I bet you won’t see a sentence like that again? What am I going on about?
Anyone who follows atheism, even casually has probably heard “atheism is just another religion.” Anyone who follows creationism has probably heard “science is just another religion.”
Well, there’s a new (probably not that new) version of this being promoted by bigots. It goes like this.
You are being intolerant by not allowing me to dislikes gays.
and
Why don’t we treat both sides of this issue’s opinions equally? Some support it, some don’t.
And those sound reasonable (well, the second one kind of does). Just like someone thinks that we should allow both creationism and evolution in schools.
Here’s the problem.
One of these positions is advocating harm, the other is not. And it’s very tricky to figure this out. It’s not at all obvious, and people who don’t think about it (seemingly a large percentage of the world) will just use this as justification of their beliefs instead of actually thinking about their belief.
Should we be tolerant of a belief system that causes harm? One reason I like the pagans is that a lot of their belief systems revolve around a simple concept: “Do no harm”
Evil is hurting when hurting is not required. Is a doctor evil because he pokes you with a needle? Of course not. Is a man evil because he beats the crap out of you for being gay/atheist/Jewish/Japanese/pagan/etc? Yes.
Does creationism cause harm? Yes. It lies to people. It lies to them about the value and knowledge of science. It lies to them that a myth is somehow real.
Does hating gay people cause harm? Yes. Aside from the beatings and suicides, just not being allowed to be at the bedside of one’s love of the last 40 years when they are dying causes great harm. There’s no need for this harm. Therefore, in my mind, it is evil.
And evil should be opposed. Not “Evil”, Satan and all that crap. But the ordinary, all to common, evil caused by humans. Caused by intolerance, bigotry, hate, fear, power, and control.
The people on both sides of most of the social arguments today think that they are fighting evil. One side is fighting for freedom, for equality, for the right to no longer be harmed. The other side is fighting for their right to believe in a myth and force that belief on others.
That last phrase is vitally important, “force that belief on others”. If it wasn’t for that, no one would care. People would decide that they didn’t approve of something and then they would not do that thing. If someone doesn’t like homosexuality, they don’t have to be one. If someone doesn’t like science, then they can become a luddite. If someone doesn’t like freedom of (or from) religion, they can go live in a theocracy.
But don’t think that because one person doesn’t like homosexuality, that no one anywhere, ever has the right to be homosexual. Because one person doesn’t like science, don’t think that non-science is valid. Because one person doesn’t like freedom of religion, don’t think that everyone should have the right to restrict other’s rights.
Are we intolerant for not allowing people to be intolerant? I don’t think so.
Because the people who are intolerant, the bigots, the haters, the racists think that they have a right not only to think they way that they do (and they do), but that they can also force that belief on everyone else (and they can’t). If they are not stood up to, then they will happily bring us back to the age of feudalism (thinking that they will be on top of the food chain).
Harming others is simply wrong. Restricting the freedoms of people is simply wrong. Allowing harm to happen through inaction is wrong as well. The status quo is not enough. We cannot be a free society until everyone is actually free to do as they like, provided that they do not restrict others freedoms.
