Do you believe that superstitions/religions should be treated with respect?

Question

The most curious social convention of the great age in which we live is the one to the effect that religious opinions should be respected.
-- H L Mencken, in American Mercury (March, 1930)

In time when political correctness seems to have run amok, I found this old quote interesting.

Religions are philosophies based on superstitions.

This is not about people, but about ideas.

Answer 1

Cool quote!

You can at least respect the person even if you don't agree with their beliefs...

of course.. SOME people make it nearly IMPOSSIBLE to respect them!!!!

Answer 2

Yes, I try very hard to believe that superstitions/religions should be treated with respect, because of the positive spirit behind the superstitions/religions. Of course if the people of the superstitions/religions are rude, or pushy - I reserve the right to leave and not support them.
If a person learned something I respect that. If a person is employed in a field - I respect that. I have not learned much, and will never be employed for knowledges sake - so of course I respect people that are working to better people and the community.

Answer 3

All people should be treated with a certain amount of respect, because they have an innate sacredness, a value and a potential for greatness.

Not all ideas however should be treated with respect. It just depends on what the idea is. I do not know of any religion which should be totally disrespected through and through. I do know of certain ideas within certain religions that I would argue do not merit respect. Doctrines of intolerance, hatred, or violence should not be respected. But these are the minority ideas in religions. Mostly, religions teach respectable things.

People hold superstitions for various psychological or social reasons. Depending on their motive, and what the superstition is, they DO merit respect, I believe. People are allowed to be wrong. It is their right as a human being to have ideas that they hold which are actually incorrect. They do have their reasons for believing. Perhaps they do not understand the rules of proper reasoning. Nevertheless, they do deserve respect just for their humanness, and if they are a good person, they certainly deserve respect for that, regardless of what they believe.

Answer 4

The answer is people should be respected without regard to their religion or superstitions.

Personally, I maintain that the recognition of the government of a religion as a religion is a violation of the separation of Church and State.

By the way, Mencken also once stated that someday Middle America will get its fondest wish and put a complete idiot in the White House.

Answer 5

Sorry, but philosophies are not based on superstitions. If you do your research (and I mean it academically with all your historical evidences and stuff) you will find that philosophies were derived from a need to solve societal problems. Spirituality and faith developed as a result of significant findings.
Therefore we should have great respect for these findings stemmed from the people who have put in great efforts to find a solution for mankind, whether you agree with them or not.
It is normally the followers who spoil the religion by imposing their limited understanding on others. They cannot comprehend the depth of their founding teachers.

Answer 6

Of course, all religions, regardless of whether one believes in them or not should be respected. Maybe not so much the religion, but the people who follow them.


And hey chosen_isaiah61, Christianity is a superstition...one that will supposedly send you to hell if you don't believe in it.

Answer 7

People should always be respected. Their ideas, though, don't always deserve your respect. I mean, you must respect a person who strongly refuses to take a room in the 13th floor of a hotel. But you cannot take that idea seriously. You cannot respect it.

Another example, a person who thinks the Jewish are inferior (but does nothing on that idea) has to be respected as a person (because having an opinion is never against the law; if he acts on it, then he should be punished). Now, the idea itself is despicable and deserves no respect.

Answer 8

I try to be respectful towards PEOPLE of other faiths, if not necessarily the faith itself (as most of them are based on what I view as fallacies) However, I am not respectful to those who try to convert me or intimate that I am going to some horrible hereafter because of my own beliefs -- it shows a lack of respect on their part to assume that their path is better than mine.

Answer 9

Religion, yes. Superstition is not religion. All should be treated with respect.

Answer 10

I believe people that are obeying the law and not creating a social disturbance should be treated with respect no matter what they believe. If we cannot peaceable discuss our differences with smiles on our faces we are but barbarians.