Why does faith deserve respect?

He paints with a very broad, yet narrowly defined, brush when he states that all people of faith try or want to impose their beliefs on every person on the planet. The generalizing aspects of his rant are just silly. “Faith” deserves respect as much or as little as anything else that defines a person’s actions and moral code. Those that insist on imposing their faith on others are no better or worse than those who insist on imposing their lifestyle choices on others, be it how you dress, eat, or conduct your private life. The faith itself is not deserving of respect, the people involved are until they prove they don’t deserve it, as much as we try to respect other humans until they prove they are not worthy of it.
The guy in the video, however, does not deserve my respect.

@JilltheTooth he was definitely obnoxious.

For me, faith or lack thereof doesn’t have anything to do with respecting others. I try to respect others until they give me a reason not to. Just don’t try to force your views on me. The schmo in the video is a goober, but then he’s English so it kind of figures. (Gotcha queenie and ucme)

The thing that I myself have a difficulty in holding back when talking about are (1) commenting on the arrogance that a lot of believers express when they claim to know what God wants, and (2) the ridiculousness of the idea that we were given a clear rulebook to guide our lives, but one that conflicts with the other rulebooks and observable facts.

To be honest, the simplicity associated with that brand of belief is something that I can’t wrap my mind around.

But on the video, sometimes I’ve been accused of attacking Christianity when it was unwarranted, and I think that’s where a lot of this frustration comes from.

@iamthemob I’ve said it before, and I will say it again… I have a very difficult time finding religious faith to be anything but absurd. I know that sounds rude, and I don’t mean for it to seem that way – it is just literally so far out there that I don’t understand how people genuinely believe it.
However, I think that faith is a very personal thing and deserves respect. This video, while admittedly obnoxious, caused me to pause and question why I feel it deserves respect. Just made my gears turn a little this morning.

Somehow I had a feeling this question would bring you out of the shadows. ;)

@ANef_is_Enuf – Dealing with Christianity, I have no trouble seeing why people believe. However, the particular brand of faith is what may or may not be absurd – even dangerous.

But there are many that approach their faith as being part of the answer, and not clear on most of the finer points of that part. (this for example).

@ANef_is_Enuf : Has @iamthemob ever been in the shadows??? ;-)

Well, as George Michael songs go it wasn’t all that bad…......oh poo, that’s not what you meant.

@iamthemob no, I understand why they believe it, at least to some degree and in some cases. I do not understand how.

I don’t care what that guy had to say in that video. Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. His rant didn’t effect me one bit. I have heard it all before a million times from people like him. I believe faith does deserve respect because the people who believe faith hold it personal and dear to their hearts. I respect even the ones I don’t believe in. I am a Christian but I also respect Buddhism, Judiasm, Islam, Hinduism, the pagan religions, etc. I don’t go out of my way to disrespect others beliefs. This man in the video goes out of his way to disrespect faiths on youtube. I don’t like the videos but I don’t have to watch them either.

@ANef_is_Enuf If you understood how we believe you would not be an atheist. It would have made you at least an agnostic. You obviously have more understanding then this guy. This guy makes videos to ridicule. I think this guy has issues with more than just faith. Why ridicule a guy with a toupee? He doesn’t seem like a pleasant man to be around.

@Mikewlf337 as a former believer, I have to say that I disagree with your assumption that I would change my mind if I understood.
The guy in the video is obviously aggressive, and a little bit on the extreme side of things. I agree that the comment about the toupee was not very nice, if anything it was just immature.

@Mikewlf337 – I think this guy has issues with more than just faith. Why ridicule a guy with a toupee? He doesn’t seem like a pleasant man to be around.

I think you’re spot on there. It seems like he wants to be able to make fun of religion and toupees with abandon. It’s less “Why should you be able to demand I respect faith?” and more “Don’t you dare ask me to stop being a douchebag!”

@iamthemob Wow we agreed on something. I would never demand people to respect anything. That is their choice, I would never ask people to stop being a douchebag. Douchebags add spice to life. We laugh at them as much as we get pissed off at them.

@ANef_is_Enuf Good point because understanding is not believing. There are a ton of religious people who do the same thing this man does. Put these types of people in a room together, grab some popcorn, and watch the sparks fly. you may want to watch it on a closed circuit tv because I would want to be in that room when they kill each other. It would be like watching the Royal Rumble only this one would involve blood.

@Mikewlf337 definitely, there are extremes on both sides. Would make for an interesting show. Or annoying, it could go either way.

“Faith” is treated as sacred because it’s well known that it doesn’t hold up to criticism and scrutiny, so the church and state are expected to defend it with coercive physical force. The problem with the type of atheism talked about in that video is it basically motivates its “believers” to behave same way – even if, for now, they don’t control enough of the levers of power to pull off crusades or enforce fatwas.

Atheism can reasonably be said to be the only theological position that stands up to scrutiny, but north of 5 billion religious people in this world aren’t going away. And I don’t think atheistic ideologies that try to replicate religious fervor do anything but recreate the original problems with religion.

I don’t factor in a person’s faith when it comes to respecting them, but what they do with that faith matters. If you’re an asshole, it doesn’t matter if you claim to be a Christian, an atheist, a Muslim, whatever, you’re still an asshole which means you won’t get much respect from me.

I don’t think the question is so much whether or not to respect people based on their religious beliefs. I think it is more about whether or not non-believers should go out of their way not to step on the toes of the faithful.
Not necessarily the person, but a belief or collection of beliefs that some people find to be destructive or dangerous, yet is unspoken as a protected thing. You just don’t go around bashing people’s faith, that’s a big no-no. Not that people don’t do it, but it certainly isn’t acceptable.

@ANef_is_Enuf “You just don’t go around bashing people’s faith, that’s a big no-no. Not that people don’t do it, but it certainly isn’t acceptable.” That pretty much sums it up for me. Faith is something very precious to a lot of people. It’s kind of like how, at least in my experience, you don’t talk about people’s mothers. You just don’t. I don’ see why people would want to be able to bash the beliefs of another.

I don’t think faith deserves respect, nor do I believe that faith alone deserves disrespect. It just kind of is. People get respect, faith is just an idea.

@ANef_is_Enuf: I don’t say any reason to go out of my way to protect people’s feelings when they believe stupid shit. Not all religious beliefs are inherently stupid, of course, but labeling your dumb ideas as religion to protect them from scrutiny shouldn’t work either.

Faith and religion are subject to the same reason and sarcasm I use for everything else. Don’t start preaching if you don’t want to hear what I have to say in return.

First of all, @ucme, it was a great George Michael song :P

Secondly, I can appreciate the argument that has been made in this. I have been in religious conflict with people like those he’s addressing in this video, so in those instances I can agree with his message. But let’s be clear; he’s didn’t say, “all people of faith try or want to impose their beliefs on every person on the planet” but rather that those kinds of people tend to be attracted to it. And those people—not all religious people in the world, but that specific niche—are who’re coming under fire here.

I, like many of you here have expressed, have no problem giving someone the respect and courtesy that every decent person deserves, right up until they try to start spoon-feeding me their gospel. And even then, I don’t go to the level that we see in this video, because the falsifiability argument is a slippery slope, and there simply isn’t that much time in a day. People can believe in whatever they want to believe in; that’s a given freedom and something that I really can’t do anything about. But I am in fully agreement with this video that when someone wants to get pushy in a religious argument, you can be sure that I’ll push right back.

@Foolaholic You should have used the careless whisper…... ssshh.

I don’t think faith deserves respect but I do think people deserve respect.

It doesn’t.

Adherence to ridiculous beliefs is a mark by which those predestined for eternal damnation may be recognized. People bearing the mark will writhe, sizzle, and pop in the noisome furnaces of Hell along side their mothers. It is the sacred duty of all good people to look down upon these wretched creatures with mockery and disdain.

Faith is a choice, and I respect faith for that reason alone. I respect that humans have the right to choose faith, and human rights are of great importance to me.

Faith does not deserve respect. Especially after it’s track record.

It’s interesting though… That if you don’t show it respect, it’s automatically seen as disrespect. Really? Why? I think it’s because it’s viewed as sacred and saying anything against it is profane and disrespectful. That is bullshit. Religion needs critical feedback, constructive or deconstructive criticism. If you respect someone you’ll tell them when they are full of crap, and you’ll tell them for their own good. I am “disrespectful” towards faith and religion, because I care. Because I care about the human condition, about the planet, about our species. I’m fairly certain that religion is the most detrimental thing to our continued existence. So, yeah, I’ll speak up. I don’t try to tread on toes, but I don’t beat too much around the bush.

@lynfromnm Kids don’t get a real choice.

@everephebe: well, I don’t think faith deserves respect, but people of faith do. They just need to remember to show it too.

@bolwerk I’m a firm believer in not being an asshole, as much as possible. :D However, I don’t think people deserve respect inherently, I think earning that respect is necessary. But being respectful, is just decent human behavior, towards almost everyone. I think being polite is very important… But occasionally it’s important to be a little rude, to people who earn it. It’s not good form, but neither is always being in good form.

The reason why religion should be respected because it is something personal to the very being of the person practicing it. We give respect because of gender in spite of nature. We give respect and consideration to the aged when as nature go and the law of the jungle the old are in the way and vanquished by the young. We respect those with disabilities when again, if we went by the natural order of nature those not born fully healthy would fall to the stronger. We do these things because we care to do them not because nature or natural selection requires it. That is what separates us from the apes. We do not have to respect anything. We can command respect by might if we have enough to make people capitulate. It would seem that <redacted> fellow knows quite a bit about bigotry because his arrogance and ignorance seem to make him better at it than those he tries to slam.

Every tolerant world view deserves respect. Why? Well, we should treat others as we would like others to treat us. It’s a principle that fosters peace.

@mattbrowne That being said, I think it should be noted that the man in this video seems to be specifically replying to intolerant people. But you’re right, it’s merely a give-and-take of courtesy.

On another note, how are we defining “faith” in this instance? Because while I can’t exactly get behind “faith” in the existence of God, “faith” in the inherent good of humanity is a different matter entirely.

@Foolaholic – Intolerant world views don’t reserve respect, of course. To me faith means trusting in something we can’t be sure of. For example, I’ve got faith that humanity in the year 2150 won’t resort to war anymore to resolve conflicts. Faith isn’t always used in a religious context, but sometimes it is. I do distinguish between faith and superstition.