Why are the religious so sensitive?

[Pete]

I’m new here so I hope you don’t mind me chiming in. I believe in God so I’ll refer to myself as a “theist”: from now on. I came here to challenge my beliefs and knowledge as well as to get a better understanding of atheists and agnostics. If there is any objections to me posting here please let me know. I don’t want to be where I’m not wanted.

After watching part one of 'The Four Horsemen' yesterday ...

I take it that's a movie? What's it about? Did you like it?

...an interesting point was raised about how deeply offended and angry some religious people get when you question their faith and how society seems to treat religion as somehow more important than other subjects.

When you say, “question their faith” do you mean that you ask a question which seems to imply their faith is weak or do you mean that you ask a question in which their religion is in question? I’ll assume it’s the later since that seems to be the context in which you mentioned it.

You’re familiar with the adage that you’re asking for trouble when you start talking about either politics or religion, right? When you find the reason why people get angry when they talk about politics then you’ll find the same reason why people get angry when they talk about religion.

Since I‘m not the kind of person to get angry for that reason I can only guess. In my experience people generally get angry when their beliefs and/or opinions/views are questioned. For example, if a Frenchman was to ask me questions about American culture then I might become irritated depending on the kind of question they asked. If I was asked something which seemed to question the quality of American culture then I might get irritated. If someone asked a question which implied that Americans should have universal health care then I would probably agree with them. I guess its like standing up for something that is close and personal to you. If a passerby called one of the neighbors down the road an ugly woman then, if she was really ugly or I didn’t like her, I might agree. But if they were referring to my next-door neighbor who I was very close to then I might get angry. If my friend were to say that the vice-president was an idiot then I might agree. If a foreigner criticized my president then I might get angry. So I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think that this happens only with religion but with things that are personal and/or close to us. Sometimes I hear people insulting theists because they think we’re stupid. I find that irritating myself since its more of a personal attack then a criticism of the things I believe in.

I think deep down every believer knows that their religion is far-fetched.

That may be true for some theists but I’d have a hard time believing that it is true for all of us. I know its not true in my case, i.e. I don’t have a deep-seated belief that religion is far-fetched.

They wouldn't need faith otherwise, right?

The term “faith” is often defined as “firm belief in something for which there is no proof”. This is how it’s used when talking about religious beliefs. However there is a caveat when it comes to proof – A lot of people use this term when what they really mean is that they have a very strong reason to believe something is true. For example, when you return something to the store you have to have a proof of purchase. That means that you have to give them a receipt which has the correct price and a date stamp which indicates that the object wasn’t bought before a certain date. The stores accept this as proof that you bought it. However its not that hard to think of a way around it. I.e. you go into the store and go to the place in the store where the objects are on sale. Wait for a person to buy the same thing and then ask them if you can have the receipt. If, from some strange reason, they agree then you can come back later and return the object. An example from science comes to mind. It used to be believed that nuclear decay rates did not change in time. Measurements of the rates showed them to be constant within experimental limits. However there have been some recent developments that indicate that there is a seasonal variation in the decay rates. This came as quite a surprise to physicists. What they thought was proven true was merely a result of not having accurate data. In fact the seasonal variation might be one of the reasons for inaccuracies in the data of decay rates. People think that science has proven things. A good physicist knows that’s not true. At least a physicist that was well versed in the philosophy of science. But that’s pretty rare.

That, combined with the deeply personal nature of religion, means an attack on someone's religion is also an attack on someone's personal flaw.

I don’t follow. How is this related to personal flaws?

Basically it's like insulting your mother. They take it to heart.

Actually I find the same thing when it comes to atheists. Have you ever become irritated when people asked you about being an atheist?

They run entirely on faith. Atheists do not and actually challenge their beliefs.

I also don’t think that this is true in general. It’s also not true in my case. I challenge my beliefs quite often. How about you? If you could admire a person who questions his religion would you also admire a person who challenges his lack of religion?

Christians faith is suppose to be unshakable, and NOT waver.

Where did you hear that? I believe that a lot of Christians don’t like to admit that they have doubts every now and then. I myself have often started prayers with saying "God, as you know my faith is weak..". After all if I can't be honest with God who could I be honest with? After all he'd know if I was lying or not. lol!

I once asked my pastor (and former pastor) if they ever wondered if there really is a God. They said that sometimes they do. I call that being quite honest.

Pete