No, You're Wrong., >:-( Options

Anybody else here getting tired of the people who always want to say that you're wrong?

The "above average" student who tries to use science to debate whatever they can.
The religious zealot who uses arguments such as "Well, you're going to hell. That's just the harsh reality of it."
Or maybe just the goddamn skeptics who like to deny the existence of anything above them simply because they can never get enough proof.

Makes me freaking irate.

We should all do something about these people. Any suggestions? Maybe organized genocide? Mass marginalization and eradication? War? LOL. (It's funny cause those are all basically the same thing.) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rofl.gif)

But no really. Something ought to be done about people like this. Maybe we could start a movement to pass a bill making it illegal to deny another person's beliefs, so that a person has to state that it is only their opinion. I mean really it should all be categorized as hate speech anyway. If I started saying in a public building that all Mexicans were shit, I would get arrested. Yet Christians can stand around in their Churches and belittle the beliefs of others, simply because the people who founded this country were Christian. ...They were also white. And isn't it more wrong to verbally assault someone for their beliefs than for their heritage? It's "Oh, Buddha was a fatty and you're going to hell" as compared to "I dislike you because your people have social standards that most of the rest of the world would imprison a person for."

Am I making sense to you guys? I'm saying that it's one thing to assault a person's heritage, but quite another to assault their beliefs. Yes, it is all marginalization, but one has some degree of rationale behind it (unless you're a hateful inbred).

And I was soooo not serious about starting a holocaust. I'm just making a point in the best way that I can at the moment, and would ask that the moderators not freak out over it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Vagrant, I would appreciate your normal in-depth critique.

Many fascinating ideas articulated here and it's really a conversation that can't be had in full through message boards. One idea that really isn't touched on is the difference between a person of belief and a person of want. For instance, in the bible belt there are certainly people of belief, but there are also a great many people of want. What I mean by this example is thus: religion is the perfect vehicle for which a bigot might look themselves into the mirror and say you're a good person. There's a flip-side to this of course when one is able to seed that religion is a gateway to the divine; christianity is a traditional path that has been given a poor rap one way or the other due to it's mainstream popularity.

Now when it gets complex, the majority of religious people are unable to question. Furthermore, many religious people don't actually know how to read. When I say this mean they can't be critical of what they read, this point is touched upon by Vagrant Dreamer. All those people who are unable to utilize their critical nature then become caught in a cyclic explanation that has so many rises and falls that it becomes simple to stay within a plain. If we're talking about religion, it was always meant to elevate, whether it does or not is largely dependent on the person.

As for people who are constantly dismissive of all other arguments, one can look at one main idea. Does the person mock/ridicule/dismiss off-handedly the ideas presented? If so, the person telling you are wrong is just another in the long line of people who have learned enough to do harm, the harm being done mostly to themselves of course. I just want to make the statement that belief shouldn't be confused with 'the blind following the blind' which can very much become a problem within religion even when there's a leader of great voice and steadfastness.