And you thought the next post would be Hawaii - part 2... <insert evil muahahah sound>
I think it's time for this post now, in part because we are inundated with spill over religion from the US Democratic primaries, in part because there is a bill before Parliament that wants to limit funding to film makers based on some not-well-defined definition of "taste" that is clearly religion based, and in part because I've seen a lot of this lately in the world and in the Internet that it is prompting me to write.
There have been a number of attacks on various religions of late. Western papers characterizing Islam as a religion of violence, and Muslims demanding respect for their beliefs. Atheists have been writing books describing Christianity as a fantasy, and Christians demand respect for their beliefs. Pagans get picked on by pretty much everyone, and they ask for respect for their beliefs. The concept of "respect my beliefs" is interesting to me for two reasons.
Reason 1: To get respect, you have to give it.
One of the odd contradictions of religious people demanding respect is that so many of them - certainly the followers of Christ and Mohammed - flagrantly disrespect everyone else's beliefs. To them, it is disrespectful to question, or ridicule their beliefs, but it is perfectly acceptable to hold as a core tenet of Christianity / Islam, that non-believers will spend eternity in Hell (or worse... like non-believers should be killed to speed their way to Hell).
You can be a Christian, and pretend to be all cuddles and smiles to your Muslim neighbour, and the atheist down the street... but in the back of your mind, your belief system tells you that both of them are going to the lake of fire or some other horrid, eternal punishment. It's not just Christian fundamentalists that believe this - ALL the major sects of Christianity believe this. It is a core belief that supports the whole system.
Now, I don't know how other people judge what is and is not respect, but if you think I'm doomed to an eternity in Hell, I'm pretty sure you don't respect me as a person. And since my doom is directly related my beliefs, you clearly don't respect my beliefs. How CAN you respect me when you think I am worthy of eternal punishment? It simply doesn't make sense. Therefore, when you ask me to respect your beliefs, you are being a hypocrite of the worst order.
But... you're one of the nouveau Christian-Lite folks who have a personal relationship with God and don't worry about Heaven and Hell and so on. Ok, fair enough... but then you're not really Christian are you? Christians think YOU are going to Hell!
I've used Christ and Christian in those last few paragraphs, but you could put Mohammed and Muslim in their stead and it still conveys the same truth and the same message.
Notice, too, that I am not making a value judgement on the veracity or value of religious belief systems. Rather, I am pointing out a hyporcisy. The religious demand respect for their beliefs while simultaneously disrespecting the beliefs of others.
This, I think, is one of the reasons you don't see lots of people (other than Christians) picking on Wiccans and Wicca. As far as I can tell, Wiccans don't hold a core belief that non-Wiccans are eternally doomed, nor that non-Wiccans should be killed or converted, etc. Though fantastical, Wicca is a personal belief that leaves room for other beliefs. That, at least, makes it a little bit respectable, even if it fails to be supportable by evidence.
Reason 2: Respect is earned, not owed.
So perhaps you're not a follower of a mainstream faith, or have taken the time and effort to pick out the more reasonable aspects of whatever doctrine and drop the bulk of the contradictory, unreasonable and unfair bits. Honestly, I do respect that - you've taken time to THINK, and that action is worthy of respect. But what about your beliefs themselves?
In western cultures, at least, we're all taught that line, above, from a pretty early age. I am pretty certain that most cultures profess that rule to some degree. Nobody owes you respect, you have to earn it. Why then, should religion stand alone as a concept that is owed respect? By what providence should it be exempt one of the most basic rules of civilization that we all know?
I'll approach this one by analogy. You are sitting at work, and the bespectacled, educated gentleman in the next cubicle tells you that he believes in an obese elf who breaks into people's houses, leaves gifts and eats cookies in mid-winter.
Do you respect his belief or do you challenge it? You've probably heard the Santa Claus stories, but there's never been any evidence for Santa Claus... although there's never been any concrete proof that he doesn't exist either. Certainly the balance of probability, and the observed laws of physics make it highly unlikely that such a being could exist. Nevertheless, adults generally dismiss this belief as farcical.
But the man goes further... He later claims that the breaking in and leaving toys is really an allegory. He maintains that the elf keeps a list of who is worthy of getting toys and who is not worthy. Those that are worthy get rewarded. Those that are not worthy get the shaft.
Do you respect this belief or challenge it? It's farcical still. There's no evidence of this, although it's probably logical that the worthy are rewarded and the unworthy are not. But you've been around many winters and you've never gotten rewarded... are you unworthy, or is the belief simply bollocks?
The man continues... He claims that toys is really an allegory. The elf doesn't really break into your house, he merely watches you invisibly and undetectably. The worthy don't really get toys, but when they die, they will be sent to a place of eternal reward. The unworthy are cast into a place of eternal punishment. He can't tell you where either place is, and can't produce evidence of the existence of such places, but he knows it's true because of a story book he read about it. The cookies are an allegory too. They represent the sacrifice you make to the elf to sort of maintain your place on the worthy list.
Do you respect this belief or challenge it? Certainly it's taking a malicious turn with eternal punishment for being unworthy. The man can show you his book, and it has guidelines for being worthy, but the book is full of contradictions. It becomes clear, after even a short discussion that the man cherry-picks from the book and interprets passages quite liberally.
The man goes on... To be worthy, it's not enough that you just act worthy, you must also believe that the elf exists and that he sent another elf to bear the persecution of the world. Only through believing this part of the story can you get on the worthy list. Failure to accept this, and you're on the unworthy list. Ouch.
Do you respect this belief or challenge it? It still sounds like a fairy tale to me. The story has no evidence of veracity, let alone PROOF. For all you know the man made this stuff up himself. He tells tale of all the good things that elf-followers have done. Of course, you've heard of nasty things they've done and you know that lots of people who don't follow elves do good in the world, and it does seem odd that no matter how much good you do, you're unworthy unless you also follow the elf.
Finally the man says - We believers call this elf Yaweh and the elf he sent Jesus.
Do you respect this belief or challenge it? For whatever reason, as soon as the elf gets renamed God, many people think there is magical credibility added. We don't respect belief in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Leprechauns, and so forth... why does changing their name to God justify respecting the belief?
I say religion is an idea like any other. As an idea it is subject to the same scrutiny, examination, and dissection that any other idea is subject to. If religion can provide evidence of its veracity, it will survive these challenges and truly earn respect. If religion cannot support itself, then like any unsupportable idea, it is an idea that is inappropriate in civilized places and should be at least discouraged, if not outright shunned.
Consequently, I do not respect your beliefs unless your beliefs are respectable. If you come to me with stories of omnipotent sky creature(s) meddling in the day-to-day lives of humans, I'm not going to respect that belief or you unless you can back it up with evidence. If you want to believe a guy in Italy sitting on his magic chair somehow gains the power to never be wrong no matter what verbal garbage he spews, well, you're entitled to believe that but don't expect me to respect such a belief. That story is laughable. Actually, I know more than a few Catholics who think that one is laughable too... but then they're not "true" Catholics are they?
The other important thing to bring forward is that just because someone doesn't respect your beliefs doesn't mean they don't respect you as a person. Any person maintains a range of ideas in their head, some of which are very respectable, some moderately so, and some that are questionably sane. That's normal enough. So just because someone doesn't respect your religious beliefs doesn't mean they hate you (although it might - particularly if the other person is religious too). Religion really is just one of many ideas that people have. There's just nothing special about it.
Nobody should be demanding respect for their beliefs, especially religious beliefs. Beliefs that withstand the test of scrutiny will EARN everlasting respect all on their own.
Personally, it bothers me that there are people I know who believe I've got a one-way ticket to eternity in Toronto a lake of fire and brimstone. I may respect them as people, indeed as friends... but it still makes me chuckle every time I'm reminded that they think I have a future staving off pitchforks and burning sulphur.
Here's some interesting reading about religion for those so inclined.
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NB: To be fair, I used a Christian example above because it was convenient, not because I think Christianity is somehow more worthy of being challenged than, say, Wicca. I just wanted an example that would be more easily understood by most people who are likely to read here.
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