RE: How Do We Respect Other People's Beliefs?
September 7, 2015 at 1:02 pm
(This post was last modified: September 7, 2015 at 1:10 pm by Pyrrho.)
As others have noted, there is a difference between respecting a belief and respecting a person's "right" to have a belief. I don't respect silly beliefs. That is because they are silly.
If some fool believes in leprechauns, I am not going to respect the belief. Nor will I respect the person's intelligence.
Some people, though, confuse a right to have a belief, with a right to not be mocked for having it. If you publicly declare some bit of nonsense, you have no right to not be publicly mocked for your stupid, idiotic belief.
That someone has a "right" to have a damn fool belief, does not mean that the person has a right to not be called a damn fool for having it.
Edited to add:
Many times, people bring up this crap about respecting beliefs when what they really want to do is interfere with free speech and people's right to point out the fact that idiotic beliefs are idiotic.
If some fool believes in leprechauns, I am not going to respect the belief. Nor will I respect the person's intelligence.
Some people, though, confuse a right to have a belief, with a right to not be mocked for having it. If you publicly declare some bit of nonsense, you have no right to not be publicly mocked for your stupid, idiotic belief.
That someone has a "right" to have a damn fool belief, does not mean that the person has a right to not be called a damn fool for having it.
Edited to add:
Many times, people bring up this crap about respecting beliefs when what they really want to do is interfere with free speech and people's right to point out the fact that idiotic beliefs are idiotic.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
