Hating Beliefs
My brother has lately reentered the world left behind by Ayn Rand1. Within nearly any discussion of Rand is small current of annoyance. If the conversation is being held by Philosophers,2 the current is akin to an undertow: it quickly drags you under and drowns you in what can best be described as distaste and frustration at her ideas and philosophies.
I can understand that. Rand was as arrogant as humans can be and held a system of beliefs that was unflinching and unpopular. But a large number of Philosophers go so far as to claim that Rand was not one of them: she was something other than a philosopher. The artistic equivalent is saying that something is not art. Needless to say, tempers flare.
Classifying Rand does not interest me. The negative and spiteful response to her does. In some of our other discussions, my brother talked about Christopher Hitchens3, Richard Dawkins4, and someone else.5 These people are somewhat renowned for dogging after Religion and its Beliefs. I think the appropriate term is "anti-theism."6 The Theists2 do not seem to find them very amusing. And the zealots rush forward to defend their God and are subsequently slaughtered in debates.
Not that I am here to defend or support either group. That does not interest me.7 What does interest me is how people can hate an idea. People hate Rand's ideas. People hate the idea of God. People hate the idea of hating God. What I find extremely tragic is that people take it one step further and hate the person because of their ideas. It is not enough to through Rand out of the Philosophy Club: they hate her too. People do not simply disagree with each other about the supernatural: they hate each other about it. Granted, the latter is almost understandable. Some Beliefs basically require you to hate someone else.
I asked my brother if there was such a thing as an immoral belief. Beliefs can be wrong, as in, false or untrue, but is there a belief that is literally immoral to hold? Generally speaking, morality seems reserved for actions we take; things we do because of our beliefs. But it is plausible to hold a belief and not act upon it.8 Assuming that action is not a necessary by-product of belief, can a belief be immoral?
If so, why? If not, why hate the beliefs? Why hate the person who holds a certain idea? Why should anyone be hated because they believe in God? Because they vote Democratic or Republican? The simple, idealistic answer is that we shouldn't. But we do.
I never understood why people get so worked up over someone holding a different or contrasting belief.
1: Author of books such as "Atlas Shrugged"; "The Fountainhead" and the more-or-less creator of Objectivism.
2: By which I mean anyone who labels themselves as this.
3: He does a lot. Most relevant for this article: he wrote "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"
4: Dawkins writes stuff, including "The God Delusion".
5: Okay, there were two others. One I do not remember and the other I am not going to mention because I think it is funny to deliberately snub him.
6: Which is not to be confused with "atheism." The distinctions between the two are mostly useful for amusing jokes and deliberately pissing off one or the other group.
7: Well, it does, but only in the sense that I just like arguing with people.
8: Uncharitably, they are called hypocrites. Semantically, there are issues with that.
I can understand that. Rand was as arrogant as humans can be and held a system of beliefs that was unflinching and unpopular. But a large number of Philosophers go so far as to claim that Rand was not one of them: she was something other than a philosopher. The artistic equivalent is saying that something is not art. Needless to say, tempers flare.
Classifying Rand does not interest me. The negative and spiteful response to her does. In some of our other discussions, my brother talked about Christopher Hitchens3, Richard Dawkins4, and someone else.5 These people are somewhat renowned for dogging after Religion and its Beliefs. I think the appropriate term is "anti-theism."6 The Theists2 do not seem to find them very amusing. And the zealots rush forward to defend their God and are subsequently slaughtered in debates.
Not that I am here to defend or support either group. That does not interest me.7 What does interest me is how people can hate an idea. People hate Rand's ideas. People hate the idea of God. People hate the idea of hating God. What I find extremely tragic is that people take it one step further and hate the person because of their ideas. It is not enough to through Rand out of the Philosophy Club: they hate her too. People do not simply disagree with each other about the supernatural: they hate each other about it. Granted, the latter is almost understandable. Some Beliefs basically require you to hate someone else.
I asked my brother if there was such a thing as an immoral belief. Beliefs can be wrong, as in, false or untrue, but is there a belief that is literally immoral to hold? Generally speaking, morality seems reserved for actions we take; things we do because of our beliefs. But it is plausible to hold a belief and not act upon it.8 Assuming that action is not a necessary by-product of belief, can a belief be immoral?
If so, why? If not, why hate the beliefs? Why hate the person who holds a certain idea? Why should anyone be hated because they believe in God? Because they vote Democratic or Republican? The simple, idealistic answer is that we shouldn't. But we do.
I never understood why people get so worked up over someone holding a different or contrasting belief.
1: Author of books such as "Atlas Shrugged"; "The Fountainhead" and the more-or-less creator of Objectivism.
2: By which I mean anyone who labels themselves as this.
3: He does a lot. Most relevant for this article: he wrote "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"
4: Dawkins writes stuff, including "The God Delusion".
5: Okay, there were two others. One I do not remember and the other I am not going to mention because I think it is funny to deliberately snub him.
6: Which is not to be confused with "atheism." The distinctions between the two are mostly useful for amusing jokes and deliberately pissing off one or the other group.
7: Well, it does, but only in the sense that I just like arguing with people.
8: Uncharitably, they are called hypocrites. Semantically, there are issues with that.