The Independent: Johann Hari on oppressive religions

29 January 2009  

In yesterday’s The Independent Johann Hari had an excellent article describing why he doesn’t respect oppressive religious ideas, or indeed any religious ideas that can’t be backed up by that little thing people like me like to call “reality”.

The meat of the article:

All people deserve respect1, but not all ideas do. I don’t respect the idea that a man was born of a virgin, walked on water and rose from the dead. I don’t respect the idea that we should follow a “Prophet” who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn’t follow him.

I don’t respect the idea that the West Bank was handed to Jews by God and the Palestinians should be bombed or bullied into surrendering it. I don’t respect the idea that we may have lived before as goats, and could live again as woodlice. This is not because of “prejudice” or “ignorance”, but because there is no evidence for these claims. They belong to the childhood of our species, and will in time look as preposterous as believing in Zeus or Thor or Baal.

When you demand “respect”, you are demanding we lie to you. I have too much real respect for you as a human being to engage in that charade.

But why are religious sensitivities so much more likely to provoke demands for censorship than, say, political sensitivities? The answer lies in the nature of faith. If my views are challenged I can, in the end, check them against reality. If you deregulate markets, will they collapse? If you increase carbon dioxide emissions, does the climate become destabilised? If my views are wrong, I can correct them; if they are right, I am soothed.

But it’s worth reading the whole thing.

  1. I disagree with this, some people are not worthy of respect as people but only as humans []

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3 Responses to “The Independent: Johann Hari on oppressive religions”

  1. Personal Failure on January 29th, 2009 6:06 pm

    I really try hard not to defaith people, but honestly, why won't some people just leave the rest of alone? Is it that hard?

  2. nullifidian on January 30th, 2009 12:29 am

    Probably because they're convinced that their magic books tell them that they have to go out and make other people believe the contents of their magic books, annoying the shit out of the rest of us in the process.

  3. askegg on January 30th, 2009 1:03 am

    What a great read! Thanks for the link.

There's probably no god.  Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.