Unpopular Opinion

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Religious and superstitious beliefs should not be respected. (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

416 comments fedilink hide all child comments

We're in the 21st century, and the vast majority of us still believe in an utterly and obviously fictional creator deity. Plenty of people, even in developed countries with decent educational systems, still believe in ghosts or magic (e.g. voodoo). And I--an atheist and a skeptic--am told I need to respect these patently false beliefs as cultural traditions.

Fuck that. They're bad cultural traditions, undeserving of respect. Child-proofing society for these intellectually stunted people doesn't help them; it is in fact a disservice to them to pretend it's okay to go through life believing these things. We should demand that people contend with reality on a factual basis by the time they reach adulthood (even earlier, if I'm being completely honest). We shouldn't be coddling people who profess beliefs that are demonstrably false, simply because their feelings might get hurt.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I don't think they should be shamed or ridiculed, that's going too far. As someone else ITT said: people deserve respect, not necessarily beliefs or ideas. I think people with religious and superstitious beliefs should be gently and compassionately corrected. Ridicule and shame don't have a good track record at changing people's beliefs in the first place, and largely just serve to divide people and stoke unnecessary conflict.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Ok, so I have a psychotic illness that comes with delusions. My personal spiritual practice has helped me move away from the delusions I had based around Christianity and the absolute fear I had. I also have delusions around philosophy which isn’t religious in nature. Gently correcting me away from the personal rituals I built to help me stay grounded would harm me. They were developed with a psychiatrist. Everyone’s life is different, everyone’s culture is different. I know facts are facts, and they help me know what’s real, but my brain literally has a hard time with this distinction, so this duality of a spiritual practice has helped me build a barrier with reality and the reality my brain wants to make. I don’t ask anyone else to participate or force anyone else to believe it. Why would you want to correct this?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think people with religious and superstitious beliefs should be gently and compassionately corrected.

Delusional. You cannot "correct" people and if you feel so superior to think you can and should, you need to take a step back. Leave them alone, the vast majority of them are not set out to be the next Jim Jones.