Coming Out Atheist

Overview

Coming out as an atheist is a powerful, liberating act. It makes life better for you, for other atheists, and for the world. But telling people you're an atheist can be risky. What are the best ways to do it? And how can we help each other take this step? In this compassionate, friendly, down-to-earth how-to guide, author Greta Christina offers concrete strategies and guiding philosophies for coming out as an atheist. Based on hundreds of coming-out stories, the book offers a map of the territory atheists are likely to encounter and ideas on how to pick the path that's best for you. This accessible, empathetic guide reflects a wide range of coming-out experiences, and for atheists who are already out, it gives practical ideas on how to help others join you in the sunlight. For atheists who are on the fence, it offers guidance on making that decision—and gentle encouragement to take that step. Inspiring and realistic, kind and powerful, Coming Out Atheist is the much-needed guidebook atheists have been waiting for.

Reviews

"Witty, wise, helpful, and humane, this clear and engaging book is most timely. Coming Out Atheist is a great resource for the many Americans out there who have rejected religious faith and are moving towards embracing, acknowledging, and proclaiming their atheism."  —Phil Zuckerman, PhD, author, Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion

"Chock-full of useful ideas; but above all it is wise and compassionate."  —Alan Sokal, professor of physics, New York University

"There's no doubt that it's hard to be an atheist in America, but Greta Christina's message will make you rethink keeping your beliefs to yourself. There's an optimistic truth that ties her book together: By coming out publicly as nonreligious, we are doing something courageous, powerful, and important. Given the choice between simply handing someone a copy of The God Delusion and telling that person you don't believe in God, Greta reminds us that the personal message may be the most powerful weapon in the atheist arsenal."  —Hemant Mehta, blogger, FriendlyAtheist.com, and author, The Young Atheist's Survival Guide

"What an accomplishment! In Coming Out Atheist, Greta Christina has pulled together a great resource for emerging atheists. She very thoroughly captures the reality that atheists are people too, including nonbelieving clergy."  —Catherine Dunphy, acting executive director, the Clergy Project

"Greta Christina knows that the philosophy of atheism is incomplete without practical and sensible advice about how to live in a world full of believers. Her fascinating life experience and astute observations of atheists, in or out of the closet, offers readers some of the most potent testimony for why coming out as an atheist will make a godless life better."  —Hector Avalos, professor of religious studies, Iowa State University, and author The End of Biblical Studies

"Millions of Americans are discovering that life without religion and superstition can be rewarding, fulfilling, and joyful. Greta Christina has done that growing demographic a great service, with this thoughtful and entertaining book that will inform and inspire those who embrace personal secularity.""  —David Niose, author, Nonbeliever Nation: The Rise of Secular Americans

"This is an important book at the right time by a clear thinker, elegant writer, and passionate human being. Greta Christina is one of a small handful of atheist authors I can count on to bring that happy combination home, time after time."  —Dale McGowan, Atheism for Dummies

Author Biography

Greta Christina is the author of Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More and Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, and is editor of Paying for It: A Guide for Sex Workers for Their Clients. She has been a public speaker for many years, and is on the speaker's bureaus of the Secular Student Alliance and Center for Inquiry. She is a regular contributor to AlterNet, Free Inquiry, the Humanist, and Salon. Her writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers including the Chicago Sun-Times, Ms., On Our Backs, Penthouse, and Skeptical Inquirer, and anthologies including Everything You Know About God Is Wrong and three volumes of Best American Erotica. She lives in San Francisco.