Should we show respect for other people's "beliefs?"

There are many religious beliefs of which I do not respect at all. I do believe though that a person has a right to hold those beliefs, if that is the path that he has chosen for himself.

What I have a problem with, are those who would thrust their beliefs on me. In a conversation, by consenting individuals, discussions of differences of opinion, IMO are fine. that is the way one learns about differences in schools of thought, and gets to understand people better.

I have a problem with the religiocentric, who not only believe that their path is the only correct one, but who attempt to bring others into their faith, through fear and intimidation. I also have a BIG problem with people who believe it is their duty to modify the laws of the land so that the laws are consonant with their particular religious beliefs. They may have the best of intentions, but do tend to attempt to trample on the rights of others who do not believe as they do.

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Eorl,

It's not okay to demean or belittle anyone for anything in my opinion. It is just totally unnecessary. That is how the fighting starts.

Phoenix and I disagree on much, especially about me wanting to keep God in the government where He is now. But, she and I have carried on many, many conversations and have never once called each other's beliefs stupid. Now, she may feel mine are, I don't know. But, she shows respect for every poster in these threads. She does not demean or belittle and is one of the best at getting her point across.

And I can't say that I have ever seen her pull the old "bait and switch" as others have done. I could converse with her all day long. I have learned much from her.

My whole point being, if we all could maintain respect and not reduce ourselves to belittling and demeaning, we all might learn something.

One of my favorite sayings: You can learn something from anyone, even if it's just how not to act.

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snood wrote:

Eorl wrote:
Momma Angel wrote:
However, it is not fine for someone to tell me my beliefs are stupid,

It is my belief that your belief is stupid.

Do you respect my belief?

Is it OK for me to say it, just not to your face?

Is it OK for me to think it but pretend I don't think it?

Is my belief somehow "wrong" ?

You see my point yet Momma?

Well, I think your belief is stupid, Eorl. Do you respect that? Do you see the inanity of your argument yet, Eorl?

My point is that you can't respect everybody's belief. The closer another's belief is to yours, the more you respect it....which suggests you only really respect your own belief.

Inane or not, thanks for helping me make my point so clearly snood !

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my belief
I believe that we should respect other people's beliefs. There is a difference between respecting other's beliefs and believing what someone else believes. Just because you respect someone's beliefs does not mean you believe them. People come from different cultures and have different experiences. Just because someone believes in something "wrong" doesn't mean that you have the right to trash what they believe in. People are able to have whatever beliefs they want.

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Eorl wrote:

snood wrote:
Eorl wrote:
Momma Angel wrote:
However, it is not fine for someone to tell me my beliefs are stupid,

It is my belief that your belief is stupid.

Do you respect my belief?

Is it OK for me to say it, just not to your face?

Is it OK for me to think it but pretend I don't think it?

Is my belief somehow "wrong" ?

You see my point yet Momma?

Well, I think your belief is stupid, Eorl. Do you respect that? Do you see the inanity of your argument yet, Eorl?

My point is that you can't respect everybody's belief. The closer another's belief is to yours, the more you respect it....which suggests you only really respect your own belief.

Inane or not, thanks for helping me make my point so clearly snood !

You have to respect someone's beliefs.
The only way you are able to respect a belief that you yourself disagree with is to realize that that person has a different perspective and it doesn't matter what they believe.

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Momma,

When you say it is not OK to bemean or belittle, you don't seem to realise that is part of your belief system.

Some religions teach the opposite, that an atheist like me should be belittled, some would have me put to death!

Some say you should be stoned to as a whore for showing your face at the mall !!!

But you claim you respect their beliefs (and, for that matter, mine?)

We do, however, agree that Phoenix is worth listening to, and both deserves and receives plenty of respect from me.

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Eorl wrote:

Momma,

When you say it is not OK to bemean or belittle, you don't seem to realise that is part of your belief system.

Some religions teach the opposite, that an atheist like me should be belittled, some would have me put to death!

Some say you should be stoned to as a whore for showing your face at the mall !!!

But you claim you respect their beliefs (and, for that matter, mine?)

We do, however, agree that Phoenix is worth listening to, and both deserves and receives plenty of respect from me.

Eorl,

What do you mean I don't seem to realize that it is part of my belief system? I know it's not a part of my belief system. I DO NOT BELIEVE ANYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO DEMEAN OR BELITTLE ANYONE. (Caps merely for emphasis.)

I don't care what other religions teach. Let me put it to you this way, when I have a quandry with something I say, What would Jesus do? Do you think He would belittle and demean? I don't think so.

I don't have to agree with your beliefs to respect your right to them. Just the fact that they are important to you is enough for me to show respect. I can say I disagree with you and not call you any names.

I respect Phoenix greatly. Her beliefs are very different than mine, but I respect her, her right to believe what she believes, and the importance of it to her. That is the respect we should all have for each other.

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You misunderstand me Momma. (I said the opposite of what you think I said in the first line)

What I'm trying to point out is that YOUR belief system includes the following (your words);

Quote:

I DO NOT BELIEVE ANYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO DEMEAN OR BELITTLE ANYONE

Just the fact that they are important to you is enough for me to show respect

Now, you and Phoenix have these beliefs IN COMMON despite the differences and you respect those elements of her beliefs that are MOST LIKE YOURS (such as "respect for others beliefs")

Meanwhile, other people have others beliefs that range from similar to yours to totally unlike yours. I'm saying that you will have more respect for those who are more like yours, especially if they include respect of YOUR belief as part of theirs.

I understand that you would try to SHOW respect for people who think you should be killed for not keeping your face covered and for worshipping the wrong deity...but do you REALLY respect that view....do you really respect them?

To restate my point in another way: nobody really respects anyone else's view, they just cling to the elements of the others view that reflects their own.

(edit: apologies to Phoenix if I misrepresent you for the sake of making my argument Confused

)

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Eorl,

Ok, I understand what you are saying. Sorry I miss understood.

Hmmm, good question. Now of course I wouldn't respect someone's beliefs like Hitler so, I guess I'd have to say it is the person and their right to their beliefs that I really do respect. Now, I wouldn't demean or belittle Hitler either no matter what he believed.

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slck

Do you respect a man's right to mutilate the genitals of his daugther, to ensure she receives no pleasure from sex?

I do not.

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Momma,

No need to apologize, I find it hard to explain what I mean sometimes, and that's my fault not yours.

You've also identified a point where we differ. I'd call Hitler some very nasty names and do my best to undermine him at every turn... if I thought it would help reduce the amount of suffering that animal caused with his beliefs.

I think destructive and damaging beliefs should be challenged.

(and I think Christianity certainly fits into that category)

...but ultimately that depends on my belief of what can be defined as "destructive and damaging".

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Eorl,

I understand what you are saying. But, I must tell you, even though you see Christianity as you do, I find you rather engaging and not at all offensive, which I appreciate greatly!

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Thank you Momma ! Very Happy

I try very hard to be as polite as I can be. I'm sure you can appreciate that merely stating my views on religion can be seen as a deliberate insult my many! How can I avoid causing offense?

I think it is because of this common notion that respect for others views MUST be part of everyones beliefs...when in fact it seems to me that nobody really does respect views that CONFLICT with theirs.

Perhaps when we look at each aspect of another's belief we say:

Is this like mine?.....Yes, I can respect it.
Is this unlike mine but not in direct conflict with mine?....Yes, well that's OK I can respect that too.
Is this in conflict with mine? Does it imply that I am wrong?...then yes, I respect your right to think that way, but I know that you are wrong.
And most importantly...is your view accepting of mine? Yes, well then that's OK too.

"Respect for others beliefs" sounds like such a good idea, but I just don't think it really exists...we just like to pretend that it does.

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Eorl wrote:

Thank you Momma !

I try very hard to be as polite as I can be. I'm sure you can appreciate that merely stating my views on religion can be seen as a deliberate insult my many! How can I avoid causing offense?

I think it is because of this common notion that respect for others views MUST be part of everyones beliefs...when in fact it seems to me that nobody really does respect views that CONFLICT with theirs.

Perhaps when we look at each aspect of another's belief we say:

Is this like mine?.....Yes, I can respect it.
Is this unlike mine but not in direct conflict with mine?....Yes, well that's OK I can respect that too.
Is this in conflict with mine? Does it imply that I am wrong?...then yes, I respect your right to think that way, but I know that you are wrong.
And most importantly...is your view accepting of mine? Yes, well then that's OK too.

"Respect for others beliefs" sounds like such a good idea, but I just don't think it really exists...we just like to pretend that it does.

Eorl,

Could be. But, if you ask me, you and a few others I can name, make it entirely possible. Unless, of course, you are pretending?

http://web4.ehost-services.com/el2ton1/lmao.gif

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Momma, lets agree to love and respect people (and for that matter, all life) regardless of their beliefs! That would make a lot more sense!

(What would Jesus do?....he'd agree Laughing

)

I'm actually quite a fan of Jesus and his teachings (mostly), despite being an atheist.

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Eorl wrote:

Momma, lets agree to love and respect people (and for that matter, all life) regardless of their beliefs! That would make a lot more sense!

(What would Jesus do?....he'd agree )

I'm actually quite a fan of Jesus and his teachings (mostly), despite being an atheist.

Eorl,

I can certainly agree to love and respect everyone regardless of their beliefs! I am in 100% agreement with you!

You know, that fascinates me. You are quite a fan of Jesus but yet an atheist? If you don't mind my asking, can you tell me what keeps you from being a theist?

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At first I thought that challenging other people's beliefs was pointless. I thought that once people were set in their ways they were never going to change. The environment that one grows up in often shapes their views. This was my observation until yesterday when my mother recieved a letter. My grandmother disowned my mother because of how she classified her sexual orientation. She would not talk to my mother, to me and would not even attend her other daughter's weddings if we were present.

My grandfather recently passed away and this hit my grandmother hard. She changed her views about my mother and realized that she had been wrong. She recently wrote a letter to my mother asking for her forgivness. People can change.....

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Momma,

I spelt out my position recently here...

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20276&start=250

There is much talk of "Science" as some kind of alternative devil-inspired anti-religion.

I see the scientific method as the only way to determine fact from fiction (including wishful thinking)

Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work. -- James Randi

Any scientist would absolutely LOVE to be able to demonstrate the evidence of a supernatural cause for something, anything in the universe...but time after time everything so far has turned out not to need a supernatural explanation. Everything MAY have a supernatural cause, but nothing NEEDS to. Perhaps in the future something will be discovered that proves that one or more gods must have at some time existed, and when that happens I will change my view according to the evidence.

There are many theistic claims, even "proofs" that have been put to me, none of which hold water...but let's not get started in that direction! Shocked

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Beliefs
I think we should all respect one another's beliefs. It is not that difficult as long as we keep an open mind. It is important that we all do that because we're missing out on new possible views of life if we don't try and understand where other people and their ideas are coming from. Even if what people think and believe are different from how we see things, it's best to try and consider their opinion.

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Pancake,

Welcome to A2K. The best advice I can give you is to fasten your seatbelt!

I like what you posted. Simple, clear, makes perfect sense!

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Should we show respect for other people's "beliefs?"

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