News1 min ago
Belief
If I think someones beliefs are totally illogical why should I respect them.
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by phaloides. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I think you should respect someone's beliefs, no matter how odd ir illogical, simply because a person's beliefs are an inherrent part of what makes that person who they are - you cannot separate a facet of someone's personality and decide not to respect that part of them, if you repsect the person in all other ways.
I could never say "I think Jim's a great guy, exccept for his Nazi sympathies ..." or "Julie is a really nice person, I love her to bits, except when she starts on her Animal Rights bandwaggon ...."
Beliefs, by definition, are logical to the person that holds them, and you must either accept they way that person thinks, or not, but respecting is not the same as agreeing, or ignoring, or tolerating, it does mean respect for the individual to think as they choose. That is a cornerstone of freedom, and should be defended.
On the other hand, wasn't it Voltaire that said, "I may disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it"? So, in line with that missive, I can disagree with members of the Flat Earth Society for their "information content" but it has nothing to do with respecting them. Remember, a lot of people are probably misinformed on various subjects, but they are only professing what they've been told/read/inherited.
So, perhaps someone can define that term a little more precisely than the usual feel-goodism in the name of PC... In my opinion...
What I do object to is being judged in terms of others' beliefs and values. Being told I am a blasphemous sinner who has been corrupted and who will burn in hell because I go to see a show they don't want me to see.
Yet I don't turn around and tell them they're naive, gullible sheep for turning to christianity. That would be disrespectful.
Clanad I think you're using respect, of a person, to mean the same as admire; and I think it's less than that. One should be able to respect most people, rather than just a few, even if you find nothing admirable about them.
I think ali_alic was right first time: you respect their right to hold views different from your own... but not all views; there are some that, as andy says, you can never respect, such as some of the views that are expressed on the News section on AB. I can't respect them, or the people who express them.