No Way!!!
Reader comment on item: An International Law to Respect Religion?
in response to reader comment: About secularism in this context

Submitted by Peter Herz (United States), Apr 2, 2008 at 19:44

Actually, I tip my hat to the Saudis for being up front and honest about this issue. Too much of what passes for "respect" is simply the shallow smarm of people who know neither the religion they profess nor the one to which they wish to show "respect".

I accept my religion (the Reformed Christian faith as set forth in such documents as the Westminster Standards and Three Forms of Unity), and while I am critical of much that goes on in my community, I see no point in adhering if I think my church's doctrinal standards are full of falsehood. Indeed, I would show myself an intellectual coward and a fool to remain if that were the case. But if I believe that Jesus the Messiah is God's last word to humanity, I must necessarily be critical of Rabbinic Judaism, Islam, Unitarianism, Mormonism, and a lot of other religions. I must also criticize faiths which believe in a "search for truth" when my religion clearly states that "The Truth" came seeking me. Now, this criticism requires that I recognize the image of God in the other guy, and does not permit me to throw bricks, spittle, missiles, or other such things in the course of my theological disputations; but it remains criticism nonetheless.

I can live with the Jew who sees me as a deluded follower of a false Messiah and the Roman Catholic who sees me as a heretic, and even the Muslim who believes that Jesus did not die on the cross to pay for my sin. But don't tell me that my criticisms are "hate speech" just for being critical--which is probably what our smarmy political elite, diplomatic community, and legal establishment will do with some sort of international law on "respecting religion".

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