It’s not hard to imagine that people through the ages have given supernatural powers the blame or the glory for the phenomena outside their limited circle of illumination. The Vikings, the Greek and the Romans had pantheons full of gods for every occasion. Those belief systems are now a mere footnote in history. God and allah are merely the latest incarnations of man’s vivid imagination about that part of the universe he can not yet grasp. If reason prevails god and allah will be a footnote too in centuries to come. One can only hope.

Do Christians and Muslims deserve my respect because they have a belief system which I don’t share? I don’t think so. If over a billion of people believe that something is holy and true it doesn’t automatically make it holy or true.

People once thought that the sun revolved around the earth, and this belief was made into a religious doctrine because the bible states that “the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.” This doctrine was proven wrong and it has taken the Catholic church 400 years to somewhat come to terms with that, all the while demanding respect for a belief that is and was evidently false.

Science is slowly chipping away the foundation of most belief systems. The sun does not revolve around the earth? We concede, but the rest of our belief is truth. Creationism has no evidence whatsoever, and evolution has more evidence everyday? Let us adjust our views to give evolution a place in god’s creation, because the rest of our belief remains truth. For a logical mind, this kind of reasoning is maddening.

When we discuss any subject but religion, the discussion can be fruitful. Person A says this, person B says that, A states evidence, B agrees or disagrees. When we discuss religion however person A states something, but also informs person B: “You may or may not agree with me, but we can not discuss this any further because the subject is holy and very dear to me. If you attack my position you are not being respectful.” So person B has to shut up because person A has a belief system? I think not.

So if you are asking for respect, you can have the respect I give to any fellow human being. If you ask for my respect because you believe in something which you can’t prove to me, I just think you need a better flashlight.