My brother informed me this was a christian nation. When I asked him why there is no mention of god or Jesus in the Constitution, a rather glaring omission for a "christian nation". He retorted by saying, "Then why does it say In God We Trust on our money"? I started to explain why, he just walked off. Some people just don't like facts.
TC Sam My old roommates were a bitch to deal with when it came to this stuff. They'd post on facebook about prayer being banned and all that nonsense. When I told them what was really going on, they'd just say "Whatever, it doesn't matter". I explained on countless occasions that the founding fathers weren't religious, that we aren't a Christian nation and so many other things. They basically became deaf when I turned on facts.
TC Sam That is why I want to smack other atheists, and people of other beliefs, that say that shit on our money and in our pledge doesn't matter. Pick your battles........well yes, this is a valid one!
iwashomeasleep Honestly, the money doesn't bother me. Would I celebrate a little bit inside if they announced all new money would be printed without it? Sure. But honestly, I don't look that closely to my coins and bills. I rarely have them, I stick to debit card. =P
iwashomeasleep I'm more interested in getting the pledge removed because that's religion in our schools. It's something that is in our face. The money issue isn't that big of an issue. And when confronted about it, I can easily explain why those words are there.
i live in a sick body that houses three autoimmune diseases and two genetic blood disorders. i have been hours away from death three times, two of which i needed emergency surgery to save my life. i have talked to many who said that if i would only come to jesus then i would be healed. one person even said to me that it was in god's plan for me to suffer so that others my look at me and appreciate that they live in healthy bodies. it's fucked up!
If i herd some one say that to you knowing ur situation i would of gladly beat the shit out of that person.Good luck aye i hope ur doing beter and will eventually become healthy
Daniel Tenorio Are you implying that Christianity and acceptance of Jesus will cure her illness???And that the people advising her don't know "true" scripture???Because if that's the case then perhaps you should read the bible .The debates are clear the Abrahamics are an evil belief system of thought.For common minds to easily embrace.Scripture never helped anyone medical science hard wrk and dedication has helped millions!!! My fellow athiests treat those like they're children.A child doesn't truly know what's is beneficial to them hence their dependance on parents.So treat the Abrahamics this way as well.So yes in fact forgive them for they truly do not know what they do!!!In the same way you'd forgive your child.Walk the walk and lead by example don't preach nor brag nor banter.Leave those types of behaviour to the voluntarily ignorant Abrahamics!!!And let's organize without fear and with courage and show that their is a better way to live on this planet without superstitious myths and religion's.We should group ourselves and support science and reason in order to Perhaps help heal people like the young lady in this comment section!!!To you young lady I am truly sorry anyone would ever tell you such thing's!!!! And I truly hope you're ok now❤👍👍👍💪
I don't know if it was the years of being a broadcaster but Seth is just so perfect in front of an audience, every single time. His talks are always engaging, funny, and eloquent.
I like the line I heard once, "Well, of course George Washington's father couldn't punish him for cutting down the cherry tree. How could he? The kid was holding an axe!"
I didn't know that about Mother Theresa and I blame the media for making her look better than she was. The Catholic church is also full of lies and can't believe what they say.
Plenty of myth-making to go round. For similar on Ghandi, Che Guevara, Martin Luther King and others check out Stefan Molyneux's series: "The Truth About ..."
Though enough investigational journalists, former charity workers, doctors, nurses and of course writers like Cristopher Hitchens have exposed her again and again and again. Even in India there were (and still are) some of her harshest critics. So in the end there are only those to blame who don't want to know.
As usually Seth, you never cease to amaze me with your oratory and presentation skills. Your public talks are always informative and entertaining. As you skillfully illustrated here, the greatest force that permits exploitative individuals, like Mother Theresa, to inflict so much pain on so many people, all the while projecting an image of moral greatness, is people's reluctance to critically examine the way public figures are portrayed to them. The way to lessen suffering in this world is to increase skepticism and critical thinking.
I was impressed with Johnny Cash and Ray Charles demanding that their biofilms Genius and Walk the Line left the bad in. It made me respect them more as people.
I was just reminded of the Aztecs from Mother Theresa's attitude towards suffering. As Aztecs also believed the world needs people to physically suffer. But at least Aztecs actually had great medical care. It even impressed the Spanish who regarded them as barbarians (because killing in the name of Jesus was somehow different than killing in the name of Huitzilopochtli).
Seth, this talk was absolutely amazing! Right up there with the Ultimate Question. You are brilliant and such a great communicator. Thank you for sharing these videos.
Seth is so down to earth, sensible, rational, reasonable...he doesn't stick his head in the sand like most people I know...he's a great speaker...I listen to him daily...someone I would want to buy a cup of coffee and a chat.
Great talk - thanks for speaking up against people using derogatory terms for believers. We will never have logical discussions if we call people names!
She refused pain killers even for those dying of pancreas cancer (about the most painful way possible to die). She would tell them that the pain was "Jesus's kisses". She was a masochist and pushed her trip on others. On the other hand, when she had a medical problem, no expense was spared. I was one of the people who gave her money. I even got a letter from her lawyer when I mentioned her name on a telethon. But that money did not go to the dying. It went to buy gold altar ornaments for the missions of charity around the world. Back then I figured she was the one person I could trust.
No, it's fair to write as Roedy did. A masochist takes reward in receiving pain , a sadist in inflicting it. That a masochist keeps others and themselves in pain to share the pain reward doesn't make them a sadist, just a masochist with overshare issues and a total lack of functional empathy. Somebody keeping only others in pain to shrive the body and purify the soul and takes joy in a job well done would be a sadist. Now, which one was she actually? And people can be both.
I was skeptic when I was a child, had the skepticism beaten or shamed out of me, tried for many years to live a li(f)e of faith, then had to accept the fact that I was a skeptic even when I was a beLIEver.
I know precisely how rainbows happen. They aren't a magical reminder from some sadist in the sky that he promised not to drown everyone on the planet again. It isn't a magical trail leading to a leprechaun's pot of gold, which would be great because I could use the money. Rainbows aren't magic. I understand how they exist, and the religious mindset often tells me that means I can't enjoy rainbows anymore, because I know it's just sunlight going through raindrops. A rainbow is a symphony of mathematics brought into the world. It's an ephemeral painting, built and destroyed a billion times per second as each and every single raindrop falling out of the sky passes through sunlight at just the right angle that the various colors are split and hit the back of my eye, miles away, making a flash of color that doesn't exist for more than a literal instant, and is immediately replaced by another billion raindrops' flash of color. When I think of a rainbow, I see an infinite number of numbers and calculations in my head as I try in vain to understand the vastness of what I'm seeing, and I'm glad that I don't have to plot out the trajectory of each photon by hand because I've only got a couple decades of my life and I have to sleep sometime. A rainbow understood is more beautiful than the cheap ideas I mentioned at first. A colorful post-it note in the sky. A sign pointing to imaginary treasure. Those are a child's stories, quaint and juvenile and ultimately rather boring. There is grandeur in this view of life. Far beyond the provincial nothing-stories of ignorant, mesmerized infants, there is grandeur in this view of life.
''I'm glad that I don't have to plot out the trajectory of each photon by hand because I've only got a couple decades of my life and I have to sleep sometime.'' Moving, thank you.
What you have mentioned first, that the religious mindset wants us to believe that nature cannot be enjoyed without their childish interpretations, is outrageous. And I mean this word in its strongest, most direct or literal sense: it incites an urge in me to roar in anger and agony as I have suffered myself sofar from this foundational misconception, that analysing beauty destroys it. If something is really beautiful, then understanding it in detail will only add to its beauty. Thank you for your comment.
Another brilliant presentation from the Conference. What really jumped out to me was at 34:28 how we form and hold onto beliefs - belief perseverance. I sometimes experience this and see it in others as well. Now I have a clue as to why this happens. Thanks for the video, Seth - TTA.
Great video. Too many people treat heroes like gods in spite of the fact that they have flaws like the rest of us. I heard some stuff about Theresa that she had a dark side but Seth really brought it to light. How can anyone of sound mind call suffering a gift from "god"? Religion is so stupid. Of course we are also finding out about Ghandi who was rumored to like sleeping with young girls. We need to get out of the hero worship trap. I am so glad to be an agnostic. I only regret that I didn't make the move many years ago.
This video should really go viral or something. I've seen just about every talk by hitchens, dawkins, degrass, krauss, etc. and don't get me wrong, there are some real good ones out there, but this one is up there with them.
Hard facts are the hardest thing to sell, so it takes many generations to carve a new channel for future generations to follow. So we live in a world of double standards, where irrational thinking is accepted and rational thinking is considered to be to hard to handle. This will be a long and hard fight for rational thinking.
Recommend it to the UA-cam channel ”The Casual Criminalist". They thankfully seem to not shy away from covering cases others might find taboo or distasteful.
The great author Robert A Heinlein writing on the scarcity of critical thinking, skepticism, and scientific rationality once said this: *_"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded - here and there, now and then - are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty._* *_This is known as 'bad luck.'"_*
In an office I once worked in, we had a whiteboard where people would write on. I put the Savage quote on it and it apparently offended someone. Then suddenly, it was erased. People really don't like their beliefs challenged
I enjoyed the speech. I remember when people saying that Mother Teresa was a saint. I remember in my 8th grade economics class where played a game of the person we wanted to be. My economics teacher wanted to be Mother Teresa.
On the mother theresa part, I've never been Catholic but I once worked at a place for retired nuns who could no longer work. The nuns were so funny and more relaxed than you would think. They loved tv shows, cussed, and would ask us to sneak them more wine when it was someones feast day. One nun I was very close to. She would read 3 inch thick books every two or three days and was very knowledgable. She would tell me how full of crap the church is. She'd roll her eyes all the time and tell me stories about the other nuns she had worked with. She wanted to serve God with her life and did very well. But she realized what a joke it was. I believe she was such a pure soul, it just made me sad how disappointed she was in her mission. A lot of them feel that way. They get trapped and can't leave so they just go ahead and do it. Their families would reject them if they left and had no money to go out on their own. I wish someone could start a foundation to help them financially to get out and get on their feet.
I got an ad for Colorado Theological Seminary at the beginning of this video. I think they are barking up the wrong tree here. I'm sure there are a few Christians watching these videos to be able to rebuke atheists, but they are likely a minority. That is like a Bible College advertising at the FreeOK Conference itself.
I live in New Orleans and have lived here my entire life including during Katrina. I was a former Asst. DA for three years, and some of my police friends said the National Guard came here and went hunting for looters. The Coast Guard would dump the bodies in the Mississippi River. FWIW.
You will NEVER get the truth from a Hollywood (or indeed a movie made anywhere else) movie...I would have thought that people would have realised that by now.
Great stuff, Seth, especially stripping the veil off of Agnes Bojaxhiu. I presume your research took you, among other places, to the Times of India article which I learned about back in 2013. That added to Christopher Hitchens' pieces and her association with the Duvaliers and Charles Keating stuck a fork in her for me, once and for permanent. Many thanks, my friend!
+TheThinkingAtheist Seth. you are another example and proof that a person can reason their way out of faith and religion. We in the secular community need to not write off those we discuss religion and 'belief' with- they may be our biggest allies later. In turn, we should not withhold criticism of their belief or be afraid if satire. it could be the defining moment for the believer.
Excellent lecture Seth, nicely delivered. Interesting stuff concerning Chris Kyle, I'd love to see a factually accurate documentary on him.. surely a great project for some film maker.. could win a best documentary Oscar!
Apparently MT considered pain to be "the kisses of Jesus." I have trigeminal neuralgia....will someone tell that perv to take his unwanted sexual molestation elsewhere, please?
"Crest has been shown to be an effective decay-preventive dentifrice which can be of significant value when used in a conscientiously applied program of oral hygiene and regular professional care". I'm 67 and I will never forget that, having heard it ad nauseum.... "Ad", get it? Repetition works.
I'm not an atheist, but I DO very much like the ways in which Seth Andrews, Theresa McBain, Jerry DeWitt, Dan Barker and others conduct themselves in their talks, as well as the ways in which they make their forceful cases against the fatuousness and stupidity in much of (most of ?) Christianity.
Mother Teresa: "There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ's Passion. The world gains much from their suffering." Yeah, like cheap T-shirts and other shoddy items made overseas....
3 Facts about that devil in disguise? (talking about "mother" Theresa) 1. She refused to give people in pain (even the ones who were dying!) any painkillers (she called suffering "a gift from god") 2. She didn't aleviate suffering (it's a gift after all) - not even of the non-physical kind (so no money for the poor or an education etc.)...after all: People who aren't poor, aren't hungry every god damned day and have been educated well are a lot less likely to believe in fairytales out of 2000 year old fiction books! (the more educated humanity becomes, the less believers are there...hell, the best tool against fucking religion is the fucking internet, which delivers information to the fingertip of anybody looking for it (even children locked in fundamentalist christian homes who could not access such informatione otherwise - this breaks the stranglehold that those fundamentalists have on young children (brainwashing the young doesn't work as well if they can get informed themselves without parents knowledge!)) 3. She treated her own nuns horribly (no use of tampons etc. for women on their period...there's story out there from someone who wanted to become a nun and work for her and quit because of the harsh treatment and one small side story is that one of the poor people coming to their monastery had some tampons on her and that woman was fucking tempted to steal them because she wasn't allowed to buy her own (!) ...I could go on! In fact I think she's the perfect embodyment of the christian (and Islamic and even jewish!) deity: She was a cruel asshole of person that was able to hide her cruelty well enough to garner a following (I mean the god of the Bible himself is a fucking monster, a psychopath in need of fucking therapy, who does NOT deserve worship...even if he exists (which I doubt!) then I would NOT worship him...hell, the Bible condones fucking slavery, rape, murder etc. and not only that: God is performing some of that, too (virgin Marry? How about divinely raped Marry? Or killing of an entire town because they refused him? or hardening the pharao's heart and then killing of all the first born of Egypt? Flooding the Earth because people he created didn't behave like he wanted...hell, he's even the one who started ORIGINAL SIN (a silly concept IMHO, but christians do believe in it!), so it's him who needs to beg forgivness from US (no the other way round!)) ps: If the Bible god exists I'll start worshipping Satan ASAP (at least that guy is upfront about being an asshole and even evil guys need leutenants...I'd rather reign in hell than worship in heaven!)
Exactly, Lucifer (or whatever his name is) is the man. He delivered us from ignorance and encouraged us to think for ourselves. He is the judeo-christian analogue to Prometheus.
I think it takes time to recognise HOW to talk to theists in a way that isn't belittling or seemingly arrogant. I have been guilty of at least thinking in a way that puts believers below myself and others in terms of intellect. Then I just stop and think, I'm not that smart compared to a lot of people. Im not even that knowledgeable, as much as I try to learn. Yet my grandfather is very clever, he's written puzzle books, knows so much about the country, railway, rivers, history and pretty much anything I ask him. Yet he is incredibly religious! Like really on it with his theism, and he seems very sincere! Some people just need a polite nudge in the right direction.
My brother informed me this was a christian nation. When I asked him why there is no mention of god or Jesus in the Constitution, a rather glaring omission for a "christian nation". He retorted by saying, "Then why does it say In God We Trust on our money"? I started to explain why, he just walked off. Some people just don't like facts.
TC Sam My old roommates were a bitch to deal with when it came to this stuff. They'd post on facebook about prayer being banned and all that nonsense. When I told them what was really going on, they'd just say "Whatever, it doesn't matter". I explained on countless occasions that the founding fathers weren't religious, that we aren't a Christian nation and so many other things. They basically became deaf when I turned on facts.
TC Sam That is why I want to smack other atheists, and people of other beliefs, that say that shit on our money and in our pledge doesn't matter. Pick your battles........well yes, this is a valid one!
iwashomeasleep
Honestly, the money doesn't bother me. Would I celebrate a little bit inside if they announced all new money would be printed without it? Sure. But honestly, I don't look that closely to my coins and bills. I rarely have them, I stick to debit card. =P
You made my point. THEY do look at it, and use it against us. That goes for the pledge prayer version as well.
iwashomeasleep
I'm more interested in getting the pledge removed because that's religion in our schools. It's something that is in our face. The money issue isn't that big of an issue. And when confronted about it, I can easily explain why those words are there.
i live in a sick body that houses three autoimmune diseases and two genetic blood disorders. i have been hours away from death three times, two of which i needed emergency surgery to save my life.
i have talked to many who said that if i would only come to jesus then i would be healed. one person even said to me that it was in god's plan for me to suffer so that others my look at me and appreciate that they live in healthy bodies. it's fucked up!
If i herd some one say that to you knowing ur situation i would of gladly beat the shit out of that person.Good luck aye i hope ur doing beter and will eventually become healthy
Daniel Tenorio - Wait...what??
LOL! Fucking people right!?
Daniel Tenorio Are you implying that Christianity and acceptance of Jesus will cure her illness???And that the people advising her don't know "true" scripture???Because if that's the case then perhaps you should read the bible .The debates are clear the Abrahamics are an evil belief system of thought.For common minds to easily embrace.Scripture never helped anyone medical science hard wrk and dedication has helped millions!!!
My fellow athiests treat those like they're children.A child doesn't truly know what's is beneficial to them hence their dependance on parents.So treat the Abrahamics this way as well.So yes in fact forgive them for they truly do not know what they do!!!In the same way you'd forgive your child.Walk the walk and lead by example don't preach nor brag nor banter.Leave those types of behaviour to the voluntarily ignorant Abrahamics!!!And let's organize without fear and with courage and show that their is a better way to live on this planet without superstitious myths and religion's.We should group ourselves and support science and reason in order to Perhaps help heal people like the young lady in this comment section!!!To you young lady I am truly sorry anyone would ever tell you such thing's!!!!
And I truly hope you're ok now❤👍👍👍💪
They're fucked up too.
I don't know if it was the years of being a broadcaster but Seth is just so perfect in front of an audience, every single time. His talks are always engaging, funny, and eloquent.
Could not agree more, seth andrews is awesome
I like that word lady. 😏 "eloquent"
"This weed I got looks&smells very eloquent"
Yeaaaaah I like that !
Oh, be assured... If I ever call somebody "a veritable Mother Teresa," it is meant to be a GRAVE INSULT!
I like the line I heard once, "Well, of course George Washington's father couldn't punish him for cutting down the cherry tree. How could he? The kid was holding an axe!"
That's funny🤣
His speeches are amazing. Love watching them on quiet nights at home.
oy
olunththttj😊ttasfssunsśyfanrrnrntatstatattsrnsttttsttsrntsrnsnrtsnnlao😅😅ioo😅oooooo😅ooyyeuuUaaaa
I didn't know that about Mother Theresa and I blame the media for making her look better than she was. The Catholic church is also full of lies and can't believe what they say.
Plenty of myth-making to go round. For similar on Ghandi, Che Guevara, Martin Luther King and others check out Stefan Molyneux's series: "The Truth About ..."
Though enough investigational journalists, former charity workers, doctors, nurses and of course writers like Cristopher Hitchens have exposed her again and again and again. Even in India there were (and still are) some of her harshest critics. So in the end there are only those to blame who don't want to know.
@@stupidtreehugger As soon as you said to check out anything by Stefan Molyneux, you lost all credibility.
@@CrowTR0bot Can't stand that creep Molyneux. He's a slimy toad.
All churches are full of lies. Theresa just had a great PR team in her followers
"Who could say an unkind work about Mother Theresa"? Christopher Hitchens for a start!
Is it really unkind when it is true?
@@rimmersbryggeri Depends on the manner it is said, but it has to be said.
Benjamin Park : If you mean Christopher Hitchens, that would be difficult now.
@@WalkingDday he's making a funny, hitch already wrote that book.
He did.
Mr. Andrews has amazing oratory skills that really compensates for the dry material. He could read the phone book to me...
I’ve seen this episode many times and never tire of Seth and his well executed presentations plus humour.
As usually Seth, you never cease to amaze me with your oratory and presentation skills. Your public talks are always informative and entertaining. As you skillfully illustrated here, the greatest force that permits exploitative individuals, like Mother Theresa, to inflict so much pain on so many people, all the while projecting an image of moral greatness, is people's reluctance to critically examine the way public figures are portrayed to them. The way to lessen suffering in this world is to increase skepticism and critical thinking.
The "mother's" purpose was to distract catholic women from their inability to become priests. There are now anglican women priests.
Thank the catholic church for Ms. Teressa.
It's talks like these that make me love the work that you do. Brilliantly done
I was impressed with Johnny Cash and Ray Charles demanding that their biofilms Genius and Walk the Line left the bad in. It made me respect them more as people.
Interesting. Thanks for the heads-up on that. Must check those films out sometime :-)
Seth? Thank you, you have opened my eyes.
Seth is such an awesome presenter and story teller!
Ignorance is indeed bliss, but knowledge is better than bliss.
Thanks for the sanity in stressful times , keep up the amazing work and keep religion out of schools and in the home.Colm
Seth: "Who would ever point an unflattering finger in this woman's direction?" Me: "Hitchens...and now you." Well done.
Seth - this talk had real substance/eye opener. -thx
AWESOME video. I really appreciate Seth Andrew's talks.
I was just reminded of the Aztecs from Mother Theresa's attitude towards suffering. As Aztecs also believed the world needs people to physically suffer. But at least Aztecs actually had great medical care. It even impressed the Spanish who regarded them as barbarians (because killing in the name of Jesus was somehow different than killing in the name of Huitzilopochtli).
now those sa people doesnt even has their native language as national but those forced by colonial . smh
Seth, this talk was absolutely amazing! Right up there with the Ultimate Question. You are brilliant and such a great communicator. Thank you for sharing these videos.
Seth is so down to earth, sensible, rational, reasonable...he doesn't stick his head in the sand like most people I know...he's a great speaker...I listen to him daily...someone I would want to buy a cup of coffee and a chat.
Great talk - thanks for speaking up against people using derogatory terms for believers. We will never have logical discussions if we call people names!
She refused pain killers even for those dying of pancreas cancer (about the most painful way possible to die). She would tell them that the pain was "Jesus's kisses". She was a masochist and pushed her trip on others. On the other hand, when she had a medical problem, no expense was spared. I was one of the people who gave her money. I even got a letter from her lawyer when I mentioned her name on a telethon. But that money did not go to the dying. It went to buy gold altar ornaments for the missions of charity around the world. Back then I figured she was the one person I could trust.
Wouldn't that make her a sadist, not a masochist?
Sadist, not masochist.
A sadist gratuitously inflicts pain on others. A masochist inflicts pain on him/herself.
No, it's fair to write as Roedy did. A masochist takes reward in receiving pain , a sadist in inflicting it. That a masochist keeps others and themselves in pain to share the pain reward doesn't make them a sadist, just a masochist with overshare issues and a total lack of functional empathy. Somebody keeping only others in pain to shrive the body and purify the soul and takes joy in a job well done would be a sadist. Now, which one was she actually?
And people can be both.
Seth, this is some of your best work. A live audience brings you alive and keeps you focussed.
I only hope that one day I can travel the world and speak as you do. Fantastic job!
This may be one of Seth Andrews best and most in-depth speeches where he once again completely
dismantles the bullshit of religion piece by piece!
I was skeptic when I was a child, had the skepticism beaten or shamed out of me, tried for many years to live a li(f)e of faith, then had to accept the fact that I was a skeptic even when I was a beLIEver.
Brilliant as always. Thanks Seth.
I know precisely how rainbows happen. They aren't a magical reminder from some sadist in the sky that he promised not to drown everyone on the planet again. It isn't a magical trail leading to a leprechaun's pot of gold, which would be great because I could use the money. Rainbows aren't magic. I understand how they exist, and the religious mindset often tells me that means I can't enjoy rainbows anymore, because I know it's just sunlight going through raindrops.
A rainbow is a symphony of mathematics brought into the world. It's an ephemeral painting, built and destroyed a billion times per second as each and every single raindrop falling out of the sky passes through sunlight at just the right angle that the various colors are split and hit the back of my eye, miles away, making a flash of color that doesn't exist for more than a literal instant, and is immediately replaced by another billion raindrops' flash of color. When I think of a rainbow, I see an infinite number of numbers and calculations in my head as I try in vain to understand the vastness of what I'm seeing, and I'm glad that I don't have to plot out the trajectory of each photon by hand because I've only got a couple decades of my life and I have to sleep sometime.
A rainbow understood is more beautiful than the cheap ideas I mentioned at first. A colorful post-it note in the sky. A sign pointing to imaginary treasure. Those are a child's stories, quaint and juvenile and ultimately rather boring.
There is grandeur in this view of life. Far beyond the provincial nothing-stories of ignorant, mesmerized infants, there is grandeur in this view of life.
That was a beautiful comment. It's exactly how I feel.
***** and to top it all off you can engineer incredible illusions by diffracting light multiple times in a row
''I'm glad that I don't have to plot out the trajectory of each photon by hand because I've only got a couple decades of my life and I have to sleep sometime.'' Moving, thank you.
What you have mentioned first, that the religious mindset wants us to believe that nature cannot be enjoyed without their childish interpretations, is outrageous.
And I mean this word in its strongest, most direct or literal sense: it incites an urge in me to roar in anger and agony as I have suffered myself sofar from this foundational misconception, that analysing beauty destroys it.
If something is really beautiful, then understanding it in detail will only add to its beauty.
Thank you for your comment.
I know your comment is 3 years old, but your description of a rainbow literally made me cry. I will be even more excited about the next one I see.
Brilliant. You're awesome, Seth.
It's always a pleasure to see your talks! Keep it up!
Love this. Inspiring!
Another brilliant presentation from the Conference. What really jumped out to me was at 34:28 how we form and hold onto beliefs - belief perseverance. I sometimes experience this and see it in others as well. Now I have a clue as to why this happens. Thanks for the video, Seth - TTA.
Great, simple, funny, insightful presentation as usual.
Awesome talk Seth.
Fantastic video, Seth!
Great video. Too many people treat heroes like gods in spite of the fact that they have flaws like the rest of us. I heard some stuff about Theresa that she had a dark side but Seth really brought it to light. How can anyone of sound mind call suffering a gift from "god"? Religion is so stupid. Of course we are also finding out about Ghandi who was rumored to like sleeping with young girls. We need to get out of the hero worship trap. I am so glad to be an agnostic. I only regret that I didn't make the move many years ago.
This was beautiful, I wish I could give more than one thumbs up. Thank you Seth.
You’re such a great speaker, what a gift as a human being
Great job, Seth!
30:25 We are not a christian nation, we are a nation in which we are free to be christian. Christians need to learn and accept this!
This video should really go viral or something. I've seen just about every talk by hitchens, dawkins, degrass, krauss, etc. and don't get me wrong, there are some real good ones out there, but this one is up there with them.
Seth your amazing 😉 I’m so glad my husband and I found you!!!
Love your videos Seth!
Seth's voice is an interesting blend of those of Kevin Spacey and Bill Maher.
Hard facts are the hardest thing to sell, so it takes many generations to carve a new channel for future generations to follow.
So we live in a world of double standards, where irrational thinking is accepted and rational thinking is considered to be to hard to handle.
This will be a long and hard fight for rational thinking.
Perfect ending to a great talk, cheers Seth.
Outstanding.
Who knew Mother Teresa was a psychopath? Should be an episode of 'Criminal Minds'.
Recommend it to the UA-cam channel ”The Casual Criminalist".
They thankfully seem to not shy away from covering cases others might find taboo or distasteful.
And I admire you for speaking out
The great author Robert A Heinlein writing on the scarcity of critical thinking, skepticism, and scientific rationality once said this:
*_"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded - here and there, now and then - are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty._*
*_This is known as 'bad luck.'"_*
What an awesome talk
One of the best talks I have seen of you and they are all great!
The gullability of some people is just amazing
As usual . great presentation..
Seth's timing is perfect. A natural actor.
In an office I once worked in, we had a whiteboard where people would write on. I put the Savage quote on it and it apparently offended someone. Then suddenly, it was erased. People really don't like their beliefs challenged
I enjoyed the speech. I remember when people saying that Mother Teresa was a saint. I remember in my 8th grade economics class where played a game of the person we wanted to be. My economics teacher wanted to be Mother Teresa.
On the mother theresa part, I've never been Catholic but I once worked at a place for retired nuns who could no longer work. The nuns were so funny and more relaxed than you would think. They loved tv shows, cussed, and would ask us to sneak them more wine when it was someones feast day. One nun I was very close to. She would read 3 inch thick books every two or three days and was very knowledgable. She would tell me how full of crap the church is. She'd roll her eyes all the time and tell me stories about the other nuns she had worked with. She wanted to serve God with her life and did very well. But she realized what a joke it was. I believe she was such a pure soul, it just made me sad how disappointed she was in her mission. A lot of them feel that way. They get trapped and can't leave so they just go ahead and do it. Their families would reject them if they left and had no money to go out on their own. I wish someone could start a foundation to help them financially to get out and get on their feet.
Shanti Dan is my favorite 70's jazz-rock band. My favorite song of theirs is "Any Major Missionary Will Tell You."
This is your best speech yet! You should visit the Philippines and stir the pot!
Excellent.
Great talk, really enjoyed that.
Great talk - enjoyed it!
I got an ad for Colorado Theological Seminary at the beginning of this video. I think they are barking up the wrong tree here. I'm sure there are a few Christians watching these videos to be able to rebuke atheists, but they are likely a minority. That is like a Bible College advertising at the FreeOK Conference itself.
I live in New Orleans and have lived here my entire life including during Katrina. I was a former Asst. DA for three years, and some of my police friends said the National Guard came here and went hunting for looters. The Coast Guard would dump the bodies in the Mississippi River. FWIW.
You will NEVER get the truth from a Hollywood (or indeed a movie made anywhere else) movie...I would have thought that people would have realised that by now.
One of the best!!
Great stuff, Seth, especially stripping the veil off of Agnes Bojaxhiu. I presume your research took you, among other places, to the Times of India article which I learned about back in 2013. That added to Christopher Hitchens' pieces and her association with the Duvaliers and Charles Keating stuck a fork in her for me, once and for permanent.
Many thanks, my friend!
+TheThinkingAtheist Seth. you are another example and proof that a person can reason their way out of faith and religion. We in the secular community need to not write off those we discuss religion and 'belief' with- they may be our biggest allies later. In turn, we should not withhold criticism of their belief or be afraid if satire. it could be the defining moment for the believer.
Awesome... but anyone reminded of Phil Hartman (Bill from NewsRadio), the way Seth speaks, intonation and style?
Great job Seth!
I don't understand how so many ( true ) religions could exist without raising some serious questions.
great speech!
"Atleast you died in the arms of Jesus" - No one dies in the arms of Jesus.
Again, a great vid by TTA
If mother Theresa hadn’t been a nun her attitude would have been considered insane.
Americans love a story of 'righteousness'. Righteousness justifies everything
Excellent lecture Seth, nicely delivered. Interesting stuff concerning Chris Kyle, I'd love to see a factually accurate documentary on him.. surely a great project for some film maker.. could win a best documentary Oscar!
They were smart enough to see the dangers in organized religion.
Apparently MT considered pain to be "the kisses of Jesus." I have trigeminal neuralgia....will someone tell that perv to take his unwanted sexual molestation elsewhere, please?
Random Humanoid Blob i feel the same way!!! this made me laugh!
+Ashley Klug Jesus is a pervert. We need to put that on a t-shirt ;-)
"Crest has been shown to be an effective decay-preventive dentifrice which can be of significant value when used in a conscientiously applied program of oral hygiene and regular professional care". I'm 67 and I will never forget that, having heard it ad nauseum.... "Ad", get it? Repetition works.
She was just one in a long line of people who take advantsge other peoples fears
Suffering is Good, War is Peace, Lies are True.
I think it can be said: No one is perfect, no one.
I'm not an atheist, but I DO very much like the ways in which Seth Andrews, Theresa McBain, Jerry DeWitt, Dan Barker and others conduct themselves in their talks, as well as the ways in which they make their forceful cases against the fatuousness and stupidity in much of (most of ?) Christianity.
I lost a few friends bringing this up.
Truth is tough
27:21 CONFIRMATION BIAS
27:31 IN-GROUP BIAS / FAVORITISM
34:21 BELIEF PERSEVERANCE
37:14 The Good Book?
OMG! Mother Theresa seems like more of a monster than any angel of light.
mad respect
Christians who have never attended an atheist event have no right to claim it is worship.
"Patriotism" IS: Supporting your country ALL THE TIME....and your government...WHEN IT *DESERVES IT!!*
Mother Teresa: "There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ's Passion. The world gains much from their suffering."
Yeah, like cheap T-shirts and other shoddy items made overseas....
It is worship, worship of the TRUTH
3 Facts about that devil in disguise? (talking about "mother" Theresa)
1. She refused to give people in pain (even the ones who were dying!) any painkillers (she called suffering "a gift from god")
2. She didn't aleviate suffering (it's a gift after all) - not even of the non-physical kind (so no money for the poor or an education etc.)...after all: People who aren't poor, aren't hungry every god damned day and have been educated well are a lot less likely to believe in fairytales out of 2000 year old fiction books! (the more educated humanity becomes, the less believers are there...hell, the best tool against fucking religion is the fucking internet, which delivers information to the fingertip of anybody looking for it (even children locked in fundamentalist christian homes who could not access such informatione otherwise - this breaks the stranglehold that those fundamentalists have on young children (brainwashing the young doesn't work as well if they can get informed themselves without parents knowledge!))
3. She treated her own nuns horribly (no use of tampons etc. for women on their period...there's story out there from someone who wanted to become a nun and work for her and quit because of the harsh treatment and one small side story is that one of the poor people coming to their monastery had some tampons on her and that woman was fucking tempted to steal them because she wasn't allowed to buy her own (!)
...I could go on! In fact I think she's the perfect embodyment of the christian (and Islamic and even jewish!) deity:
She was a cruel asshole of person that was able to hide her cruelty well enough to garner a following (I mean the god of the Bible himself is a fucking monster, a psychopath in need of fucking therapy, who does NOT deserve worship...even if he exists (which I doubt!) then I would NOT worship him...hell, the Bible condones fucking slavery, rape, murder etc. and not only that: God is performing some of that, too (virgin Marry? How about divinely raped Marry? Or killing of an entire town because they refused him? or hardening the pharao's heart and then killing of all the first born of Egypt? Flooding the Earth because people he created didn't behave like he wanted...hell, he's even the one who started ORIGINAL SIN (a silly concept IMHO, but christians do believe in it!), so it's him who needs to beg forgivness from US (no the other way round!))
ps: If the Bible god exists I'll start worshipping Satan ASAP (at least that guy is upfront about being an asshole and even evil guys need leutenants...I'd rather reign in hell than worship in heaven!)
DreamingFlurry hell yeah well put👍
Exactly, Lucifer (or whatever his name is) is the man.
He delivered us from ignorance and encouraged us to think for ourselves.
He is the judeo-christian analogue to Prometheus.
I think it takes time to recognise HOW to talk to theists in a way that isn't belittling or seemingly arrogant. I have been guilty of at least thinking in a way that puts believers below myself and others in terms of intellect. Then I just stop and think, I'm not that smart compared to a lot of people. Im not even that knowledgeable, as much as I try to learn. Yet my grandfather is very clever, he's written puzzle books, knows so much about the country, railway, rivers, history and pretty much anything I ask him. Yet he is incredibly religious! Like really on it with his theism, and he seems very sincere! Some people just need a polite nudge in the right direction.
I love how the sliding camera angle caught the "Ramen!" at 31:27.
America, improve it or lose it.
Paul