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Something that several people have expressed in their comment on a previous post is that making a comment like "goddamned Catholics" is somehow out of line. It's out of line because it's disrespectful.
I walk for half an hour, morning and evening, these days, on the way to and from work, and that gives me some thinking time. Yesterday evening I was thinking about this issue of respect. Particularly respect of religions.
In a manner that I think the ancient Greeks used, I'm going to present this as a dialogue, because this is often how I think. Some people may recognise the names; they're not necessarily what those characters would think, but they're close and convenient voices.
Arc of Fire: Explain to me why I should respect a religion I have no part of, and whose tenets I do not hold true.
Calpurnius: Because that religion does good and useful things.
Arc of Fire: But that religion also does bad and less than useful things.
Calpurnius: Those are the actions of certain practioners of the religion, not the religion itself.
Arc of Fire: So I am free not to respect the individual practitioners, as long as I continue to respect the religion?
Calpurnius: Yes.
Arc of Fire: Is this in general or in particular?
Calpurnius: In general.
Arc of Fire: So what happens if a religion works on the basis of slavery and sacrifice? Must it too be respected? Or one that holds that the world is secretly governed by pigeons?
Calpurnius: No, a religion's practices must fall into certain accepted categories of behaviour and sense before it requires respect.
Arc of Fire: With regard to the practices of the religion under discussion, do its practices fall into these accepted categories?
Calpurnius: I believe so.
Arc of Fire: What happens if I do not believe that the categories are acceptable?
Calpurnius: Can you give an example?
Arc of Fire: If the religion holds that its practices must be enshrined in law and applied to all people, regardless of their own beliefs?
Calpurnius: The religion under discussion does not not hold that - other related religions do.
Arc of Fire: It is nowhere written that it holds that, but if you examine the histories as I have, you will see that its efforts for centuries have been concentrated on making that the case.
Calpurnius: That can be seen.
Arc of Fire: So what basis is there for respect?
The discussion trails off here, mainly because Arc has Calpurnius backed into a corner (and this is where the characters become just voices in my head, because the real Arc would never argue with Calpurnius on religion, much less win).
But it seems to me that what people are saying is that I must respect a religion because it is a religion, and I don't accept that. Nobody can make me respect Scientology, and you'll have the greatest of difficulty in getting me to respect certain more odd sects of the Religions of the Book. Yet I respect the personal religion that certain people I know have, and some of these people call themselves Christians.
I do respect the right of all people to hold their own beliefs. I'm not challenging that. But discuss, please. I'm not arguing one side over the other; I just want to know what other people think - should any and every religion be respected simply because it is a religion? Because in my mind at least, I can respect it because it's a religion, or I can respect it because it is right - and of course I do not believe that any religion other than my own is right.
I walk for half an hour, morning and evening, these days, on the way to and from work, and that gives me some thinking time. Yesterday evening I was thinking about this issue of respect. Particularly respect of religions.
In a manner that I think the ancient Greeks used, I'm going to present this as a dialogue, because this is often how I think. Some people may recognise the names; they're not necessarily what those characters would think, but they're close and convenient voices.
Arc of Fire: Explain to me why I should respect a religion I have no part of, and whose tenets I do not hold true.
Calpurnius: Because that religion does good and useful things.
Arc of Fire: But that religion also does bad and less than useful things.
Calpurnius: Those are the actions of certain practioners of the religion, not the religion itself.
Arc of Fire: So I am free not to respect the individual practitioners, as long as I continue to respect the religion?
Calpurnius: Yes.
Arc of Fire: Is this in general or in particular?
Calpurnius: In general.
Arc of Fire: So what happens if a religion works on the basis of slavery and sacrifice? Must it too be respected? Or one that holds that the world is secretly governed by pigeons?
Calpurnius: No, a religion's practices must fall into certain accepted categories of behaviour and sense before it requires respect.
Arc of Fire: With regard to the practices of the religion under discussion, do its practices fall into these accepted categories?
Calpurnius: I believe so.
Arc of Fire: What happens if I do not believe that the categories are acceptable?
Calpurnius: Can you give an example?
Arc of Fire: If the religion holds that its practices must be enshrined in law and applied to all people, regardless of their own beliefs?
Calpurnius: The religion under discussion does not not hold that - other related religions do.
Arc of Fire: It is nowhere written that it holds that, but if you examine the histories as I have, you will see that its efforts for centuries have been concentrated on making that the case.
Calpurnius: That can be seen.
Arc of Fire: So what basis is there for respect?
The discussion trails off here, mainly because Arc has Calpurnius backed into a corner (and this is where the characters become just voices in my head, because the real Arc would never argue with Calpurnius on religion, much less win).
But it seems to me that what people are saying is that I must respect a religion because it is a religion, and I don't accept that. Nobody can make me respect Scientology, and you'll have the greatest of difficulty in getting me to respect certain more odd sects of the Religions of the Book. Yet I respect the personal religion that certain people I know have, and some of these people call themselves Christians.
I do respect the right of all people to hold their own beliefs. I'm not challenging that. But discuss, please. I'm not arguing one side over the other; I just want to know what other people think - should any and every religion be respected simply because it is a religion? Because in my mind at least, I can respect it because it's a religion, or I can respect it because it is right - and of course I do not believe that any religion other than my own is right.
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