Things I dislike, the first.
In what may end up a being a recurring feature, I will now describe something I dislike and explain why.
#1: People who are self-righteous about morality.
You know what I hate? Self-righteous Christians.
I also hate self-righteous Muslims and Jews and [Insert religion here].
You know what I hate just as much? Self-righteous atheists.
In general, I hate it when people try and force their own views of morality on someone else.
No person can ever fully understand the situation that another finds themselves in. Without really knowing this, how can anyone preach morality? To open a controversy, what a woman does with her child is her concern, and no one has the right to preach to her of damnation just because they saw her at an abortion clinic. What if, for example, that woman would almost certainly have died during childbirth due to a medical condition? This example may lie towards the extreme end, but the validity of the reasoning is sound.
In addition, nothing gives someone the right to make others believe the same as them. The freedom of ideas is what keeps our society alive and evolving, and morality is just a another idea. Archaic ideas from a two-thousand+ year old book, or more recent ones from a two-year old one; both of them are valid ways to look at the world, and people have the right to believe in them.
That is not to say that people shouldn’t be able to debate morality. I’m probably the last person who would argue against a good debate. But the debate must be respectful.
If one side of the debate decides that the other’s belief system itself isn’t worth being debated against, if one side condemns the other not for its ideas but for its [origin/name], then nothing of value can ever be achieved. Just insisting one’s views are the only correct way because I said so and that’s that, anyways you’re just a god-hating hellbound atheist is detrimental to both society and the people involved. (As a note, substituting “delusional [denomination]” for “hellbound atheist” would be just as bad.)
Then again, this opinion is part of my personal code of morals… Maybe I’m being a bit self-righteous myself.
I agree. People need to stop approaching an argument from the “I’m right, I need to convey that” point of view to the “I want to listen to what this person has to say” point of view. Unfortunately, our society is a binary one, where two sides must fight each other.
Piper said this on August 8th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Well said - er, typed. I think I’ll subscribe to your rss feed =)
Andy K said this on August 8th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Everything is a matter of perspective and motive. It would be a lot easier if everyone were just a lot more open and accepting of ideas different or foreign to them.
Jeremy said this on August 10th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Amen, brother.
Renee said this on August 25th, 2008 at 9:35 pm