It’s getting hard to come up with new points in such a classic debate. This girl get’s on a roll after a few minutes, drawing on the passion of the crowd. Her style and delivery, evocation of emotion slowly building in her crowd, reminds me more of preachers than science teachers.
http://videosift.com/video/Why-Are-You-Atheists-So-Angry-Greta-Christina
Wow, this is amazing. Now I’ll have a LOT more material with debates about my views with other people. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to that. I feel like a loser because it was a 50 minute long video, and an hour after you posted it, I replied back. Haha. It’s good to see people who can also see the light of atheism and how it IS NOT all bad. There are radicals in every group of any belief. Thank you for posting this! 
I’m an Atheist as well. Raised catholic though. Over the last few years I have the impression that Atheists are having a hard time in America, how true is this?
The first Ten minutes was interesting, I’ll bookmark it for viewing later
I hope and believe that most religious persons are angry about all the same things that she as an Atheist is andy about. Think a 21st century Martin Luther King.
Think how Jesus always said “F*** that” repeatedly over all the religious rules that interfered with loving and helping humanity. It’s in the Bible. 
thought I’d share my ideas
My connection is too slow to watch the video, but I feel I should say a few words. I am not an Atheist. I am Christian. I am LDS (Latter Day Saint), AKA Mormon. I know Atheists get a lot of crap from religious people who damn them to hell and whatnot. I’d just like to say that it is flat out wrong to damn anyone to hell, or to judge anyone in that way. There are good people everywhere, regardless of religion. There are also bad people everywhere regardless of religion. And I simply do not agree with the idea that good people will be punished for not believing in something.
I guess the way I view things is that, whether you believe in the bible (or other religious doctrine) or not, it is not as important as living by its teachings. Love is what is important. Jesus’ teachings of caring for and loving others, and staying humble is the most important thing. Even if you do not believe he existed, the teachings are still good. A person who loves others and lives as Christ did, that person will be truly happy, and people generally appreciate that type of character.
Please do not view my post as an attack on atheists. I am simply trying to say that I do not believe an atheist should be punished just because he or she is an atheist. Good people simply do not deserve that. and based on other people’s posts, it sounds like this is kind of what the video is about.
Very credible source. 
@Ereksonj
Very sensible words. But clearly we read very different editions of the bible.
The LDS study the King James version. I know people think that we study our own “Mormon bible,” but that’s not exactly true.
And although I did say that the teachings of Christ is what is important, I’ll also say that I believe in christ 100%. I just acknowledge that many people do not, and I don’t have a problem with that.
Edit: we do read and study the Book of Mormon, but we study the bible just as much. There is a lot of room for interpretation in these books. I have my own, others have theirs… as long as its based on love, its good in my opinion.
+1
Well said, Ereksonj - if only all religious people (and atheists ;)) were as tolerant and reasonable as you. I’m an ex-Catholic (if such a concept is possible - they do say once a Catholic always a Catholic, and there is something to that concept) - not sure how I’d describe myself now, as I’m not comfortable with all that atheists stand for - maybe agnostic, or secularist is closer to the mark - though I do agree with a lot of the issues Greta raises in that video (thankfully we don’t have the same issues in this country about policy being made based on religion - though I have recently heard of a disturbing case of creationism being taught in a science class over here). However I also totally agree with what you say there, and don’t see it at all as an attack on atheists. I try to live a “good” life, which IMHO is totally irrespective of what religion you believe in or don’t.
Thanks for coming into this thread with a good attitude!
Why do you consider yourself a Mormon? It seems like your ideas about salvation don’t really jive with some of the teachings of the LDS church. You should consider re-reading or studying the core doctrines of LDS faith. If you’re feeling really brave, look into the history of the LDS from a perspective outside the church.
I know for me, one of the first things that really made me question my faith (Catholicism) was the teaching that if you weren’t saved, you were damned. No amount of good deeds could make up for not being a Catholic. As a small child (five or six maybe, I don’t know) I remember thinking about this. My friends didn’t go to the same church as I did. They were all good people and it didn’t seem fair that they wouldn’t go to heaven with me. At the time, this was quite distressing, so I prayed for them. It didn’t take long before I realized that there were whole bunches of people out there who weren’t Catholic. They were all damned too! That was even less fair, because I was pretty sure that at least some of them had never even heard about Catholicism. How could a just God damn people to hell if they never even had a chance to believe in him.
I eventually forgot about my problems with this aspect of my faith and continued to believe for quite a few years. It took a long time for me to come to terms with the mounting problems I would find with various aspects of religious teachings. I made a decision to really study not only my faith, but many others too.
I would call myself a militant atheist at this point, but it all started with a question so simple that almost any child raised in any faith eventually asks.
Ericksonj
Have you seen this South Park Mormon episode ? I am just curious if you find it offensive, funny or both ? Also, how accurate do you think it depicts Mormon history ? It is South Park after all , they have to take the piss out of everything, but how far did they stretch the truth ?
Making fun of other’s religions is generally funnier that seeing it happen to your own. Chef, voiced by Isaac Hayes, famously quit the show in protest rather than prank Scientology (his religion). He was cool with pissing on Catholics, Jews, and well everybody else, and sleeping with every girl on the show, just don’t go near L Ron ( the Joseph Smith of Scientology).
This whole issue of people being damned for never being introduced into Christianity is solved through Joseph Smith’s revelations. Mormons have a very different view of the afterlife than other religions. We too believe that a person must accept Christ to go to heaven, however we do not believe this acceptance must occur during our life on heaven. We actually do baptisms for the dead, for people who we believe have accepted the church in the afterlife. We believe that after you die, you are educated, and you are given the opportunity to accept or deny Christ then. Its an interesting concept even if you do not believe in it. I have had the opportunity to do baptisms for the dead once, but I missed it and wished I had gone.
all that aside, I consider myself a Latter Day Saint because I believe in the church’s teachings. it is against our religion to drink alcohol, use tobacco products, or any other addictive drug. No, coke has never officially been forbidden. Neither have energy drinks, however some tea and all coffee is off limits. These limitations were set in place before the dangers of smoking and drinking were discovered. (drinking is now known to be responsible for oral cancer). I agree that people should not drink also because it makes it easier to get angry, or do something you’ll regret. Alcohol ruins a lot of lives. As for coffee and tea, I’m not sure why that’s forbidden, but I believe there is a good reason for that.
The biggest reason I believe in my church is because of the emphasis on family. I have never seen any other organization with families who are closer than LDS families. Sure, there are bad eggs, and there are many families who are very close who are not LDS. but, happy families in the world tend to be more mormon-like, whether they are or not. The limits on pre-marital sex, and the focus on staying morally clean and staying away from suggestive media all play a part in people’s mental health, their character, and their loyalty towards their spouse and family.
Whether the rules and guidelines in our chruch came from god or not, they make sense to me, and they tend to produce happy, successful people.
I have seen this episode, and I cannot allow myself to get offended by it. Other churches and ideas get made fun of all the time, and I admit the story is a little far out. However, any biblical story out there is every bit as extreme as the story of how our church came to be. The south park episode has the main idea right. Joseph Smith did receive revelations from an angel and he did translate golden plats, but he did not use a hat, and he was not the only one to actually see the plates. in fact, there were a handful of people who saw the plates themselves. If you are curious about how the LDS church came to be, the first couple pages of the Book of Mormon give a very good account of how we believe it all happened. It’s a relatively short read.
if you follow this link and click on introduction, you will find the testimonies of the people who we believe saw the golden plates first hand. Also, the brief explanation link explains what the book of Mormon is about, if you are curious.
This is actually a digital form of the book.
please note, I am not trying to force any of my ideas on others, I am only trying to inform you of my own beliefs.
Cool Ericksonj
It is interesting to gain your perspective.
How into the literal doctrine would you say are you, or is the average Mormon ?
Do you think it is important to believe some of the harder to swallow (at least for some people ) parts? For instance, archaeology has found just native american ruins. Genetics says that native Americans did not come from Israel, but rather from east Asia. American Indians don’t really look very Jewish. Do you really think they are Jewish ? , or is that unimportant ?
Mormonism does seem to be associated with better health and strong family life. Is that most of it’s appeal to you ? At the end of the South Park Mormon show, the Mormon boy kinda summed it up like that. I have heard that Mormon schools are actually pretty good at science. Is it sorta like Christianity were you would have fundi Mormons vs more scientific minded ones ?
I feel out of place to answer this. it is difficult to define an average Mormon, and I do not want to speak for others. However, I personally have some issues with some of the information in the Book of Mormon. As your examples have shown, there are various holes in the scripture. Another hole, for example, is that the Book of Mormon references horses. Horses are not native to America; they were introduced by the white man.
On the other hand, it is incredible and near impossible for a teenage farm boy to create such a complex book all on his own. It is incredible that the Book of Mormon has held up as well as it has, and I have great doubt that Joseph Smith had that kind of natural talent and wisdom. Not only that, but why would he want to deal with all of the discrimination? Joseph Smith went through a lot of crap to stand up for The Book of Mormon. He eventually lost his life because of it.
So, when I read and study the Book of Mormon, I tend to see bits and pieces that I think maybe Joseph Smith inserted himself, and other parts do seem legitimate to me. But really, I have no definite knowledge of what is true and what is not, so I tend to not worry about whether the stories in the Book of Mormon literally and actually happened. Instead, I take them for their value as lessons, and learn from them to apply them to my own life and point of view. I accept the scientific fact that we have, but also stay open to the idea that we have more to discover. Maybe there is some scientific explanation for the Book of Mormon and we just haven’t discovered it. Nobody knows for certain. There may be some extinct Native American tribe that does match the description according to our faith. I simply cannot say that the Book of Mormon is impossible, because there is no definite way to prove that.
that has a lot to do with it, but there are many other reasons as well. one reason is that there are no paid positions in our church. None at all. It is all purely volunteer. %100 of the church’s money goes towards helping those in need, buying supplies, building churches and temples, and everything else the church spends money on. I have no Idea how much money is in the treasury, but I do know that the LDS church owns a bunch of land in case of emergency, and I know there is very minimal corruption (none to my knowledge), and church members are supposed to give %10 of everything they make to the church.
Another reason is organization. I can go to church on Sunday out here on the tiny island I live on, call up my family the next day, and we can talk about our lesson together because it is the same lesson everywhere. There is a set curriculum, if you will, in our Sunday school, which guarantees that you can go to church and worship virtually anywhere in the world, and you get the same knowledge as anywhere else.
Another thing I enjoy about our church, is that we have no “preacher.” the church members themselves prepare lessons for our equivalent of mass. I have given several talks to my branch of church members, and I am only 18 years old. This forces people to study the scripture. You learn more by teaching than you do by listening. This also evens out the ideas of everyone. It provides for many points of view, and many different lessons to learn from.
Also, our church teaches that you can live with your family in heaven. You stay married for eternity, you belong to your parents for eternity, and your kids belong to you for eternity. This is the main reason why family is so important to us.
I find that rather offensive. To me it shows a fundamental disrespect for the life choices of the deceased.
We have run into this issue with people’s families. In attempt to make it less offensive, we only do this for people who have been dead for a certain amount of time, so that they have no living acquaintances left. The other thing is, in my mind, it is less offensive than telling the living that they are going to Hell.
I can see why this offends you and I appreciate you telling me so, rather than cussing me out or something, as many people might.
On the other hand, if some religion decided to do some sort of ritual in my name, I wouldn’t mind because if their beliefs happen to be right, I appreciate their efforts to help me. If their beliefs are wrong and mine are right, then a ritual like that wouldn’t bother me because it doesn’t mean anything to me. They can say anything about me that they want to and it won offend me. I know what I believe in and who I am and that’s all that matters to me. And if I don’t believe their ritual is legitimate, it doesn’t bother me because it doesn’t really change anything in my perspective.
I wouldn’t be offended at being told that I go to hell. I would pity the teller.
The idea that someone baptises me post-mortem leaves a sickening feeling behind. It won’t matter if it happens, thanks to me not existing by that time. But now as a living person the idea twists my innards.
I’m not very good at transferring my dislike of a concept to the carriers.
I generally have a hard time holding onto anger and rage.
That’s a rather pragmatic approach. As an atheist religion cannot hurt me post mortem. But what if I believed in the Norse pantheon? To be taken from Valhall to Heaven would certainly suck. Whatever your Heaven would look like, I doubt it has Death Metal concerts and orgies.
I feel like this would be an apropos time to mention that the LDS church has baptized Hitler.
You can google around for other references if you want or need them. It is very easily to verify this.
Invoking Godwin rarely adds depth to a discussion.
And it reads like the deeds of a couple of culprits - hardly representative.
