Dis-respecting religion

A.C. Grayling, posting to the Guardian;

It is time to reverse the prevailing notion that religious commitment is intrinsically deserving of respect, and that it should be handled with kid gloves and protected by custom and in some cases law against criticism and ridicule.

It is time to refuse to tip-toe around people who claim respect, consideration, special treatment, or any other kind of immunity, on the grounds that they have a religious faith, as if having faith were a privilege-endowing virtue, as if it were noble to believe in unsupported claims and ancient superstitions. It is neither. Faith is a commitment to belief contrary to evidence and reason, as between them Kierkegaard and the tale of Doubting Thomas are at pains to show; their example should lay to rest the endeavours of some (from the Pope to the Southern Baptists) who try to argue that faith is other than at least non-rational, given that for Kierkegaard its virtue precisely lies in its irrationality.

On the contrary: to believe something in the face of evidence and against reason - to believe something by faith - is ignoble, irresponsible and ignorant, and merits the opposite of respect. It is time to say so.

To say that people who follow ancient superstitions should not be held accountable for the harm caused by their beliefs is similar to saying that people who believe that non-believers should be killed (jihad) must be allowed to practice their faith. The need for religion has passed. It was excusable when nature was a mystery to us and we needed explanations for those things we didn’t understand.

But in the 21st century, we’ve found that nature can be explained by science. We’ve also matured enough to understand that we may never have answers to some questions. Religion claims to have an answer for every question. But if their answers are “God did it”, “His ways are not our ways” or “We cannot comprehend the mind of god”, then what good are they? Do we learn anything from these evasions? Is human knowledge increased by this nonsense?

Let’s all quit blaming imaginary superbeings for our problems and our failures. Let’s also quit giving credit to god for the good things humans have accomplished. Let’s take responsibility for our own lives and our own world and quit waiting for gods to make everything better. That’s our job.

[tags]respect, criticism, religion, Grayling, The Guardian[/tags]