Who is the least tolerant?

[Piculet]

Don't the poll results indicate the intolerance of the non-religious toward the religious?

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Don't the poll results indicate the intolerance of the non-religious toward the religious?

Well, how do you as tolerant treat the intolerant? If a person is intolerant, is it intolerant to point that out?

 

[Piculet]

Well, how do you as tolerant treat the intolerant? If a person is intolerant, is it intolerant to point that out?

No. I believe you're stretching the meaning of the word. I think a great amount of people on this forum are intolerant of both religion and religious people.

Now, they may tell you they only oppose religion - not people. I, too, tell them I only oppose homosexual acts - not people, but they don't appear to believe me.

If they assume I cannot be intolerant of a behaviour without being intolerant of a people, does that not suggest that they themselves cannot be only intolerant of behavior without being also intolerant of people?

 

[Mock Turtle]

Well, I will start with dogmatic beliefs. In practice I have those, but because I accept as subjective and not universal, I am in one sense intolerant as unwilling to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one's own as my own, but I accept that other humans have other beliefs.
Intolerance in practice comes at 2 levels. One's own beliefs versus the willingness to assume that they are universal for all humans.

Well certainly in some beliefs, like religions, the intolerance is often manifest in how they behave towards others - attacking then with words or other such, besides what they might do in other such behaviours - and one can't just decouple this from what the religion often teaches. I think this is what many will see as an unreasonable intolerance and mostly based on acceptance of some particular teaching or doctrine. I no doubt have some beliefs - as to the worth of every human and what their rights should be - so I will feel the intolerance of others encroaching on these. I can't prove them as being at all objective though, just mostly coming from what might happen without such, and much intolerance seems to eat away at these. And of course I know this might not be the best for all humans but all the alternatives don't make any sense.

 

[bobhikes]

So what do you think tends to close the mind more? Honest questioning or adherance to received beliefs?

It's my belief minds are closed by resistance to change. Unfortunately resistance to change is the standard in my opinion.

 

[ChristineM]

Speaking from a lifetime (hopefully half a lifetime) of experience i believe there to be more religious people who are intolerant of difference. Could this be because there are far more religious people than non religious so the law averages comes in to play? Or it could be that many religious people take their holy literally and apply it to all? I would say it's a bit of both.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Are religious people more tolerant of human diversity, or are the non-religious more likely to be so?

In my experience, it's a mix of both, but if I had to answer, I would say religious people tend to be less tolerant, as they tend to tie themselves to dogmas that lock them into a view that specific behaviors, while acceptable outside the view of that religion, are not acceptable to the tenets of that religion.

This isn't present in all religions, but in my experience, it is certainly present in some.

But then again, there are those non-religious people that are intolerant of religious people in general, regardless of their religious affiliation or their worldview.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Don't the poll results indicate the intolerance of the non-religious toward the religious?

No. I'm considered to be religious and voted that religious people are the least tolerant.

 

[Vinayaka]

No. I'm considered to be religious and voted that religious people are the least tolerant.

As did I.

 

[Vinayaka]

I think we have to remember intolerance also has a scale to it. For example, one can be annoyed at the actions or antics of another group of people, and called intolerant because of it. But that isn't hate, or institutionalised intolerance resulting in killing of groups like homosexuals, as in some Islamic countries. And there is a lot of stuff in between. It's all labelled intolerance.

So, in the OP, are we looking at a percentage of people within the group that have anu intolerance at all, ora re we looking at the overall degree of intolerance?

 

[syo]

Religious people that were raised into a religion from kid's age and they never questioned ''their'' religion, are intolerant.

 

[Kenny]

I have observed, far too often in these forums, that there are people who are essentially intolerant of others who don't conform to one or another set of norms, views, beliefs, sexual expression, and so on. And I've also observed that there are many who are pretty accepting of all sorts of things, usually providing that they do no harm to others.

Now, I think (and this is based on no rigorous data) that the most intolerant people are very often those who are pursuaded by religious beliefs, often citing scripture to back up their intolerance. And I think that I've also observed (again with no rigorous data) that people who are more accustomed to free thought about everything (that is, not relying on scripture or dogma that is required to be believed) are much less likely to be intolerant of others -- often, in fact, being quite ready to accept and explore other viewpoints, cultures and so forth.

But many things impact our thinking, and religion (or irreligion), racism (or lack of it), politics, culture and so on inform how we relate with other people. But for my purpose here, I want to restrict the choice to just two: Are religious people more tolerant of human diversity, or are the non-religious more likely to be so?

6 of one and 1/2 of the other. Appearance may be "religious" but really it is just because the religious outnumber the non-religious - but the percentage is the same.

 

[Piculet]

No. I'm considered to be religious and voted that religious people are the least tolerant.

Your voting different wouldn't have changed anything.

 

[Revoltingest]

I voted "religious people", but with an explanation.
Both religious & non-religious folk can be intolerant.
We've highly intolerant examples of the latter here on RF.
But religious prescriptions & proscriptions can impose
intolerant values upon otherwise tolerant people.

 

[Spirit of Light]

I have observed, far too often in these forums, that there are people who are essentially intolerant of others who don't conform to one or another set of norms, views, beliefs, sexual expression, and so on. And I've also observed that there are many who are pretty accepting of all sorts of things, usually providing that they do no harm to others.

Now, I think (and this is based on no rigorous data) that the most intolerant people are very often those who are pursuaded by religious beliefs, often citing scripture to back up their intolerance. And I think that I've also observed (again with no rigorous data) that people who are more accustomed to free thought about everything (that is, not relying on scripture or dogma that is required to be believed) are much less likely to be intolerant of others -- often, in fact, being quite ready to accept and explore other viewpoints, cultures and so forth.

But many things impact our thinking, and religion (or irreligion), racism (or lack of it), politics, culture and so on inform how we relate with other people. But for my purpose here, I want to restrict the choice to just two: Are religious people more tolerant of human diversity, or are the non-religious more likely to be so?

I think you will find intolerant people on both sides.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Your voting different wouldn't have changed anything.

Why is that?

 

[PearlSeeker]

Us vs. them mentality is potentially in all kinds of human groups. For example some soccer team fans can't even stand the color of their rival team.

If we compare religious and atheist groups it's different in different settings. For example in some environments communistic ideology is still strong.

 

[Tambourine]

Okay, I admit it, it's me.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

What you mean by "human diversity" is your very own intolerant brand of nature religion that condemns all bible believers who disagree with your nature religion as bigots and nasty people.

Obviously the people of God were always intolerant of nature religion after coming out of Egypt, because nature religion is itself highly intolerant of Abrahimic religion.

It is only to be regreted that approximately 3000 years after Canaanite nature religion was wiped out in Israel, there are now so many votaries of it, even in the formerly Christian (or may be only deist?) USA.

It would seem to me, based on what you wrote above, and this post early this morning Ditching a friend for offensive beliefs? ought to mean that you voted for Option 1 - Religious people are less tolerant.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The religious (specifically, particularly, and especially Christians, especially in the Southern and MidWest Biblebelt states) are a sea of intolerant bigots, many of them having a modus operandi of intruding and butting into the affairs of others woth sin and hellfire and guilt and damnation in a way that is in and of itself a cruel and unusual torture inflicted upon and suffered by others, especially queers and atheists.