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Should we Tolerate the Religious?

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Should I stop playing silly games and give religion the respect it deserves? That is exactly what I have been doing.

Nobody deserves respect because they demand that they get it. Respect is something that is rightly earned. Most people respect their parents because most parents deserve respect for the love and care they show but there is nothing in being a parent that in itself deserves respect. There is no good reason why anybody should love a monstrous parent or any other authority figure who abuses their power to hurt and dominate. Respect is not a right, it doesn't come with any territory. Respect requires earning.

Religion does not deserve respect. Religions and indeed philosophies based upon faith do not deserve respect because they demand it. Demanding respect is almost proof that no respect has been earned. Just think about the word respectable, imagine a respectable person and you cannot help but envision the opposite of a bully. Respectable people have rules they follow, respectable people are predictable because they follow rules and they are not hypocrites. Nothing offends our sense of what is right more than the person who holds a high office or position of trust which should automatically command respect but who fails to do so by hypocrisy or a bullying manner.

Who are the most universally detestable people? Tyrants, bent coppers, people who abuse authority, people who act tough but run away from a real challenge: people who demand respect and do nothing to deserve it. And Ann Coulter.

Respect does not imply agreement. Many great generals and war leaders have respected their opponents. The classic case of this is probably General (later Field Marshal) Montgomery's respect for Erwin Rommel. That respect helped him enormously, respect led to empathy and understanding, which led to the capacity to predict behaviour, which led to his ability to defeat his respected opponent. Another classic example of this is the Duke of Wellington's respect for his worthy enemy Napoleon. In contrast there are many defeats that can be put down to a lack of due respect, the most obvious example that springs to my mind is the arrogant George Custer leading his men into defeat because he failed to respect his enemy.

There is no reason to respect people simply because they demonstrate faith. Faith is cheap, it is a human capacity that requires no great intellect or even courage. Faith works in cowards by rewiring the brain so that they fear losing faith or the respect to be had from holding faith more than threats to their personal safety. Faith is dangerous when people value it more highly than their own personal safety or their own reputation for anything else. Faith is a form of self-hypnosis, believing something which is hard to believe naturally, something which may be hard to believe unless you trick yourself into needing to believe it. That is what faith is, willing self-delusion, willing yourself into needing to believe. The faithful martyrs are not deserving respect, they are weak and needy people too but weak and needy people who have allowed themselves to be tricked into putting serving an idea above their own safety and above reason.

There is nothing about religion or religious concepts in themselves which demands respect beyond the idea that they are strongly held views. We can respect religion but all that really says is that we acknowledge that religious views are strongly held and are relatively impervious to disproof. Respecting religion as an adversary does not require us to respect people more because they are religious. That is wrong. It is wrong to allow people to have more rights, to take more liberties, to cut them more slack and to excuse their rudeness and arrogance simply because they claim that their irrational beliefs are religious in nature.

I respect all people as people. I respect religion as an adversary in the same way Kipling's narrative voice respected Fuzzy Wuzzy, but no more. Nobody gets more appreciation from me just because they hold an irrational belief with irrational fervour. Nobody gets more liking from me because they hold an irrational belief with irrational fervour. Nobody gets more rights from me because they hold an irrational belief with irrational fervour. My respect for the religious is simply that I know where they are coming from and I know what they are capable of. I don't have to pretend that I agree with them or I think they are behaving rationally or forgivably. I don't think that.

© 1999 - 2008 by Martin Willett.

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