Why Are You Atheists So Angry?

99 Things That Piss Off the Godless

By: Greta Christina

Narrated by: Greta Christina

Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Why are atheists angry? Is it because they're selfish, joyless, lacking in meaning, and alienated from God? Or is it because they have legitimate reasons to be angry - and are ready to do something about it? Armed with passionate outrage, absurdist humor, and calm intelligence, popular blogger Greta Christina makes a powerful case for outspoken atheist activism, and explains the empathy and justice that drive it. This accessible, personal, down-to-earth book speaks not only to atheists, but also to believers who want to understand the so-called new atheism.

Why Are You Atheists So Angry? drops a bombshell on the destructive force of religious faith - and gives a voice to millions of angry atheists.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2012 Greta Christina (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"I found this book informative and enraging! Leave it to Greta to inform and elucidate like no other. I highly recommend this book to everyone, everywhere. And I hope never to get Greta angry at me. :)" (David Silverman, President, American Atheists)

"Greta Christina’s analysis of religion is acute and witty, and at the same time fair and compassionate. And I'm jealous: I sure wish I could write as well as she does." (Alan Sokal, Professor of Physics, New York University)

Excellent text on the subject and lifestyle

Great book on the subject matter and her narration was warm and flawless. Would highly recommend to anyone just curious. Hope she can write and narrate more!

A Good Argument Weakened

Would you try another book from Greta Christina and/or Greta Christina?

No.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The author; reading her own work, does a good job with pacing, diction, enunciation, and so on, which (as someone hearing-impaired) I appreciate.

However, she has one particular tic which started as a minor distraction, but soon came to dominate my perception of her narration: she laugh-talks when making emphasis. She seems to believe that this is a form of self-deprecation (and she says as much), but instead she uses it as a way of expressing emotional connection to the message. This might not have been so bothersome if it were not for the fact that she consistently laughs (literally) any time she makes mention of something that she believes is so obvious that it doesn't bear mentioning, and any time she mentions anything with which she doesn't agree politically. This significantly weakens her arguments when it is used, as it comes across that, instead of using facts, she is using mockery to try to score points.

Any additional comments?

After an excellent introduction and initial chapter, in which her political leanings (firmly Liberal, in the U.S. definition) appear only on occasion and do not significantly change the argument, the book moves slowly but steadily downhill. After she makes a good mention about how one's own personal politics are a common area of strongly-held (and it is implied, often irrational) beliefs that can interfere with one's perception of reality, she begins a pattern of adulterating many of her arguments with her own political tenets, all of these stated uncritically, and many of them of arguable veracity. Such incursions are not omnipresent, but they appear at regular intervals, and increase in frequency as the book progresses. What would otherwise be a strong collection of arguments is therefore weakened significantly, to the point that I think anyone not agreeing with her specific political point of view will find the book off-putting. Since she explicitly states a desire to persuade people, she should have left the political dogma out.

The author's narration only heightens the jarring nature of these ideological intrusions, as she reserves her strongest laughter for those moments when she is bringing her political views to the fore, underlining the perception that all she has to back these assertions is mockery.

Still, the first chapter is extremely good and thoroughly researched, and stands out as the strongest part of the work. If she'd kept more to facts and less to opinion in the rest of the book, it would certainly have rated higher, but the best I can give it now is 3 stars.

I am an atheist and I am pissed off!

Until Richard Dawkins came along and so elegantly skewered religion with his razor sharp intellect, I did not self-identify as an atheist but as just another former catholic. And then I was hit by the triple whammy in quick succession: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late and truly lamented Christopher Hitchens. I have never looked back. Yet, as good as their arguments are, they did not prepare me for the barrage of vitriol that most atheists face when they come out. And that, in a nutshell, is what Greta Christina's book is all about. Religions, she argues, exist on the continuum between good and evil. Some religions may be less evil than others right now, but the trend over time for all religions is toward evil. A few religions are explicitly evil, but the majority that are not lend credibility to those that are and thus they aid and abet evil.

Dawkins et al provide the intellectual arguments against belief in the supernatural, but Greta provides nuts and bolts arguments that I can put in my back pocket for the next time someone tells me that I'm no different from the believers . She is angry, it is true, but her arguments are reasoned, not shrill, and her anger fuels the impulse to try to make things better. I am angry right along with her because, for example, I loved the Boy Scouts but can no longer suppress my revulsion. Hitchens liked to say that religion as a way of understanding the universe belongs to the childhood of our species. This book is a step along the way toward leaving our imaginary friends behind, growing up, and taking responsibility for ourselves in the one and only life we get.

LOVE THIS!

If you could sum up Why Are You Atheists So Angry? in three words, what would they be?

Honest, Surprising, Insightful, Revelation

What did you like best about this story?

It kept me thinking through the whole book.

What about Greta Christina’s performance did you like?

I'm glad she read her own audio book. I like hearing it in the author's own voice and inflection.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I know this sounds trite but the whole book moved me. I have been the black sheep of my family all of my life. At times I felt guilty for being godless. My mother used to say "you are an athiest" but meant it in a bad way. The book made me finally, at 49, feel comfortable with my thoughts and being godless.

Any additional comments?

I kept saying to myself..."that's what I think!"

Everything I've said and then some

This is a *must read* for atheists, theists, and on-the-fencers. If you're religious and have ever wondered why we atheists are so angry, read or listen to this book. If you are an atheist and have trouble articulating your reasons for being angry, read or listen to this book; it will help you state your argument better.

I am angry too

Any additional comments?

Good for Greta Christina for bravely and unashamedly voicing her anger, and for sending out a call to arms to all atheists to stand up and be counted.

Perfectly expresses my own frustrations.

I've listened to Dawkins and Hitchens. I've enjoyed Krauss and Dennit. But Greta is the first Atheist who mirrors my own feelings. excellent.

Not An Angry Book, but an Honest One

I wish everyone, atheist or non, would listen to at least the 3rd and 4th chapters of this book. We're all aware of the reasons why anger is sometimes an appropriate reaction to organized religion, but the book, to me, was not primarily about that. It's about reason and justice and whether or not human beings are really willing to offer more than lip service to these ideals which we claim to revere.

I would argue that those who consider themselves religious will not be particularly offended by this book, despite its "angry" title. You don't have to agree with Greta Christina to gain something from listening and to realize (and hopefully admit) that she makes some valid points here.

The author reads her book well and with conviction and humor - happily, not with anger. It's bound to make the listener look at religion in new ways.

Good summary of how to debunk absurd beliefs

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Not really,it's a little repetitive, but that's normal in this kind of book and subject.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Why Are You Atheists So Angry??

The 99 initial reasons.

What does Greta Christina bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

It's consistent and helps to organize thoughts better.

Do you think Why Are You Atheists So Angry? needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I suppose there can be many dealing with different concrete problems.

Any additional comments?

It's a good book for everybody, clear and to the point. Greta Christina reads it very well-

You , should be angry too

I enjoyed this as it cataloged and reminded me of why I was angry and why it is fine and right to be angry .