I think part of the issue here with you and Jen seems to be over what should or shouldn't be respected here. It seems that for Jen, since there is no way to know for 100% sure whether a god exists, that moves it to the realm of opinion. For you, there is enough evidence that the lack of existence may as well be fact.
While I think it's definitely important to respect people's opinions on things that are a matter of opinion (whether movie X is good, whether you like cusine Y), for me this is not in that realm. I don't feel that I should have to respect the opinion of someone who decides that gravity doesn't exist and that our feet are magnetized, or someone who ignores the MOUNTAINS of evidence for evolution and still chooses to pretend that humans were created as-is, or people who believe that glittery unicorns exist. These are NOT matters of opinion.
Can you imagine what the world would be like if we had to respect everyone's "opinion" even if it flew in the face of scientific knowledge? "Hey, you can't walk across the street there, that's where the endangered Jibbaflob bug is nesting right now! They're invisible! OMG YOU'RE KILLING THEM."
Not to mention the implications this would have for the discipline of history (among others, I'm sure). We can never know EXACTLY what happened in the past, but evidence helps us get as close as possible. If we're throwing out all knowledge that we can't know with 100% certainty and just declaring such problems as matters of individual opinion...well, then, that just sounds really scary for history.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 03:27 pm (UTC)While I think it's definitely important to respect people's opinions on things that are a matter of opinion (whether movie X is good, whether you like cusine Y), for me this is not in that realm. I don't feel that I should have to respect the opinion of someone who decides that gravity doesn't exist and that our feet are magnetized, or someone who ignores the MOUNTAINS of evidence for evolution and still chooses to pretend that humans were created as-is, or people who believe that glittery unicorns exist. These are NOT matters of opinion.
Can you imagine what the world would be like if we had to respect everyone's "opinion" even if it flew in the face of scientific knowledge? "Hey, you can't walk across the street there, that's where the endangered Jibbaflob bug is nesting right now! They're invisible! OMG YOU'RE KILLING THEM."
Not to mention the implications this would have for the discipline of history (among others, I'm sure). We can never know EXACTLY what happened in the past, but evidence helps us get as close as possible. If we're throwing out all knowledge that we can't know with 100% certainty and just declaring such problems as matters of individual opinion...well, then, that just sounds really scary for history.