Because some people seem to be misinterpreting what I was saying in the last post, and even arguing against it by suggesting that I should have taken the position that I did, in fact, take, let me summarize my points in a few sentences.
The main point is that because I don’t feel like I can be objectively certain about things about which there is so much more that we don’t know than that we do, and which are incredibly complex even in their simplest forms, like religion, truth and falsity seem like poor measures of belief in assigning respect to them or their holders. What’s more important, then, is how people get to their beliefs, how they promote them and/or force them down people’s throats, and most of all, how they act.
So, I’m not arguing that we should respect blatantly false beliefs like flat earth, because these are blatantly false, but in most cases (e.g., the basic tenets of most monotheistic religions), “blatantly false” is an entirely subjective judgment. It’s better, then, to look at whether people believe them for honest, even if not carefully thought out reasons (most people don’t carefully think out much of anything), and whether the beliefs lead them to act ethically. If people are honest about their beliefs, they treat them appropriately given the level of reflection with which they’ve arrived at them, and their beliefs lead them to act ethically, then I think their beliefs are worthy of respect, as are the belief holders themselves. In fact, for the most part I only care whether people behave ethically (i.e., consistent with my basic, immutable values), because otherwise, the truth or falsity of another person’s beliefs won’t affect me in any way.
Oh, and one more thing: I don’t call “New Atheists” fundamentalists because they’re loud, critical, or what have you. Then I’d just call them loud and critical. I call them fundamentalists because I think the content of their beliefs, and the ways in which that content causes them to behave, is analogous to religious fundamentalism in many ways. Of course, I’ve explained that many times before, but every time someone gets angry about me calling them fundamentalists, they say something to the effect that just because someone’s loud and critical doesn’t make them a fundamentalist. Well, let me reiterate: duh!