible book when someone can flip to any page and find something violent, cruel and hurtful.”“You tell them God is love, and then give them this bible?” “Possibly the most violent work of fiction ever.”Awesomesauce. Brava for asking questions rather than blindly accepting dogma. As an aside, I almost jumped out of my skin when she did the devil voice filter around 03:50!
You can of course, absolutely discard anything you like without a second thought. As you please. I think it is a mistake to consider yourself a free thinker if you do though, but whatever.Why should you try to find positivity in something so bursting with negativity? No doubt you would throw the baby out with the bathwater. Because the good bits are really good. Like all world religions, when you strip out the dogma, theology and cock-waggling they are all built around solid precepts designed to keep society together and provide for happy coexistence. Why not take what is good and discard the rest?I was derising your use of GTA because its like comparing a peach with a tomato. GTA is DESIGNED to appeal to those who enjoy violence in modern entertainment. The Bible was designed as a moral codex and a record of laws, customs and practices of a people (i dont know…?) 6000 years ago. Context, as ever, is everything. You have you have been willing to look hard to find moral lessons in GTA. Much harder than you would do for the bible perhaps? Why is that? I do however think it is stupid to give an unedited adult bible to kids with packaging that says it is suitable. I mean WTF? These people have obviously gone “I love the bible and it is the word of god so it MUST be suitable for everyone. (I bet most christians skip over those rapey parts so as to maintain their own confirmation bias).My main problem with the video is the bias, but the main contextual error came during her “debunking” of the new testament (which as we all know is regarded as the peace and love to all mankind section). It is also (as many people are not aware) about as peacefully as possible, overthrowing an old broken religious regime that has lost its power of self examination, and the struggles inherent in that. Fragmented context leads to fragmented understanding. I welcome your comments on this matter with great interest.Finally, It is always distressing for me when I walk in on a massive circle jerk. I get the impression of the same kind of sheeplike agreement that we so dissaprove of in others.
<3 this little girl, I hope that if I ever have a daughter, she’ll grow up to be so well spoken, brave, and smart.
Saztheathiest’s YouTube channel is gone! I’m so bummed. She was awesome. I hope she resurfaces in the future.
Saz cut and run! Ha! I saw it happen almost in real time. I was trying to explain to her the fallacy behind her completely unoriginal “Can God create a rock so big…” video just before it happened.
There’s a reason religions want parents to “raise their children in the faith”. It’s been known for thousands of years that if you brainwash them when they are young, you’ve got them for life. Of course, they know better than to call it brainwashing, but that’s what it is.
It’s really sad that Saz had to remove her YouTube channel and web blog. She was an inspiration to kids and parents everywhere. We’ll miss you!!!
Oh, really? It’s “brainwashing?” You obviously have no idea what that word truly means.And I’m sure atheists never, ever “brainwash” (according to your fast, loose and inaccurate definition) their kids.