Why can't people respect other people's beliefs?

[kristleh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(baboyako &#064; May 18 2006, 08&#58;56 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
One of the facts of life is the desire of 20 year olds not to conform.

Another fact of life is that it&#39;s a rough ride.

The reason your parents thank God for the food on the table is because there wasn&#39;t always food on the table. When life gets tough, only God/Jesus/Allah/Buddah/.../etc/... can pick you up and put you back on the straight & narrow.

You don&#39;t know this yet of course [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img] it&#39;s part of growing up don&#39;t worry [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif[/img]
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I am aware of the fact that people at this age usually have this notion that nonconformity is equivalent to cool. But it is not always the case. My reason for not believing is not due to noncorformity but rather on psychological, sociological, scientific and philosophical ideas. I will not further explain because that is not the point of my post anyway. This will become a thread focusing more on why we believe and not why we should respect.

I may not be taken seriously because I am merely 20 but age is not related to emotional stability, intelligence, maturity, or whatever (except of course when we are talking about children). A man can be 46 years old and still be directionless. Some people never care to think about this. People were given the ability to think and analyze. It was not as if I woke up yesterday with these ideas suddenly popping in my mind. To make it all short, do not underestimate teenagers or young adult. And more importantly, people should respect other&#39;s beliefs especially with matters regarding religion and not try to force whatever their idealogies as the absolute truth.

[Pauldo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(kristleh &#064; May 18 2006, 10&#58;46 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
It was not as if I woke up yesterday with these ideas suddenly popping in my mind. To make it all short, do not underestimate teenagers or young adult. And more importantly, people should respect other&#39;s beliefs especially with matters regarding religion and not try to force whatever their idealogies as the absolute truth.
[/b][/quote]
I started to doubt &#39;the word&#39; when I was about ten years old, so it was not a teenage non conformity deal for me.

When they teach you Religious Instruction, about creating the world, Adam and Eve, breaking bread, parting the waters, the ark and all in one lesson, then basically tell you it is rubbish in the next lesson, such as physics, biology and history, what is a person supposed to believe?

My complaints fell on deaf ears in those days, and requesting excemption from religious brain washing was punished by extra math lessons and suchforth.

Some people just don&#39;t want to hear the truth. Some are scared to admit the truth. Others just need to believe in something to get by from day to day. Really, if you have no promised &#39;heaven&#39; to go to when you die, what else is there in some peoples miserable and directionless lives to keep them going?

[kristleh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pauldo &#064; May 18 2006, 10&#58;06 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I started to doubt &#39;the word&#39; when I was about ten years old, so it was not a teenage non conformity deal for me.

When they teach you Religious Instruction, about creating the world, Adam and Eve, breaking bread, parting the waters, the ark and all in one lesson, then basically tell you it is rubbish in the next lesson, such as physics, biology and history, what is a person supposed to believe?

[/b][/quote]

Darwinian theory was never included in any of our high school science subjects due to the school principal&#39;s belief that this might affect our faith. I have heard this also happened in some other schools. In my opinion, the witholding of information was a form of manipulation and oppression. Whether Charles Darwin was right or wrong, at least we could have had an opportunity to study it and decide for ourselves. Of course, students should have read other sources of information if it can not discussed in class but there is a tendency for students to uncritically accept whatever was given by the teachers. The problem with people is passiveness. The problem with the educational system (esp. in elementary and high school here) is the use of spoon-feeding technique.

Pamphlets were given to the student body in our high school every now and then, telling the students not to listen to this band or not read this book (like Harry Potter as according to the school, it promotes witchcraft). If you do not comply, your possessions will be confiscated and so on. If you are part of another religion, they will try to convert you to Protestantism and they rarely hire Roman Catholics as part of the faculty. My alma mater does not seem to have a concept of tolerance and respect.