Dr.GH
Posts: 2333
Joined: May 2002
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| Quote (keiths @ July 12 2008,14:05) | The reaction of believers to perceived "blasphemy" or "desecration" has long fascinated me.
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Other believers might concede that their God is unharmed by blasphemy, but complain that they are personally offended by having their beliefs mocked. To them I would point out the following:
1. Some people think your beliefs (whatever they are) are ridiculous whether they say so or not. Get used to it. If you interpret silence as tacit agreement, you are mistaken.
2. People have every right to believe in magic crackers, that Rev. Moon is God, that Xenu was our galactic overlord, or that John Frum will return to the islands with lots of cargo. They don't have the right to compel the rest of us to regard these beliefs as anything but risible, or to force us to mute our disdain. |
Does that distain allow you to disrupt a religious observance? Does that distain allow you to take church property?
Plus, I also wonder about the predictable reaction of believers- is it incitement to mess with their rituals?
Let's imagine that there is a child's birthday party in a public park- The family is deeply religious and they have their eyes closed in prayer. You are more wise than they are and so you dump the birthday cake on the ground.
You get arrested. It is as simple as that. If you get a good ass kicking resisting arrest, few courts would probably bother prosecuting the family members.
Edited by Dr.GH on July 12 2008,17:44
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"Science is the horse that pulls the cart of philosophy."
L. Susskind, 2004 "SMOLIN VS. SUSSKIND: THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE"
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