Another's Religion

[monk222]

♠
“We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.”

-- H. L. Mencken

We certainly should not bow down to another's religion to the extent that we allow him to dictate how to dress our wives or what we can write without being blasphemous, nor should we conform our science to their ancient texts, nor limit our reproductive rights by their lights, and on and on.

Got this quote from the Andrew Sullivan blog.

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Comments

[antilapsarian.livejournal.com]

Not blowing up infidels or passing death sentences for non-belief is hardly the end goal though. Just because there are other factors at work preventing these doesn't mean there isn't a deep hatred still at the core.

I think we have to move beyond mere tolerance of others and into the territory of outright respect, too. And no waiting around to get it first, either. People need to be a lot more willing to give it without regard to it "being earned" if we are to have a future.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Not blowing up infidels or passing death sentences for non-belief is hardly the end goal though.

It would be glorious if some societies could just achieve that. It would even mean the end of the War on Terror. And we could then constructively go about addressing all our issues and conflicts.

[antilapsarian.livejournal.com]

As I told wordlesswriter, the future of humanity could be at stake. But yes, hopefully it does mean addressing all our issues and conflicts constructively eventually. Not to say we're going to live in some utopia or perfect society ever...but so much of the intolerance and violence in the world just stems from a basic lack of respect for others.