Not Alone: Food for Thought:

Friday, January 20, 2012

Food for Thought:

Is it possible genuinely to respect a view or perspective while rejecting it and opposing it? If a view or belief or perspective is genuinely respected, will it not be accepted as valid and true?

2 comments:

Canadian Atheist said...: You said: Is it possible genuinely to respect a view or perspective while rejecting it and opposing it? If a view or belief or perspective is genuinely respected, will it not be accepted as valid and true?

Yes, I think you can respect a view or the person behind the view while disagreeing with them. For example, there is another religious blog I like to visit and while we disagree, he wrote a very nice blog entry thanking me. I've written email debates against believers I have a lot of respect for and the main thing we both got from the experience was that we had a civil debate and we mutually respected each other.

I don't have to agree with your ideas on religion. I don't because to count them as true, I would need some evidence. That doesn't mean religious people ever give me food for thought or help me understand something better.; 1/20/2012 9:55 PM
Not Alone +++ PAS said...: This question was presented as “food for thought,” as a rhetorical question. However, since a comment has been made, I will explain.

No one argues against what one holds to be worthy of respect. If one counts a view to be worthy of respect, that accounting is based upon the perception of view’s validity. Otherwise the view is counted as invalid and something to be discounted and discredited.

To argue against a person’s view and then to feign respect for that view is to show disrespect to the one against whom one is arguing. It is the equivalent of treating the person as too stupid to realize that the view is being disrespected.

Changing the meaning of the terminology so as to attempt to validate the pretense of respect is even more disrespectful.

This disrespectful manner has become commonplace today. People apply a false definition to many terms today in order to try to gain a foothold for their own position. Unity is commonly falsely treated as agreeing to disagree. Tolerance is falsely treated as acceptance. Fellowship is falsely treated as communion.

The addition of a conditional phrase overturns the respect declared. For example, “I respect your opinion, but . . .” There are no buts at the end of respect. Respect follows through to the very end without any buts.

If one truly respects one’s opponent, the person will speak honestly regarding disrespect for the opposing view. Pretense is not respect.

Unfortunately, many people today believe in honesty by degrees. It is insane to think thus, but many people imagine it to be possible. Then this dishonesty is applied to most everything.

The greatest disadvantage from this false perception is to the one holding it. For if one imagines that honesty is by degrees, the truth can never be embraced and one can never even trust oneself.

On this account, if someone argues against my view and yet claims to respect it, not only do I know that person to have no genuine respect for me, but I also know that person does not respect self. The word of such a person will always be suspect.; 2/04/2012 4:17 PM