I received the following in response to my previous post on Bill Donohue (Bill Donohue’s Crazy Crusade):

My biggest problem with you is that you claim belief systems deserve no respect. If that is the case, then you will forgive me for not respecting your belief system, and for not respecting you for having that belief system. [mechwarrior88]

Dear mechwarrior88,

In your effort to turn my own words against me you seem to have utterly failed to appreciate those words in the first place. Let’s break this down.

First, I did not claim that belief systems deserve no respect. Here is a direct quote of what I stated in my previous post:

“absurd beliefs, no matter how many people believe them, do not deserve any respect from rational individuals”

Thus, I did not say that belief systems deserve no respect. I said that absurd beliefs deserve no respect – more specifically, beliefs that cannot be backed up by any evidence. This is a very important difference. Throughout this entire “controversy” over consecrated hosts being “abused,” Catholics have insisted over and over again that such abuse is wrong simply because they “believe” that those crackers are the actual body of Christ. Because they “believe” this outrageous claim, the implication is that we should respect it. However, nowhere are these same Catholics presenting any actual evidence for their claim. My argument, therefore, is that we should not feel any obligation to respect such a belief until actual evidence can be presented.

Secondly, you claim to not respect my belief system but you do not indicate what exactly that belief system is. Atheism is not a belief system. Atheism does not necessarily make any positive belief claims. As an atheist, I do not believe in any god or gods, but that does not mean that I am making any claims about them. I am certainly not making any claims about magically transforming food products.

Finally, you say that you also do not respect me. Perhaps I should call your attention back to a key part of my previous entry:

“Neither Catholicism nor Islam as belief systems deserve any respect. People deserve respect and consideration.”

Beliefs that cannot be demonstrated to be true by any evidence and that are on the face of it quite absurd do not deserve respect. But I can separate the belief from the individual. Individual people deserve respect as fellow human beings unless they cross a criminal line or otherwise do something to damage that respect. Even if I do not respect your beliefs I respect your right as a person to have those beliefs and talk about them.

Could it be that a mere atheist has the moral high ground here?

You might want to think about that.