Can an atheist respect a religious person?

Answer 1

Is this the way to offer their respect?
What Christian figure will come out of the closet next? Jesus?
or this from the CPT.
THE CPT: So if you become a born-again Christian, you basically got brainwashed in drug rehab?
All the born-again christians I know used to do drugs, went to rehab, and currently walk around homeless with 'crazy eyes' asking for change.....

It just keeps up that way all the time. If that's what they mean by respect they can just confess that they hate us... Jim

Answer 2

As long as the religious person can also respect the atheist and both are open-minded, yes. My husband is an atheist and I'm a theist. We haven't had any problems with respecting one another in the last 8 years. There are things we disagree about, certainly, but on those things we agree to disagree. I also have a lot of atheist friends with whom there is mutual respect. It can be done - it just depends on the people involved.

Answer 3

In general, yes. For some, it may be difficult to participate in a religious service without becoming cynical, but others will treat it as an anthropological study. Efforts at proselytizing an atheist, though, usually creates significant distance.

As long as the religion does not permeate every conversation, it is possible, and even pleasant, to have religious friends & family.

Answer 4

Yup!

I respect religious people until they cross that thin little line from sharing and discussing their faith to harassing and condemning me to convert. Then they're disrespecting me and it's fair game, although I'm more likely to just walk away than fight anyways. Frankly, I've had my fill of religious fighting thanks to my family to want to deal with more people hounding me over religious arguements.

Pretty much, I respect people until they disrespect me first, then that's it. I have family that's religious that I respect just fine, but I also have others who have disrespected me first long ago that still disrespect me for being different that I don't care for, though I don't go out of my way to return the favor, as it were. I'm more apt to avoid them than disrespect them back.

I've also been known to get the more religious people in my family religious gifts for their birthdays, so if that's not respecting their beliefs by thinking of what they love in life, I don't know what is.

Answer 5

Absolutely, I don't call myself an atheist, but to all intents I am regarding the idea of having a personal God. However I have the greatest respect and admiration for people who are true to their religion, be it Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism etc, and have found that they respect me.

Answer 6

can a religious person respect an atheist?

Answer 7

I can respect the person without respecting his/her religious beliefs.

Answer 8

Contrary to some of my posts here, I do generally treat people with respect in person. I open doors for nuns and I don;t have a problem letting priests handle people in emotional crisis. I just disagree with them.

The problems come up when intellectual dishonesty is substituted for rationality and when religionists try to get their pet dogmas enacted into laws that the rest of us are expected to obey.

Answer 9

Sure. I respect lots of religious folk.

Answer 10

Up to a point. Of course, I can respect everything about them until we get to matters of faith and reason then probably not.

Respect the person not the belief, or something like that.