-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Respect
- Thread starter Geoff-Allen
- Start date
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
"We need to promote greater tolerance and understanding among the peoples of the world. Nothing can be more dangerous to our efforts to build peace and development than a world divided along religious, ethnic or cultural lines. In each nation, and among all nations, we must work to promote unity based on our shared humanity."
~ Kofi Annan
~ Kofi Annan
DavidFirth
Well-Known Member
Respect cannot be commanded but must be earned.
How many of us can genuinely say that we respect another person's right to hold beliefs that don't coincide with our current beliefs?
All I can say is that I find it a constant challenge and I don't always manage it!
My beliefs have certainly evolved over the course of a single lifetime.
By what criteria are we going to decide whose beliefs are "right" and whose are "wrong"?
Yes. Yes. I know. I am taking all the fun out of the forum
Enough preaching! How about song -
A person's beliefs are often their autobiography. Generally the more interesting conversations begin when you try to ask what experiences brought people to those views. If you can get them to relax and open up you don't have to respect their views because you can respect how they got there. people weren't born being extreme or offensive, so the journey can often be a difficult one and very interesting to listen to.
we'e all a little bit insane basically. 7 billion people all think they are right not because they are, but because believing you are right feels good. truth and right and wrong generally don't matter unless someone gets hurt or hurts themselves. life is more fun when you take yourself less seriously. So you have to unpick the hidden meaning behind peoples "delusions" and what they are revealing about themselves. people need a sense of meaning, purpose and belonging to feel rooted in something but the choice of beliefs isn't accidental. it comes out of the context of their lives, who and what they knew and how they tried to reason their own experiences.
I still believe in "truth" but it is something that has been under a great deal of stress lately. the arbitrary nature of my own beliefs and others has become more obvious as time goes on as I've tested out "why" I believe something and how I got there. I don't think you really need to respect other people's views because we are all wrong about something. I think it is healthier to give up the pretence that we really are special enough to judge whether other people are right or wrong. So many friendships are ruined over stupid petty things and yet we ignore the stuff that matters because we focus on the urgent and not the important. I can't claim any unique ability to tell people how to live their lives beyond not getting yourself killed. I'm not 100% sure I'd want to.
leibowde84
Veteran Member
I respect any beliefs that do not condemn entire populations without reasoning/evidence, just because of the belief that God does not approve. But, when groups like the LGBT community, women or members of other faiths (or non-faith) are said to be "damned" or "living a life of sin", I have no respect for those beliefs. Condemnation of any kind should always be supported with verifiable evidence.How many of us can genuinely say that we respect another person's right to hold beliefs that don't coincide with our current beliefs?
All I can say is that I find it a constant challenge and I don't always manage it!
My beliefs have certainly evolved over the course of a single lifetime.
By what criteria are we going to decide whose beliefs are "right" and whose are "wrong"?
Yes. Yes. I know. I am taking all the fun out of the forum
Enough preaching! How about song -
How many of us can genuinely say that we respect another person's right to hold beliefs that don't coincide with our current beliefs?
All I can say is that I find it a constant challenge and I don't always manage it!
My beliefs have certainly evolved over the course of a single lifetime.
By what criteria are we going to decide whose beliefs are "right" and whose are "wrong"?
Yes. Yes. I know. I am taking all the fun out of the forum
Enough preaching! How about song -
Respecting the right to hold beliefs is a given.
Respecting the content of the belief itself is not a given.
Let me explain to you how I view respect by giving you a practical example:
I don't like smoking. Hate everything about it in fact. The smell and flavor make me want to throw up, it's insanely expensive and it causes serious health problems, potentially premature death. Overall I think smoking is a pretty stupid thing to do.
However, there are smokers who I like a lot, people I respect and enjoy spending time with. I still don't like the fact they smoke but I respect that they have the right to do it. Once in a while we have an exchange of opinions in which I remind them that I don't want to go visit them in the hospital because of their filthy habits and they brush me off gently and then we move on to something else. We stay friends.
We respect and appreciate each other. They have a habit I dislike and disagree with and maybe I have habits they don't like but they accept me for who I am, dislikes included and I do the same.
If one of those smokers ever tells me that either I start smoking or they will hurt me, that respect I have for them will immediately disappear and I will cut that person of my life.
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Thanks everyone for the feed-back!
After MUCH careful contemplation, I have arrived at the conclusion that we ought to respect other people's beliefs unless those beliefs are psychologically harmful.
In which case, compassion demands that we at least attempt to help them change their minds to more emotionally healthy beliefs.
End of sermon.
After MUCH careful contemplation, I have arrived at the conclusion that we ought to respect other people's beliefs unless those beliefs are psychologically harmful.
In which case, compassion demands that we at least attempt to help them change their minds to more emotionally healthy beliefs.
End of sermon.
I respect all religions. They make people better.
Interesting topic, @Geoff-Allen
As some have mentioned, my first point would be that I can respect the rights of others to hold an opinion, even if I don't particularly respect that opinion. People can believe in a flat earth, and I respect their right to believe that, for example, but don't respect their opinion much at all.
Going a little further, though, I commonly find myself respecting WHY or HOW a person has arrived at an opinion, quite apart from the opinion itself. So, if someone has invested time, if they are considering both pro and con arguments in an effort to avoid bias, if they are developing and learning and becoming more nuanced...then I can respect their right to hold and opinion, and I can respect the process they are following, even if I don't agree (or even respect) the opinion they hold.
I do sometimes see us (as a species, or even more locally as a community here) not considering that too much, and instead just accepting that people have the rights to an opinion, but that the opinion might be assclownery.
From where I sit, not all opinions are created equal, even if you took a group of assertions I universally disagreed with, and indeed 2 people holding the exact same opinion might be worthy of different levels of respect depending on the process by which they came to those opinions.
Equally I find myself sharing common ground with people on issues, but feeling that their opinion (which is the same as mine) is not worthy of respect due to the rationale behind it, another thing we seem to be increasingly moving away from (anecdotally).
As some have mentioned, my first point would be that I can respect the rights of others to hold an opinion, even if I don't particularly respect that opinion. People can believe in a flat earth, and I respect their right to believe that, for example, but don't respect their opinion much at all.
Going a little further, though, I commonly find myself respecting WHY or HOW a person has arrived at an opinion, quite apart from the opinion itself. So, if someone has invested time, if they are considering both pro and con arguments in an effort to avoid bias, if they are developing and learning and becoming more nuanced...then I can respect their right to hold and opinion, and I can respect the process they are following, even if I don't agree (or even respect) the opinion they hold.
I do sometimes see us (as a species, or even more locally as a community here) not considering that too much, and instead just accepting that people have the rights to an opinion, but that the opinion might be assclownery.
From where I sit, not all opinions are created equal, even if you took a group of assertions I universally disagreed with, and indeed 2 people holding the exact same opinion might be worthy of different levels of respect depending on the process by which they came to those opinions.
Equally I find myself sharing common ground with people on issues, but feeling that their opinion (which is the same as mine) is not worthy of respect due to the rationale behind it, another thing we seem to be increasingly moving away from (anecdotally).
How can anyone think ALL religions make people better? It seems prejudice of the highest order, and reduces religions that actually try to promote positive human traits into a melting pot which includes blatantly racist or evil ideologies. Not all people are the same, not all philosophies are the same, and not all religions are the same.
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Fair enough!
Many people aren't that respectful of differences in beliefs and feel compelled to change the other persons' mind which hardly EVER works ...
We do tend to reserve our fondest thoughts for those who agree with us and who are most like us. Only rare individuals evolve past tendency.
Cheers!
because my religion is that all non-man-made religions were created from the same source.
non-man-made religions?
*whispers to lewisnotmiller* I think he means aliens.
DavidFirth
Well-Known Member
Except for the ones that believe in murder and human sacrifice - those kinda - well, they're - not so good, I don't think.
Right... Satanism and left-handed religions could be considered man-made.
I am not talking about whether the other religions were made by aliens or God at present.
I am not talking about whether the other religions were made by aliens or God at present.