What is wrong with ridiculing superstitions? Especially when those fairy stories are being foisted on children.
Dawkins-The Greatest Show on Earth
by KateWild 189 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Laika
Viv, so we can't call out bullying because someone else said something cruel to you? *confusing*
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Apognophos
Sure, right when people stop telling me I am going to hell for not believing in Jesus.
"You stop mocking me first, then I'll reciprocate." So much for the high road.
What is wrong with ridiculing superstitions?
Ridicule raises the hackles. It produces self-defensiveness and can make the ridiculer look bad to an onlooker. Much better to be mild but firm about the importance of evidence and not believing what others have told you. If someone is confident about their beliefs then they can also be calm and level-headed when talking about them.
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Laika
Shaming and mocking people in public is bullying. I like to hope that people who constantly lecture others on morality would not buy into this.
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cofty
Shaming and mocking people in public is bullying. I like to hope that people who constantly lecture others on morality would not buy into this.
Bullying depends on who has the power. One day the non-religious community will be in the vast majority and you will then have a point.
Until then mocking religion is far from bullying.
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Laika
I believe Jesus is a real, living person. I don't think this belief automatically makes me deserving of respect, or that it's wrong for anyone to express disagreement with me. I refuse to accept however that this makes me a potentially abusive parent, partially responsible for Westboro Baptist Church homophobia and abortion clinic bombing, or deserving of contempt in public.
When I was in school some people mocked me for being a JW, even though I no longer believe pretty much everything I did back then, I still wouldn't wish that treatment on anyone, not even Dawkins.
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cofty
Nobody should mock you personally because you believe a 1st century carpenter rose from the dead.
However, on a religious discussion forum it is not unreasonable for people to scrutinise your evidence ruthlessly.
If you were to teach your children that they will suffer eternally if they fail to subscribe to your superstitions - as thousands of xtian parents do - that would be emotional child abuse and bullying.
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Viviane
Viv, so we can't call out bullying because someone else said something cruel to you? *confusing*
Of course you can had that happened.. But I haven't bullied anyone, so, no, you can't. And, point of clarity, what was said to me was nasty and dishonest, it wasn't cruel.
"You stop mocking me first, then I'll reciprocate." So much for the high road.
That's not what I said, please be honest next time you attempt to quote me. And, BTW, when you're in the mud, you don't get to complain the other person is dirty.
It produces self-defensiveness and can make the ridiculer look bad to an onlooker.
Only when done incorrectly or against an undeserving target.
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KateWild
I'd suggest maybe overlooking it and giving his arguments and facts another try.-coma
You are right, his science is accurate. So to get to the facts I overlooked some of his other traits. I was impressed with the silver fox experiment, I did a review on that in another thread. Kate xx
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KateWild
What is a "geography denier"?-cofty
A person that would deliberately deny a geographical fact. I think if a fundamental creastionist would look at a comparrision between someone who denys evolution tought in schools and someone that denys the geography tought in schools, this would have a bigger impact on them and not cause offence.
I have never heard of anyone denying geography so to deny evolution is just as strange. But thats just me picking a comparrison, there are probably much better comparrisons that Dawkins could have used also
The holocaust comparrison for me is too extreme, people who deny the holocaust are likely to be radical anti-semites who are bad people, they are not common in society and they probably don't have any religious beliefs, but you think it is apt. I can understand why you feel this way. We just disagree on this.
Kate xx