It goes with respecting other people, period.

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When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Heya,

Respect is earned and not automatically granted. In order to get respect you have to have something worthy of respect and I can't find anything to respect in religious belief. If there is anything that has created more death, destruction, suffering and warfare then I don't know what it is. I know it is supposed to be comforting to believe in the great sky father but that does not mean it has anything to do with reality or science.

Love and Kisses,
Dee

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If you are unsure where to go, incapable of normal speech, or unable to remember why you are here, our Welcome Witch will be pleased to help.

Well, that's your take. I would argue that all humans should be viewed with at least a minimum level of respect. That includes respecting their right to have their own spirituality, and to respect the importance of that.

The fact that YOU don't find any comfort in religion doesn't mean that you somehow are superior, nor does it mean that you suddenly have earned the right to be disrespectful to others' beliefs.

__________________
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

It's not about respecting my faith or religion but about respecting my right to believe as I do just I respect your right to believe as you do. You'll not find one post on this entire forum where I have ever ridiculed someone's lack of belief in God but you will find many that have ridiculed me and my faith in God. Seems some can't debate religion without using words like "myth", "fantasy", "for idiots" or "for weak people", etc. in spite of the fact that I believe otherwise. That really doesn't say much for the person using those terms...

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

The above several posts bring up a very good point, in that it doesn't seem very wise to begin allowing ID to be taught as if it were science, and evolution to be taught as just another debateable theory or cultural mythology. This isn't about "respect" for a religious worldview, it's about that worldview's going where it should not be. While we can respect ID as personal mythology, we need not award it respect as science.

Considering that ID, Creationism and religious beliefs are derived from methods other than a scientific process, it doesn't make much sense to me to treat it as such.

I am certainly a firm believer in the separation doctrine, and I like Stephen Gould's ideas about Non-Overlapping MAgisteria. Once we allow blurring of the lines to occur, we get real problems, because religion is essentially opinion (in the sense that nobody can actually prove anything whatsoever), and I am skeptical when science and education gets politicized.

Especially when it comes to education of children still learning how to reason critically, the whole ID thing just makes things so much more difficult and frustrating. The two philosophies (if I can usethat term) are mutually exclusive, and both simply cannot bethe truth, logically.

And shall we teach alchemy alongside chemistry, as if it were equally valid? Astrology alongside astronomy? Galen and the Four Bodily Humours alongside anatomy? Lines need to be drawn, because school boards are getting immense pressure in many places to deal with ID.

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"My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right." - Ashleigh Brilliant(?)
(Voting for None Of The Above, so far...)

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

Perhaps "respect" isn't the word, but "courtesy". While I agree with you that respect is a biased commodity that people must "earn" (though I don't consider the respect of some people to be worth earning), I don't think that anyone need "earn" the right not to be subject to ridicule based on your particular opinions or subjective take on the world. While you're certainly entitled to do so, this action would say a lot more about you than it would about the person/belief who has failed to "earn" your respect.

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Heya,

Courtesy is a very different matter than respect. If someone told me that god spoke to them and told them to attack people I would be the very model of courtesy. At least, until the authorities came to take them away. The only reason that people can get away with such statements in general because the general populace believes in god and don't want to draw attention to the sheer stupidity of the statement.


If I take your conjecture then I must simply turn away when people say unwise things based on religion. Silence on a matter is implied consent and agreement. I don't agree and cannot convince myself to simply ignore such comments. When the people I know tell my children that god exist should I just turn a blind eye to the fact.

I know it is not a common thing but honesty in all things is the way I live. I can find no evidence for the existence of god in the world and will not stand by while people pretend otherwise.

Love and Kisses,
Dee

__________________

If you are unsure where to go, incapable of normal speech, or unable to remember why you are here, our Welcome Witch will be pleased to help.

I think that people who do this are generally taken away to asylums, unless they're sitting Presidents. There's a fine line between eccentric, insane, and visionary, and I think it has more to do with a person's standing than his statements

My "conjecture"?

And, this sentiment seems like a rationalization "silence = consent". People filter out all manner of nonsense. If you stopped to correct every inaccurate statement you heard or every opinion that differed with yours, you'd never do anything but try to catch up on your back log of corrections.

How noble... it's not you passing off your subjective opinions as universal truth, but rather you being scrupulously honest and deigning to share your remarkable yet unsolicited insight with poor, misguided fools. Hey, whatever makes you happy. You see, I don't espouse your world view, and feel no real need to interfere with your own pretenses

(Me being a smartass aside, where do you draw the line between being "honest" and being judgmental out of quasi-paternalism?)

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

No, I'm not trying to stir up anything. I just saw that you snagged him on his use of the term "consensus", suggesting he meant something I know he didn't mean.

Now, maybe you were just having a little fun with him & I didn't get it. If that's the case, then I stand corrected.

But I was just earnestly trying to clarify what I thought was obviously his meaning in the use of the word consensus.

I meant no harm.

I think the vast majority of people respect your right to believe whatever you want about the origin of man & the universe.

But when it comes to teaching it as science in public school classrooms, that's where the line needs to be drawn.

Worship God in church. Teach creationism in SUNDAY school.

Leave the public school system alone & keep religious teaching out of it, except in the case of voluntary in-school prayer groups which are currently allowed.

I actually believe the idea ID could very possibly be true. If there is a creator, why couldn't he be the creator of evolution & all the science that explains the physical universe?

But I totally 100% agree that as long as it's merely a belief with nary a scintilla of evidence to back it up, then it has no place in a science class.

You have said all that needs to be said, IMO. You've summed it up perfectly!!

hmmm.

this conjures images of my mind of people disregarding other people from the outset, and never being able to develop any respect.

If a friend introduces you to someone, are you rude until that person shows they are worthy of your respect?

what if that person has the same view as you and won't respect you until you have proven yourself worthy?

Who makes the first move to "earn" respect?

I can't imagine HOW you might form relationships with others if you don't reagrd respecting others as an integral part of courtesy.

As to respecting the views of others who differ from you/not finding anything in religion to respect ... would you also apply that to someone who has different views on other issues?

if for example, your friend is pregnant, and decides she wants to have a caesarian, wants to return to work early and will bottle feed.

You, on the other hand believe that a natural birth, except for in an emergency, being an at home mum, and breastfeeding is what motherhood is all about.

Will you respect your friend's right to believe as she does and make the choices she does, or will you lecture her on the wrongness of her decision every time you see her?

I'm just curious how you might see the application of respect in such an instance ....

I think it's important to understand that there are different levels & types of respect.

There is basic human respect that everyone deserves no matter whether you know them well or have never met them.

Then there are deeper levels of respect that, as the other poster suggested are earned.

Respect for a person's character is something that only comes with familiarity & trust built up over time. Respect for a person's intelligence also only comes with familiarity over time.

Higher levels of respect, beyond the most basic fundamental level, are in many ways like trust, & as was suggested, need to be earned.