I am no christian, actually i find most all religion pretty unnecessary but her talk goes a bit deeper. She is speaking about accountability. Accountability of organizations that go unchecked not only in africa but globally. The church is a lot more powerful than most people think. I took from this talk that she wants those who TRULY follow the words of christianity to step up and take responsibility for the actions and to give to society the love, respect and helping hand that they constantly preach about.
That Annoying Redhead, people are motivated by the results of their actions. She knew if she put the time and effort into something good things may happen. A god wasn't looking over her shoulder when she did them, but if she only did them because she thought a god looking, then those motivations are misplaced.
Why shouldn't we? Religion brings along a lot of harmful baggage. Why wouldn't you critique it? The reason people do good should be because they want to minimize pain and suffering. Because they're empathatic and care for well-being. Not because they hold some irrational belief about a magical, supernatural entity.
The levels of superstition and belief in the supernatural and witchcraft etc remain very high in parts of Africa. Education is the cure for this ignorance. Religion is just one aspect of this ignorance which will eventually be eradicated by education. We can all be good without the concept of god. We are all related and all Africans. Humanism is the best path forward where we can let go the ridiculous beliefs of our ancestors and work together for a better future for all.
Superstition is high everywhere. I'm german. Our pharmacies sell homeopathic remedies and there's a person doing Tarot for a living every other street. We also decided to get off nuclear power for no reason other than unsubstantiated fear. Superstitions are a universl trait of us, a consequence of the lazy short-circuiting pattern matching device in our skulls.
I agree that we can all be good. But Sadly I don't see humanity doing enough good. No matter what we believe in or don't, humanity needs to be and do good.
YouHolli homeopathy is in decline in the UK. It’s almost been stamped out of the NHS and refused funding. I do think that superstition in parts of Africa is on a different scale . People are killed for being witches. Mind you this is also true in Saudi Arabia.
"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." - Steven Weinberg
Yes that's what Africa needs more belief in supernatural. Everything positive she describes can be accomplished without belief in supernatural nonsense. Also she fails to mention how certain religious dogmas are an actual impedement to making the lives of Africans better. Also religious faith is always talked about as if it's this great virtue but I don't think believing in things without sufficient evidence is virtuous. In fact I think it's vicious.
They've seen the Black Panther movie which was good, but faith or believing in some damn mythological figure isn't going to solve the problems in Africa or any other place. Change only comes through education and not through prayer or religious teachings!
A couple videos here and there with Africans speaking for Africa and about Africa has made Ted Talk “an African advocacy group”. There is something essentially wrong with this world. We hear Europeans and Americans speak ALL the time about making their countries better, yet when a handful of Africans speak on matters concerning Africa, people cry wolf. What a shame.
I like how she kind of singles out non-believers, as if they're less likely to collaborate with faith based organisations but then produces no facts to back up that subtle implication. I can't speak for all nonbelievers but I for one have no objection to working with religious charities. I just think religion is largely bad, but I'm not going out of my way to undermine them.
We need a credible social organisation we can trust who can take little monies from all of us and reinvest the monies on schools and health care ... good one.. she nailed it ..
Kera Atkins you’re absolutely right !! I was just saying that they are kind of the fuel source. We can get fuel but it is up to us to use that fuel. Hence the hardwork 💪🏽
I always had such mixed opinions about religion because it can be such a positive thing but it’s so often used for bad. This is so eloquent and balanced and makes so many good points though
It can be a positive thing in that it creates community, right? But in what sense - that is unique to religion - is it a positive thing? I think we shouldn't be defending something that brings so much harmful baggage with it.
What's the positive? The marketing campaign that is disguised as charity? Or are you talking about the millions that died of HIV when the churches commanded to not use condoms?
Of course there is corruption and many cases of people abusing power and taking advantage of vulnerable people but when used in the right way it can definitely make a positive difference to so many people and I don’t think you can ignore that power even if you’re not religious.
So... what again is the positive? I'm not trying to be ignorant, but you haven't actually illustrated anything positive and just highlighted more negative things. You are delivering arguments against your own case...
You're missing the point. Did you read what I wrote? You must be unaware of the horrible effects of religion. Here's just a taste: whatstheharm.net Sure, religion can have positive effects. The thing is, when weighed against the negative effects, they become obsolete. Again, name ONE positive effect that is exclusive to religion. It makes no sense to support something when all of its positive differences can be made through non-harmful means.
The prejudice is real in this comment section. When a person of faith speaks about how she uses it to help others, you don't have to agree with her perspective but you can at least respect it. I mean honestly, why would you put down someone dedicated to doing good in this world because of your First World superiority at having different beliefs and motivations? Not giving a very flattering portrayal of atheists, there.
You have to meet people where they are in many cases and not discount their beliefs or disbelief. Many people only trust these organizations that in a lot of cases don’t have huge organizations to oblige to. By helping them even if we don’t necessarily agree could be a crucial step to changing Africa and many countries in poverty.
Every video with a topic about Africa or black people in general get so many dislikes. Like if it doesn't concern you and you're not interested don't watch? Spending your time disliking these videos for what?
She starts off with a very poor and essentially meaningless answer to the ancient philosophical problem of evil. There is simply no way to reconcile an all powerful, benevolent, and loving God, with what we know about the universe.
I disagree. If we can agree on the definition of pointless and unnecessary evil, then there can never be a good reason to allow pointless and unnecessary evil to happen.
An inability on your part to comprehend an inherent contradiction negates the existence of something? Are you able to reconcile how light can exist as both a particle and a wave? Does light then cease to exist?
Rick Presley This is irrelevant. Quantum physics use mathematical laws to predict HOW a particle will behave and where it will be. It doesn't say a thing about the moral implications of light being a particle or a wave. The problem of evil does. It's not about rejection because of ignorance it's about contradiction based on what a HUMAN SOURCE established as God. So IF thatGod truly exists THEN you'll need to explain how He can let unnecessary evil happen and remain all powerful and benevolent.
Religion is for inside the home not for public life. If induviduals want to help fund religions, its up to them. But if any country is going to move into the modern world religion needs to be a background event and being decent and rational human beings at the forfront. Also from someone who lives in england and has encountered the african ministers that get sent over here to preach, they aren't wanted and they are rude. They disrupt our peaceful parks with their shouting and get in the way.
There is no living good or evil. There is just good and evil created by man. So man can do anything religious people can do without reporting to a God or Gods. Realize this and there can be heaven on Earth created by man himself.
I wish she had pointed out the intolerance inherent of religious beliefs. A lot of Christian missionaries with their conservative values go to Africa and teach them hate of homosexuals, atheists and people of other faiths. The Muslims do the same, and all of them emphasize tithing and that a church or mosque is more important than a school or medical center. I never thought a Ted talk would be used for spreading religious beliefs. Thumbs Down.
"God is all-powerful..."? Religion is divisive by definition. The Africans who subordinate civic needs to the building of churches and mosques are going to reap the rewards of fouled up priorities. "People of faith" is a euphemism for "Gullible People".
I disagree. I don't need religion to be decent, when I choose to be benevolent. When I see religion, I see destructive and hateful nutjobs instead of constructive people.
Three words about how non-religious need to change our mindsets about the religious? Not a very compelling argument. Plus she fails to address how all the good that churches have done in Africa is self serving. They are only giving this education and support as a recruitment tool. That's not to say that some or even most of the people that are there have ulterior motives, but the people who sent them do. They want to stamp out your culture and get you on their 'team' so they can harvest your resources and human capital, she basically points all of that out herself, but she is too blind to see how dangerous all of that is. Apparently she didn't learn much history in her education. Also, "he's not a micro manager". No. Africa is the largest continent in this world that he supposedly created if what is happening to Africa and her children is considered "micro" then I have a bone to pick with the dictionary.
oh god, i'm so tired of all the "africa is cool" propaganda on TED. When I subscribed I thought this channel supposed to be about the modern science, and not about the cultural marxism
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? ~ Epicurus
I am no christian, actually i find most all religion pretty unnecessary but her talk goes a bit deeper. She is speaking about accountability. Accountability of organizations that go unchecked not only in africa but globally. The church is a lot more powerful than most people think. I took from this talk that she wants those who TRULY follow the words of christianity to step up and take responsibility for the actions and to give to society the love, respect and helping hand that they constantly preach about.
She did good things to help people, not sure where faith part is required to do any of that.
cjgt77 It isn't. Indeed most times people do good things even though they are religious.
Some people need motivation. You shouldn't be so dismissive about what moves them if the result is good.
its not but it is a good catalyst to get started
That Annoying Redhead, people are motivated by the results of their actions. She knew if she put the time and effort into something good things may happen. A god wasn't looking over her shoulder when she did them, but if she only did them because she thought a god looking, then those motivations are misplaced.
Why shouldn't we? Religion brings along a lot of harmful baggage. Why wouldn't you critique it? The reason people do good should be because they want to minimize pain and suffering. Because they're empathatic and care for well-being. Not because they hold some irrational belief about a magical, supernatural entity.
What a character! It must be very hard to articulate all these issues into one talk, but she does a great job~
Nice to see Ndidi taking a time away from Leicester City midfield to go and make a ted talk speech
abdullah hussian stfu 😂
100% right...Its time to think beyond Belief and to live for Humanity
I agree...religion has also used faith as a tool to misled the society in order to gain power for their own selfish purposes.
The levels of superstition and belief in the supernatural and witchcraft etc remain very high in parts of Africa.
Education is the cure for this ignorance.
Religion is just one aspect of this ignorance which will eventually be eradicated by education.
We can all be good without the concept of god. We are all related and all Africans.
Humanism is the best path forward where we can let go the ridiculous beliefs of our ancestors and work together for a better future for all.
Superstition is high everywhere. I'm german. Our pharmacies sell homeopathic remedies and there's a person doing Tarot for a living every other street. We also decided to get off nuclear power for no reason other than unsubstantiated fear.
Superstitions are a universl trait of us, a consequence of the lazy short-circuiting pattern matching device in our skulls.
I agree that we can all be good. But Sadly I don't see humanity doing enough good.
No matter what we believe in or don't, humanity needs to be and do good.
MyOpenMind, one can say the exact same thing about any place where religion exists. You are right. Education is the cure for this ignorance.
YouHolli homeopathy is in decline in the UK. It’s almost been stamped out of the NHS and refused funding.
I do think that superstition in parts of Africa is on a different scale . People are killed for being witches.
Mind you this is also true in Saudi Arabia.
LeiAnne Stevens I couldn’t agree more. We each can pull together to make a big difference in the world. 👍
"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." - Steven Weinberg
Yes that's what Africa needs more belief in supernatural. Everything positive she describes can be accomplished without belief in supernatural nonsense. Also she fails to mention how certain religious dogmas are an actual impedement to making the lives of Africans better. Also religious faith is always talked about as if it's this great virtue but I don't think believing in things without sufficient evidence is virtuous. In fact I think it's vicious.
Well said, thank you.
Ted has turned into an Africa advocacy group
c32amgftw honestly man like wtf.
They've seen the Black Panther movie which was good, but faith or believing in some damn mythological figure isn't going to solve the problems in Africa or any other place.
Change only comes through education and not through prayer or religious teachings!
A couple videos here and there with Africans speaking for Africa and about Africa has made Ted Talk “an African advocacy group”. There is something essentially wrong with this world.
We hear Europeans and Americans speak ALL the time about making their countries better, yet when a handful of Africans speak on matters concerning Africa, people cry wolf. What a shame.
I wish there were more TED talks about Africa!
*Some white people
I like how she kind of singles out non-believers, as if they're less likely to collaborate with faith based organisations but then produces no facts to back up that subtle implication. I can't speak for all nonbelievers but I for one have no objection to working with religious charities. I just think religion is largely bad, but I'm not going out of my way to undermine them.
We need a credible social organisation we can trust who can take little monies from all of us and reinvest the monies on schools and health care ... good one.. she nailed it ..
Faith and belief are the power sources to our success!!
faith and actual work is a better combo
Kera Atkins you’re absolutely right !! I was just saying that they are kind of the fuel source. We can get fuel but it is up to us to use that fuel. Hence the hardwork 💪🏽
Amazing! Peace for everyone and social change into an better society!
Same situation in India , so many faith based organization are here like Temple. This organization should be used to solve the social problems
the good Lord will bless you for this Ward you are saying
I always had such mixed opinions about religion because it can be such a positive thing but it’s so often used for bad. This is so eloquent and balanced and makes so many good points though
It can be a positive thing in that it creates community, right? But in what sense - that is unique to religion - is it a positive thing? I think we shouldn't be defending something that brings so much harmful baggage with it.
What's the positive? The marketing campaign that is disguised as charity? Or are you talking about the millions that died of HIV when the churches commanded to not use condoms?
Of course there is corruption and many cases of people abusing power and taking advantage of vulnerable people but when used in the right way it can definitely make a positive difference to so many people and I don’t think you can ignore that power even if you’re not religious.
So... what again is the positive? I'm not trying to be ignorant, but you haven't actually illustrated anything positive and just highlighted more negative things. You are delivering arguments against your own case...
You're missing the point. Did you read what I wrote? You must be unaware of the horrible effects of religion. Here's just a taste: whatstheharm.net Sure, religion can have positive effects. The thing is, when weighed against the negative effects, they become obsolete. Again, name ONE positive effect that is exclusive to religion. It makes no sense to support something when all of its positive differences can be made through non-harmful means.
The prejudice is real in this comment section. When a person of faith speaks about how she uses it to help others, you don't have to agree with her perspective but you can at least respect it. I mean honestly, why would you put down someone dedicated to doing good in this world because of your First World superiority at having different beliefs and motivations? Not giving a very flattering portrayal of atheists, there.
I was loosing faith in humanity reading the comments...
Thank you for being the only decent person in this whole comment section.
Africa is a powerhouse of religious faith!
You have to meet people where they are in many cases and not discount their beliefs or disbelief. Many people only trust these organizations that in a lot of cases don’t have huge organizations to oblige to. By helping them even if we don’t necessarily agree could be a crucial step to changing Africa and many countries in poverty.
I believe this, I believe that, who cares what you believe, come on
It’s not gods fault when bad things happen, but give him the glory when humans solve those problems
Christian logic
Actually what she says is what i have thought recently:)
Every video with a topic about Africa or black people in general get so many dislikes. Like if it doesn't concern you and you're not interested don't watch? Spending your time disliking these videos for what?
WOW!!!
In the Congo they apply faith and belief to chop people's hands off. Good job Africa.
She starts off with a very poor and essentially meaningless answer to the ancient philosophical problem of evil.
There is simply no way to reconcile an all powerful, benevolent, and loving God, with what we know about the universe.
Filipe Almeida just because you can't think of a good reason why God would allow evil and suffering, doesn't mean there isn't one.
I disagree. If we can agree on the definition of pointless and unnecessary evil, then there can never be a good reason to allow pointless and unnecessary evil to happen.
An inability on your part to comprehend an inherent contradiction negates the existence of something? Are you able to reconcile how light can exist as both a particle and a wave? Does light then cease to exist?
Filipe Almeida - High school philosopher solving everyone’s problems. Thanks boy.
Rick Presley This is irrelevant. Quantum physics use mathematical laws to predict HOW a particle will behave and where it will be. It doesn't say a thing about the moral implications of light being a particle or a wave. The problem of evil does. It's not about rejection because of ignorance it's about contradiction based on what a HUMAN SOURCE established as God. So IF thatGod truly exists THEN you'll need to explain how He can let unnecessary evil happen and remain all powerful and benevolent.
Keywords: Faith, Belief
= no thanks
Light of the world amen . God sees
Mmh when I visit Kenya and Tanzania next autumn I will see myself how religious Africa is...I am Atheist btw.
So she is far better than the "God" she worships. She actually does something.
Neden hiç türkçe çeviri yapan yok...
Religion is the problem. Without it humanity could be much better off.
Why so many African TED talks??
Jack Spedicy 2 they had a TED Africa conference recently. So they have been releasing videos from it bit by bit.
I guess somebody at TED talk has seen the Black Panther movie. he,he,he
>Faith and belief
>modern africa
Pick one
Yash Saini why not both? it worked every other continent why not África?
No it didnt. Literally every religious theocracy ever will conflict with the world we have built today.
You do realize that America is like 80% Christian
Amen.
America being 75% or so Christian doesn't mean our government is working as a Christian Theocracy (though I know some want to push it that way....)
5:19 Africa going backwards
Great😍
change agents for good or ill?
great speech!
La opción de subtítulos en español no me sale
Religion is for inside the home not for public life. If induviduals want to help fund religions, its up to them. But if any country is going to move into the modern world religion needs to be a background event and being decent and rational human beings at the forfront. Also from someone who lives in england and has encountered the african ministers that get sent over here to preach, they aren't wanted and they are rude. They disrupt our peaceful parks with their shouting and get in the way.
There is no living good or evil. There is just good and evil created by man. So man can do anything religious people can do without reporting to a God or Gods. Realize this and there can be heaven on Earth created by man himself.
People in Africa need to drop faith quickly. The government there had faith that vampires were a public threat
I wish she had pointed out the intolerance inherent of religious beliefs. A lot of Christian missionaries with their conservative values go to Africa and teach them hate of homosexuals, atheists and people of other faiths. The Muslims do the same, and all of them emphasize tithing and that a church or mosque is more important than a school or medical center.
I never thought a Ted talk would be used for spreading religious beliefs. Thumbs Down.
"God is all-powerful..."? Religion is divisive by definition. The Africans who subordinate civic needs to the building of churches and mosques are going to reap the rewards of fouled up priorities. "People of faith" is a euphemism for "Gullible People".
I disagree. I don't need religion to be decent, when I choose to be benevolent. When I see religion, I see destructive and hateful nutjobs instead of constructive people.
espesially south africa.
Islam hates my kind.wait till christlam comes. theyre gonna kill everyone.
the one eye is killed by christlam. then the christlamist will turn on the true christians and murder them if they dont make it to safety.
Jesus said dont leaven with the pharisees the islam are pharisees on steroids
is this person a jesuit. the jesuits are trying to mix all religions into one religion under rome. its the birth of the last beast
Three words about how non-religious need to change our mindsets about the religious? Not a very compelling argument. Plus she fails to address how all the good that churches have done in Africa is self serving. They are only giving this education and support as a recruitment tool. That's not to say that some or even most of the people that are there have ulterior motives, but the people who sent them do. They want to stamp out your culture and get you on their 'team' so they can harvest your resources and human capital, she basically points all of that out herself, but she is too blind to see how dangerous all of that is. Apparently she didn't learn much history in her education.
Also, "he's not a micro manager". No. Africa is the largest continent in this world that he supposedly created if what is happening to Africa and her children is considered "micro" then I have a bone to pick with the dictionary.
hey why don't your religious communities put money into public schools instead of covering their houses of worship with gold leaf?
oh god, i'm so tired of all the "africa is cool" propaganda on TED. When I subscribed I thought this channel supposed to be about the modern science, and not about the cultural marxism
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
~ Epicurus
Thing is, she's probably an atheist.
I think i might actually be first
B=======D~~~~~ here's your prize
Bullshit talk.
One of the worst Ted talks I’ve seen
Yup, time to unsubscribe.