Are the Religious Capable of Respect?

Isn't the entire point of monotheistic religion that those who believe in a particular religion are the only ones who will be rewarded in the afterlife and that all others will go to hell? Certainly, “polite” believers will not go out of their way to point that out, but it is very clear in their holy books that disbelievers are destined for eternal torture. If someone is required to believe that all but their co-religionists are hell bound, regardless of how ethical they are or how much they say they love them, I find it difficult to believe that such a person can treat “non-believers” with respect.

To quote truth-saves.com, “Most Christians are Moderate Christians, those who take the Bible in moderation. They tend to only treat select claims as truth, the claims related to what they are seeking answers on. Regardless they still claim the Bible, in its entirety, is the inerrant inspired word of an infallible god. Because of this they are still making it socially acceptable to act upon all of the Bible's claims as truth.”

I propose that when you, the polite, sane, moderate Christian claim that the Bible is the word of a god, you are guilty of giving intellectual cover and complete license to those who take the entire Bible at its word (instead of cherry-picking the nice parts) to enact its Neolithic dictates in all of their barbarity.

Underwood’s theoretical equations of religion development

Egyptian polytheism +local Canaanite customs +Zoroastrism =Judaism

((Hinduism – caste system) + Ancient Indian folk medicine and philosophy) + Late Classical Greek Philosophy = Buddhism

((Messianic Judaism +Buddhism) *Classical Greek Philosophy)^{Roman Political Organization} = Christianity

(Ancient Arabian Legends + Christian evangelism + Judaism)*Nomad Culture = Islam

(Islamic Prophetic Authority +Christianity)^{American Exceptionalism} = Mormonism

(Poorly written 1950’s style pulp science fiction + Cult of Personality + pseudoscience) * Islamic-like Prophetic Authority = Scientology

Of course the whole point of these statements would be that no religion is truly original. Even the Neanderthals had some sort of religion. Religion is demonstrably less the result divine inspiration than the barrowing and blending of preceding mytho-philosophical systems with modern (at the time) thought.

Like Christopher Hitchens said, Mormonism is just Scientology plus 180 years. But then again, Islam is just Christianity plus 650 years. They are all equally…unlikely.