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I don't understand why people (religious and not so religious folks) insist on respecting the point of views of others.....regardless of how rediculous and stupid their claims are!
Does anyone else get frustrated by this fact?
If you don't want your ideas to be questioned and rediculed (in the case of religion and a god), then either 'smart up' and don't come up with fairytales as your truths and your reality, or keep it to yourself, and don't go around saying "the good lord this....and the good lord that..."
Why are we expected to 'respect' other people's delusions?
We're not. Oh, Christians will demand it of course, all the while claiming theirs is the only true religion and thus not giving the respect to other religions that they demand for themselves...but as far as I'm concerned, they can 'go and scratch.'
I do not because I simply do not do it. I do not respect people or their ideas more than their due simply by default. Respect is earned and lost in my eyes. I respect people enough to listen to what they have to say. If what they say is poppy **** then they lose that minimum default respect.
Respect for other people means they deserve to be listened to at least once. If what they espouse is ridiculous then they pay a price for that, usually in the currency of the respect that they claim they want.
They can believe what they like, but if they come into our halls of power, education or science espousing nonsense, they instantly pay a price for doing so, and rightfully so. My work in groups like Atheist Ireland is to ensure people pay that price when they should.
How about having good manners when someone (who if you reread his post said EITHER luck, OR the good lord), is responding to a question you asked. And as you said yourself you were going off-topic to insult him for it.
How about having good manners when someone (who if you reread his post said EITHER luck, OR the good lord), is responding to a question you asked. And as you said yourself you were going off-topic to insult him for it.
insult him? lol calling his delusions out is not insulting.
His comments are insulting to ME because it makes me lose faith in human kind's intelligence and common sense!
Let's say you told someone about something very sad that had just happened to you that had you very worried. Trying to be kind, this person said they would pray for you. Would you ridicule them, or accept that they were trying to say a nice thing to you without realizing how you felt about it? Should people be mocked when their intentions are good?
And, like I said before, it would have been equally rude to insult him for mentioning he was an atheist. It had nothing to do with the question you asked that he was responding to.
Secondly making such a statement assumes the person shares the same religion as you and given how generally jealous most of the mainstream gods are of each other, pushing what a person might see as a "false" religion on them in a time that is, for them, already stressful is really cruel. Accepting such prayer might, in the minds of some, seem like a tacit acceptance of false gods. Check the commandments, false gods are not good.
Thirdly if the person is not a believer of any sort, telling them you will pray for them is... to them... essentially saying "I recognise you are in a time of need... so I am going to go home, get on my knees, and essentially do nothing to help you and nothing of use."
Fourth a lot of people can, and often do, interpret the offer of prayer as the person offering really only doing something to make THEM feel better, not you. It is, to some, actually a selfish act. They are worried or upset and the act of praying is more for their own benefit than the alleged target of the prayer.
At the end of the day if you want to pray for someone, then do it, but best not to inform them unless you are sure you know the person well enough to know for sure that they will appreciate the gesture. Any doubts at all then you would be better off simply saying to them "If there is anything I can do at all, just let me know". After all, if you truely believe in the power of prayer... I am sure you beleive that your god does not require the person being prayed for be aware you are praying for them. So why bother telling them at all?
Let's say you told someone about something very sad that had just happened to you that had you very worried. Trying to be kind, this person said they would pray for you. Would you ridicule them, or accept that they were trying to say a nice thing to you without realizing how you felt about it? Should people be mocked when their intentions are good?
And, like I said before, it would have been equally rude to insult him for mentioning he was an atheist. It had nothing to do with the question you asked that he was responding to.
First off, i would say (in fact i have in similar situations) that praying won't do any good. i'd rather think and find a solution to resolve the problem instead. if they insist on praying and start telling me about 'the lord' then, yes, i will most certainly redicule them and tell them to get the hell outa my house
My usual answer for "i'll pray for you..." is "ok....then i'll have to 'think' for the both of us...."
My usual answer for "i'll pray for you..." is "ok....then i'll have to 'think' for the both of us...."
One answer, from the same guy I just linked to above is to respond to "I will pray for you" with "Oh really, and will you also sacrifice a goat?".
The meaning of the question is not to be snide and unkind, but to point out that prayer is just another practice that people do because they beleive it is a way to petition god to make a change.... just like animal sacrifice used to be.
The point being that at no point in our history have we received data, or discovered anything, that tells us that animal sacrifice does not work... but prayer does. This is data we simply do not have. What IS happening is that people change what they feel like they should do for as many reasons as people change clothes to match current fashions. That is: For very little reason at all.
I don't understand why people (religious and not so religious folks) insist on respecting the point of views of others.....regardless of how rediculous and stupid their claims are!
Does anyone else get frustrated by this fact?
If you don't want your ideas to be questioned and rediculed (in the case of religion and a god), then either 'smart up' and don't come up with fairytales as your truths and your reality, or keep it to yourself, and don't go around saying "the good lord this....and the good lord that..."
Ticks me off i tell ya!
How about just simple common courtesy? How about valuing other people just because they are human beings like you?
None of us have to be disagreeable to disagree. That's a choice.
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