In my various discussions online regarding religious beliefs, I've frequently come across a plea from the more moderate and less hysterical religious people for a modicum of respect for the beliefs of other people. At first this sounds perfectly sensible, after all, we all believe things that others don't, so why not have a level of respect for someone else's personal beliefs and just let them be?
Well, first off, those personal beliefs directly impact me and the people I love. They lead to people enacting legislation to take away people's basic human rights, and they lead to presidents and judges banning federal funding for stem cell research (which could cure my wife's diabetes). These beliefs I'm supposed to respect, even if I disagree with them, force Christians to rationalize all the times in the Bible when the Christian God commits, commands, or condones rape, slavery, genocide, and murder.
But all the moral issues aside, the idea that certain beliefs, regardless of their truth or falsehood, must be respected because they are religious beliefs (as opposed to any other kind of belief) isn’t just absurd, it’s actively insane. If you’ve ever felt that people need to just accept your religious beliefs, because they are your religious beliefs, then think of this example:
I approach you on the street, and I proclaim that I only weigh 100 pounds. You look me up and down and start laughing, because I clearly weigh a great deal more than that. I become very offended at your laughter, and again proclaim that I am clearly 100 pounds, and nothing you can say can shake my belief in that fact.
You, being a rational and logical person, provide me with a weight scale, and ask me to stand on it so we can determine just how valid my claim really is. I step on the scale, and we see concrete, verifiable, observable proof that I weigh far more than 100 pounds. At this point you begin mocking my absurd, and clearly false, beliefs.
That’s when I invoke religion. You see, it’s actually my religious belief that I only weigh 100 pounds, and my personal spiritual growth has taught me this is true. It’s my religious belief that I weigh 100 pounds, and a weight scale saying otherwise is just an evil instrument of the devil trying to distract you from the TRUTH that I weigh 100 pounds.
Why you would you possibly respect this belief? It is clearly, verifiable, observably WRONG. I don’t weigh 100 pounds. It doesn’t matter how much I believe it, or how much I think a deity has mandated it, or how much I think the devil is trying to disprove it. I still weigh far more than 100 pounds. The fact that it’s my religious belief is completely irrelevant.
The religious, or anti-religious, aspect of any belief does not change its truth or falsehood in any way. Gravity remains a real force regardless of whether anyone believes in it. If I proclaim that my religion teaches gravity is a lie of the devil, I would stall fall to my death if I jumped off a tall building. If I proclaim that my religion teaches the earth is flat, I’d still have a hard time hitting a target with a rifle at extreme distances due to the curvature of the earth – because the earth is round regardless of my religious beliefs on the subject.
Likewise, if someone claims, with no evidence behind the claim at all, that Jesus of Nazareth existed and performed works of magic, then I don’t have to respect that belief. If someone claims, in direct opposition to reality, that every single species of animal in all the Earth lived within walking distance of Noah’s house, then I don’t have to respect that belief. If someone claims that Jonah can live in the belly of a great fish for three days, I don’t have to respect that belief.
Just because your belief is religious in nature doesn’t mean it isn’t WRONG. I am a grown adult who can distinguish fantasy from reality, and I don’t just expect, I absolutely demand that other grown adults have that same ability.
I will not respect your beliefs if you have no evidence to back up those beliefs, especially if there is a mountain of evidence existing that shows them to be absolutely wrong.
If I told you that microwave ovens don’t exist, you could immediately provide me with multiple sources of evidence to show that microwaves do actually exist. You could show me a YouTube video of someone using a microwave. You could point me to an online user manual showing the inner workings of the microwave. You could email pictures of your microwave, or even take me to Walmart and buy me one.
Now let’s consider the Christian perspective on that. I tell you that your God doesn’t exist. Where is the evidence for the existence of your God that you’d immediately be able to show me? There isn’t any. Not only is the mountain of evidence lacking, there isn’t even one single shred of basic, verifiable evidence for any deity’s existence. There are no videos or pictures of your God. You can’t take me to the store and show me where your God is hanging out.
Whether we are discussing the Christian God, or Zeus, or Thor, or Hecate, or dread Cthulhu, or fiery Hephaestus, or Allah, there remains absolutely no evidence you could show me to prove the existence of those beings.
If I ask for proof of the existence of microwave ovens, it can immediately be provided. If I ask for proof for the existence of a deity, it cannot be provided in any way. Think about that.
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