Current Events > Question for atheists, do you respect religious beliefs?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Not talking about the people who believe, but the actual beliefs
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Atheists who blast religions are just as bad as religious nutjobs
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Eh, I've been thinking that we should return to the 2006 era of atheism.

LMAO magic sky daddy
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The ones about being kind and forgiving, sure

The ones about hating or killing people for dumb shit, nah
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"No, because I'm oppressed by some old man in Georgia who supposedly forces his Christian beliefs on me."

-most high-soy atheists
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MrK3V posted...

Atheists who blast religions are just as bad as religious nutjobs

Really? Please show me the atheist version of ISIS.
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I respect them as much as I respect the guy who bases his life off of passages he took from Lord of the Rings

The people, yes, unless they're terrible.

There are plenty of religious beliefs. Some are good, some are bad. If you're specifically talking about supernatural beliefs, then no.
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Depends what you mean by respect of the "actual beliefs."

I think a lot of religions share common moral ground and try and promote virtuous behavior and I respect that. I think they often promote a sense of community, and I respect that.

If we're talking about the overlap of political belief, I think religious communities often create in-groups and shy away from the moral foundation of their religion in the name of identity politics, I don't respect that. An example would be Christians who work to undermine the social safety net in direct opposition to Christ's teachings. I get that they might think favorable welfare may engender learned helplessness and some people take advantage of that system, but I think expecting them to independently arise from their circumstances to be overly reductionist and idealistic and not in the spirit of their religion.

I don't believe in the validity of any of their origin stories or take any of their allegories as literal, I don't know if that construes as "disrespect." I do contend that I don't think my tendency towards atheism means I am automatically correct. Metaphysical questions/problems and questions outside of the realm of our means of investigation, scientific enquiry, etc are inherently unknowable and I'm equally as stumped about how all of this came to be to begin with. The difference is I don't fill in the gaps with idiosyncratic placeholders.

I do feel like I tend to be more inclusive in so far as I have friends who are pretty devout christians, catholics, muslims, etc. Because I'm not invested in any particular brand, I kind of see more of their similarities than they do from within, if that makes sense. And as a result, I find I'm able to respect people of all faiths a bit more evenly, where by anecdote I've met a lot of religious people who are hypercritical of any faith outside of their own.
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MrK3V posted...

Atheists who blast religions are just as bad as religious nutjobs

Naw. You know how much trauma i've experienced over the fear of hell. Feel free to call me an idiot or whatever,but it doesn't change how my upbringing affected me. Nothing will.
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I don't care what people believe; that's a personal decision and has nothing to do with me. I care what they do as a member of society and how they vote.

In my experience people who behave in ways I abhor often use their religion as an excuse. I could respect them if they were consistent, but they frequently aren't. And we're not even touching on the hypocrisy present in organized religion, especially in how it manifests in politics and greed.
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I'll respect a person's beliefs as long as they don't use them to be a dick to other people.
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frogman_295 posted...

MrK3V posted...

Atheists who blast religions are just as bad as religious nutjobs

Naw. You know how much trauma i've experienced over the fear of hell. Feel free to call me an idiot or whatever,but it doesn't change how my upbringing affected me. Nothing will.

Your parents shouldn't have let you watch all those scary movies when you were a little kid.
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Sometimes. I get that people find comfort in being able to explain where life came from and what happens after death and answer other "big" questions. But sorry if I don't think I should live a certain way because some stoned guy in a hut 2000 years ago scribbled some shit down about not eating shrimp. I fucking love shrimp.
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I respect the person, not the beliefs. I think the beliefs are stupid even if I don't say anything, and I don't say anything cause I don't like making people feel bad or upset or whatever
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Yes, in the sense that I don't think religious people are dumb for believing in something. If you boil it down to the actual religion, I do that that most of them are dumb and illogical, but it's still no different than being superstitious or believing luck is an actual force in the universe that an be manipulated. It's definitely human nature to personify and believe in things that are objectively not real.

MARKINGRAM22 posted...

MrK3V posted...

Atheists who blast religions are just as bad as religious nutjobs

Really? Please show me the atheist version of ISIS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge

I'm atheist but I don't go out of my way to be a dick to people who are religious. I can respect people's rights to believe in their religion.
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Eevee-Trainer posted...

I'll respect a person's beliefs as long as they don't use them to be a dick to other people.

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I respect people, but not the beliefs themselves.
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I admire people who have faith, something to turn to when all seems lost. It must be nice.

I kind of wish I could have that, but I just don't. Nothing has ever spoken to me or connected with me. I went to a Catholic school when I was younger and I'm baptised Roman Catholic but I just have never believed.

Religious people who use their beliefs to live a good life are fine by me, just don't try to convert me.

Or, "sending thoughts and prayers" for every bad thing that happens. Fuck that bullshit. If you really care, get up and do something to help.
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Not really.
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Not especially, but I'm also not going to attack them for it as long as they aren't using their religion as a way to be rude to anyone else or anything.
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I respect it in the sense that I (usually) won't argue or insult them and I can appreciate the positive benefits the religion can have on the person, but deep down I still think the beliefs are fucking stupid.

Had a newly "born again" former friend try and convince me that doing charitable work was vanity and Christian's shouldn't do it or something. It got pretty wild. Got really into Ken Hamm and Joel Olstien (look em up, terrible people).

Culminated because I was a servant of satin that practiced witchcraft. (He stopped smoking pot and I didn't). It was fucking bonkers man.

He also didn't believe in the moon landings so that should have been a red flag.
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