Respecting (Other) Religions

I agree with people who think Scientology is a scam. I don't consider their beliefs to be anything close to mine, I honestly can't even imagine it. At all. The thing is though, if I met someone who truly and honestly believed in it, I don't think I'd say anything about it. In general, I don't bring up the topic of religion with people whose beliefs/religion are different from mine. It keeps friendships from getting awkward and prevents anyone from getting hurt.

We respect other people's religions because as human beings, everyone deserves basic respect from each other. This includes beliefs, culture, etc.

I think we should respect people's choices, but I don't think that some parts of religion should be respected. There's nothing respectful about making a woman wear a burqa. There's nothing respectful about denying rights to homosexuals.

^ With regards to the burqa thing: it is often a woman's choice to wear one. She feels comfortable wearing it and chooses to do so. Families who force their daughters/wives to wear burqas and oppress them probably have very little understanding of the nature of their religion.

I disagree. If a woman wants to wear a burqa, we are being disrespectful by trying to tell her she shouldn't.

I take Pat Condell's opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlkxlzTZc48

I stopped listening at "neurotic". :|

Dancing Caveman:

I take Pat Condell's opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlkxlzTZc48

I just got introduced to him today!
He gets very repetitive the more video's you watch, but he speaks endless sense.

Dancing Caveman:

I take Pat Condell's opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlkxlzTZc48

Yeah, I stopped listening about 10 seconds in. It's really not anyone's business what a woman chooses or chooses not to wear. There was a really good article I read sometime in tenth grade in the local paper. And one of the points raised was that a bikini, which is little more than underwear, is considered a sign of progress and civilization whereas a headscarf or burqa are considered barbaric.

But maybe we should have a separate topic for this. :shifty.

Okay. Fair enough. :)

Because people are entitled to their beliefs.

I agree with your stances on the aforementioned religions, but people can believe anything they want, and even though it's unlikely in my opinion that those religions (or any organized religion, for that matter) are correct... there's also, as someone else here said, no proof that they're wrong. (Sorry, too lazy to quote P: )

I believe that people should have respect for others, because thats what we all want in the end. People don't want to feel put down, and shouldn't because of something they believe. Sure, share what you have to say, but don't go so overboard as to force them into what you believe.

Oh gosh, I'm about to say something really immature right now, but the reason why is because it would be MEAN, which is socially unacceptable. Or so I've heard.....

Besides, why criticize someone elses belief? You don't know what's right, they don't know what's right. Religions are almost completely solidified by faith, therefor no one really knows, people just firmly believe.

I have no idea how many times I've said this, but do whatever the hell you love and fuck the rest. It's not like criticism is gonna change someone's point of view on a subject. If it does, they're way too easily swayed (or at least in my opinion).

Besides, criticism is just the adult version of bullying.

^There is such a thing as constructive criticism. And how can you sum up criticism in general to one thing like that? If I believed in something wrong (i.e. that all virgins in my immediate vicinity must immediately be sacrificed to my Blood God Khorne through a quick ritual of chainsaw massage) would you not criticize me for it? I may think that's perfectly ok, but I also may be bloody crazy? Or just deluded.

Or would you just let me do whatever the hell I want and fuck the rest?

Xsoteria:

^There is such a thing as constructive criticism. And how can you sum up criticism in general to one thing like that? If I believed in something wrong (i.e. that all virgins in my immediate vicinity must immediately be sacrificed to my Blood God Khorne through a quick ritual of chainsaw massage) would you not criticize me for it? I may think that's perfectly ok, but I also may be bloody crazy? Or just deluded.

Or would you just let me do whatever the hell I want and fuck the rest?

No matter how fucked up that dude is, if you think from his point of view, I guess you would be offended, maybe even hurt. If he wanted to kill me, I probably would've just evacuated the area.... :shock:

Besides, there's a difference between harshly criticizing something that you have no right to judge, and stopping someone from doing something obviously immorally wrong. I guess I kind of just contradicted myself there, since being against killing is a form of criticism, but I guess you've got me. Not all criticism is bad.

But you can't just tell a Christian or Jew or Catholic or some other religion (one that hopefully doesn't inflict pain, injury, or death upon other people or one's self) that you think their belief is idiotic or not plausible. It's mean and wrong.

^ I find that, a lot of the time, religious people in real life instigate problems with either other religions or the non-religious. Most non-believers aren't going to walk into a church and be like, "You're all wrong!" but I sat in a class about Eastern religions and had a kid walk in and start screaming about how everyone is going to hell for not believing in Jesus (the same thing also happened in a biology class). I've also had people come into non-theist group meetings and try to argue.

If someone instigates an argument with me, I'm not going to "be polite" and agree with them because that's just what they believe.

I think it's rather annoying that so many religious people don't want others to criticize their beliefs. Perhaps if they weren't so illogical, they could withstand some criticism.

She wasn't calling it idiotic...just implausible. Idioticy and implausibility are different things...

@Dancing Caveman: Dude, you've got a point there. Religious people, though, feel the need to 'save' other people. I find that perfectly acceptable. The only thing I have a problem with is the method. I guess my statement isn't really about criticism at all, but rather the pain inflicted on the person being criticized at. I just don't find it very nice and I wouldn't want to be in the position where someone insults my belief.

But I'm not talking about starting an argument. Of course if someone starts one with you about what you believe versus what they believe, you should defend your own religion. Think back to how that argument would start, though. It obviously began with a very rude statement of criticism, and therfor, in some cases, I don't agree with criticism.

Oh, and I've criticized my religion before. I'm Christian and I've got probably the most pleasure-hating, sadistic God ever. Loving your parents more than God is a sin. Having sex before marriage is a sin. Taking more than you need is a sin. And in the bible, God told a man to kill his son as a sacrifice to test the man's faith (God stopped him, of course... But it's still sadistic).

But oddly, I'm okay with that. I don't mind people calling me eccentric, and I don't care if people judge me. That's why I say "love what you love and fuck the rest".

^ I understand the saving part, but as an atheist, people even just trying to be polite in their religion come off as annoying. Like, people who find out I'm an atheist and they pray for me or tell me that God still loves me. I know they mean well, but it's still annoying.

But I understand about a rude piece of criticism.

^ Yeah. :3 I would be annoyed too.

And thanks. For not attacking me. Haha. :mrgreen:

like.static.:

Besides, why criticize someone elses belief? You don't know what's right, they don't know what's right. Religions are almost completely solidified by faith, therefor no one really knows, people just firmly believe.

I have no idea how many times I've said this, but do whatever the hell you love and fuck the rest. It's not like criticism is gonna change someone's point of view on a subject. If it does, they're way too easily swayed (or at least in my opinion).

Besides, criticism is just the adult version of bullying.

When did criticism come into this? Just because I may not respect a person's views, it doesn't mean I'm going to outwardly criticise them in a rude way. I respect people's right to have a religion or an opinion, but that doesn't mean I have to actually respect their religion or opinion.