Do You Believe Other People Have A Right To Follow Their Own Beliefs?

[Sir Winston Churchill]

I have a question for all of you. In your opinion, do other people who are not of the same religion as you (or believe in it in general for you Atheists/Agnostics) have a right to their own beliefs? Or are they, in your eyes, just wrong and should be apart of your religion or lack thereof?

For myself as a Buddhist I believe in all ways to attain Enlightenment, and believe that I could easily be just as wrong as the next person. So therefor I tend not to care what other people believe because I give them the inch that they may be right in the end, along with my own opinion everyone has a right to believe whatever they want to believe (so long as it's not harmful, like sacrificial satanism or something along those lines).

[Ciabhán]

Everyone has a right to believe what they want as long as that belief doesn't interfere with other folks.

[Col. Tartleton]

I have the right to make an ass of myself and everyone else has the right to tolerate it or else.

[boofhead]

They have the right to. But not to blow people up.

And most especially not to try and convert or tell my children anything about their religion until they are over 18.

[Ciabhán]

They have the right to. But not to blow people up.

And most especially not to try and convert or tell my children anything about their religion until they are over 18.

Pretty much the same as my view.

[Monarchist]

No, I don't believe that. Human beings do not have rights, because we discard them when we do evil. The only right I ever had was to live with God in Heaven, but I forfeited that right when I embraced my fallen humanity. The only "right" you have is to be converted to Christianity so you can live forever in Heaven. Opinions, as amusing as they can be, are not the basis of virtue!

[Ciabhán]

^ This is the kind of thing that were I Christian would cause me to immediately convert to something else just to be certain I didn't get stuck spending eternity with people who thought this way.

[Monarchist]

^ This is the kind of thing that were I Christian would cause me to immediately convert to something else just to be certain I didn't get stuck spending eternity with people who thought this way.

It's a shame, too, because Christ urged us to have conviction and zeal. We are to be spit out of God's mouth (figuratively) for being lukewarm. You don't leave an organisation simply because you think it's pushing your own beliefs too aggressively. Fulfilled Eternity is a place of great joy, where only people who have loved God enough to try to convince others of His glory live. Why would you not want to spend Eternity with people who love you and love the creator more than you can possible imagine? All true Christian missionaries do it out of love, not spite or the urge for power.

It's intolerance like this which has caused so much conflict in history.

I for one, although finding religion completely inane think people have the right to believe what they want as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others.

Yes, and I thought that too a while ago. Thankfully, some Catholics converted me with proper arguments! If only they had done so sooner (i.e. by mandate), I'd be much wiser than I currently am, in my ignorance. It ticks me off that no one forced me to learn the truth of God earlier, in love, charity, gentleness, and right reason.

Dude, what the ? (exclamation of shock, not trying to insult)

So you think that rights only apply to people when they follow your rules? That, my misguided friend, is the attitude that has made this world the cesspit that it is today.

Nonono, I'm saying there are no rights at all. God created us as His children; we are creatures, not anything more. God is so far and high above each of us, ontologically, that we might as well be slugs, by comparison. To say I believe in freedom of speech would be incorrect... I believe in freedom of speech for Catholics; that is, I don't believe in freedom of speech. I'm not a monarchist for nothing, you know. It takes all kinds!

To be clear: I don't believe in sword-proselytising. That's just silly.

[Biggreenfellow]

Nonono, I'm saying there are no rights at all. God created us as His children; we are creatures, not anything more. God is so far and high above each of us, ontologically, that we might as well be slugs, by comparison. To say I believe in freedom of speech would be incorrect... I believe in freedom of speech for Catholics; that is, I don't believe in freedom of speech. I'm not a monarchist for nothing, you know. It takes all kinds!

To be clear: I don't believe in sword-proselytising. That's just silly.

You don't believe in freedom in speech, only in freedom of speech for Catholics, but that means not at all... I'm not being funny here, you've well and truly lost me here.

Let me see if I get this: We do not have any rights, because we are so small in comparison with your God, we might as well be slugs. I could make a sarcastic remark here about how if we are slugs, your God, as our father, is one huge papa-slug. But I won't. I will say, that if I am a slug in the eyes of my father, I sure as hell will put on them jeans, grease my hair and fire up the rock'n'roll for some good old fashioned rebellion against my old man.

Your God might not deem us worthy of rights, but as human beings amongst ourselves, we have to establish rules, and rights, yes, in order for society to work. Civilised society, that is. We've seen in the Dark Ages how well things work if we give power of law (under which rights ultimately fall) to the religious folks.

[Ciabhán]

It's a shame, too, because Christ urged us to have conviction and zeal. We are to be spit out of God's mouth (figuratively) for being lukewarm. You don't leave an organisation simply because you think it's pushing your own beliefs too aggressively. Fulfilled Eternity is a place of great joy, where only people who have loved God enough to try to convince others of His glory live. Why would you not want to spend Eternity with people who love you and love the creator more than you can possible imagine? All true Christian missionaries do it out of love, not spite or the urge for power.

He was also tolerant of others even though he'd want to convert them. Rabid intolerance like you've espoused is not at all like the man you claim to follow. I wouldn't be leaving the organisation because it pushed it's beliefs but because it preached intolerance of other beliefs. Accepting that others have a different belief is rather important when trying to convert them to yours as evidenced by the absorption and adoption of pagan celebrations and rituals into your own religion. Just because your religion has muscled out others doesn't mean you should lord it over them.

[43rdFoot]

It's a shame, too, because Christ urged us to have conviction and zeal. We are to be spit out of God's mouth (figuratively) for being lukewarm. You don't leave an organisation simply because you think it's pushing your own beliefs too aggressively. Fulfilled Eternity is a place of great joy, where only people who have loved God enough to try to convince others of His glory live. Why would you not want to spend Eternity with people who love you and love the creator more than you can possible imagine? All true Christian missionaries do it out of love, not spite or the urge for power.



Yes, and I thought that too a while ago. Thankfully, some Catholics converted me with proper arguments! If only they had done so sooner (i.e. by mandate), I'd be much wiser than I currently am, in my ignorance. It ticks me off that no one forced me to learn the truth of God earlier, in love, charity, gentleness, and right reason.



Nonono, I'm saying there are no rights at all. God created us as His children; we are creatures, not anything more. God is so far and high above each of us, ontologically, that we might as well be slugs, by comparison. To say I believe in freedom of speech would be incorrect... I believe in freedom of speech for Catholics; that is, I don't believe in freedom of speech. I'm not a monarchist for nothing, you know. It takes all kinds!

To be clear: I don't believe in sword-proselytising. That's just silly.

You know, we tried this once, way back when. Turns out people do expect the Spanish Inquisition.

[Lysimachus]

No, I don't believe that. Human beings do not have rights, because we discard them when we do evil. The only right I ever had was to live with God in Heaven, but I forfeited that right when I embraced my fallen humanity. The only "right" you have is to be converted to Christianity so you can live forever in Heaven. Opinions, as amusing as they can be, are not the basis of virtue!

It's intolerance like this which has caused so much conflict in history.

I for one, although finding religion completely inane think people have the right to believe what they want as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others.

[Biggreenfellow]

No, I don't believe that. Human beings do not have rights, because we discard them when we do evil. The only right I ever had was to live with God in Heaven, but I forfeited that right when I embraced my fallen humanity. The only "right" you have is to be converted to Christianity so you can live forever in Heaven. Opinions, as amusing as they can be, are not the basis of virtue!

Dude, what the ? (exclamation of shock, not trying to insult)

So you think that rights only apply to people when they follow your rules? That, my misguided friend, is the attitude that has made this world the cesspit that it is today.

[Orko]

No. They're wrong.
People are not entitled to wrong opinions.

[Khassaki]

No, I don't believe that. Human beings do not have rights, because we discard them when we do evil. The only right I ever had was to live with God in Heaven, but I forfeited that right when I embraced my fallen humanity. The only "right" you have is to be converted to Christianity so you can live forever in Heaven. Opinions, as amusing as they can be, are not the basis of virtue!

See, that is why you should become a catholic, you can regain your virtue by telling the nearest pedophile who lives in a really big house that you are sorry and want to go to heaven.

[H.r.E.]

No, I don't believe that. Human beings do not have rights, because we discard them when we do evil. The only right I ever had was to live with God in Heaven, but I forfeited that right when I embraced my fallen humanity. The only "right" you have is to be converted to Christianity so you can live forever in Heaven. Opinions, as amusing as they can be, are not the basis of virtue!

Ya..sure..

[removeduser_4536284751384]

And most especially not to try and convert or tell my children anything about their religion until they are over 18.

I was mature enough to abandon my faith at 15.

[Vizsla]

There are people who have beliefs that, if followed, would result in them doing nasty things to other people.
These beliefs are bad and should be challenged. Harmless beliefs are perfectly acceptable.
Although I am unsure whether you should be allowed to refuse life saving medical intervention because you have strange beliefs.

[Ciabhán]

Although I am unsure whether you should be allowed to refuse life saving medical intervention because you have strange beliefs.

If you are an adult and have no documented history of disease which would make your decisions suspect then you should be able to refuse anything you like for yourself. If however you're one of those strange fundis who believe that some god will save your child if you pray enough and all the while the child is dying from something easily treated by modern medicine I'd say some intervention by authority is in order. Your choices are your own but when they blatantly cause harm to someone else you surrender your right to make them.

There are quite a few reasons I'd refuse treatment.

[The Dude]

People are entitled to their beliefs in that sense that they're free to pursue the question of whether what they believe is true or not. I've probably believed my fair share of things that I never bothered to question its truth of. Most people do that, and I think it's hard to intellectually justify believing anything on such a basis.

Beliefs are to be encouraged insofar as they contribute to a person's quest for truth. A bit abstract, I know, but that's how I see it. When a person comes to the conclusion that something they believed to be true is in fact not, they should be willing to abandon their position. I know this might seem like the obvious thing to do, but a lot of people simply try to reinterpret reality in an attempt to make it fit with what they want to believe.

So there's no real option in that poll to vote for, for me. Option 1, I guess, but it doesn't cover what I think entirely.