Is witchcraft a faith that deserves respect?

[Shadow Wolf]

I don't think anyone is hanging witches anymore. (Well looked that up and apparently some countries still do that, but not here) No one wants to target them with scorn or discrimination for their beliefs. You can believe the clouds are marshmallows and the moon is made of cheese. The big problem is when a fantasy belief is debunked by modern science and the believers try to hold up their belief as something equal to science. In my example a spell of protection and speed on a craft designed to carry you to the moon as opposed to a team of engineers.

Three things;
1) An Indianapolis judge ordered a divorcing couple, both Wiccan, to not expose their child to "non mainstream religions" even though both parents agreed to raising their child Wiccan.
2) You believe some things yourself that are false (as we all do)
3) Who the **** cares? Their beliefs are over all very benign and they aren't hurting or bothering anyone. If anything, they tend to not eschew going to the doctor and they don't shame sexuality. I'd rather people follow Wicca than a religion that includes the possibility of justifying murder.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

It is no more irrational that Christianity with its miracles and prayers for god to intervene. Why pick on witchcraft when it is no more irrational than other religions. Unfortunately it is also so misunderstood from preconceived and frank intentional deceiving information from the religion the persecuted those who were different. It is wrong to not respect it any more or less than any religious belief.

It depends on what people do with those beliefs. The beliefs of ISIS and the Taliban, for example, do not deserve respect. The average Muslim deserves as much respect as any other human, Boko Haram does not.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

One day science will be able to explain miracles too...

Evidence? If claiming that something can be done is as good as doing it, we'd all have Nobel Prizes!

Witchcraft basically says that ritual processes can change the nature of things, which is wrong and irrational

Ritual processes can change the mental states of people and mental states can change the nature of things. e.g.
Nash, C. Psychokinetic control of bacterial growth. Jnl Soc. Psi. Res. 51(1982) pp 217-21.

as Professor Gatto Trocchi says

She was an anthropologist and historian, not a scientist.

 

[paarsurrey]

Is witchcraft a faith that deserves respect?

What I get from the discussion is that
the superstitious , mythical and violent part of all religions , or non-religions worldviews should be discouraged and not-supported.

Regards

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

The point here is that intolerance of other people's religious beliefs has been the cause of more downright murder than almost anything else, except ambition to acquire land/power.

Failing to respect the beliefs of others is not intolerance. Oppressing them for those beliefs is, but politely considering them nonsense is not. It's actually a form of tolerance. Nobody has a right to expect more.

 

[dianaiad]

Failing to respect the beliefs of others is not intolerance. Oppressing them for those beliefs is, but politely considering them nonsense is not. It's actually a form of tolerance. Nobody has a right to expect more.

The OP wasn't simply talking about politely considering other beliefs 'nonsense.' The op was going considerably further than that. Indeed, was quoting from and agreeing with:

".....certain beliefs, since Enlightenment took place, don't deserve respect..and tolerating them is an insult to the values of the European Civilization."

There is no way that 'tolerating them is an insult to the values of the European Civilization' can possibly be equated with 'politely considering them nonsense."

In fact, the statement quoted in the OP put me VERY strongly in mind of the KKK, White Supremacy groups, the writer of 'the Protocols of the Elders of Zion," Farrkhan's "Nation of Islam," and the good evangelical Christians who figure that the mere existence of groups like Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are 'insults to Christianity."

I'm sorry, but rhetoric like that makes me very, very nervous.

 

[Bear Wild]

Is witchcraft a faith that deserves respect?

What I get from the discussion is that
the superstitious , mythical and violent part of all religions , or non-religions worldviews should be discouraged and not-supported.

Regards

The majority followers of witchcraft would agree with you. The violent parts of religions need to discouraged and not supported which is one of the main beliefs of the modern movement. Do not harm others.

 

[Bear Wild]

Failing to respect the beliefs of others is not intolerance. Oppressing them for those beliefs is, but politely considering them nonsense is not. It's actually a form of tolerance. Nobody has a right to expect more.

Failing to respect others beliefs is intolerance. You do not need to believe in them but should respect the fact that other people do have such beliefs. To politically call them nonsense is to pass judgement and invite disrespect that allows others show prejudice against those people. Since beliefs in Christianity can be seen as non rational then can we politically call Christianity as nonsense and not respect Christian beliefs?

 

[Politesse]

Is witchcraft a faith that deserves respect? No, because it is not a "faith", rather a blanket term for a great many practices in many different traditions. But aside from Christian prejudice, I see no reason to deny any or all of those traditions respect.

As for Trocchi, I don't wish to speak ill of the dead, especially when the manner of death was so tragic, but at least among her international colleagues her credentials were very much in doubt by the time she passed. Many liked her as a person, but her conspiracy theories and so forth about the occult were her bete noir, and led her to commit many ethical violations relative to her informants.

 

[Prestor John]

Nevertheless, it was a phrase I borrowed from an Italian anthropologist, Cecilia Gatto Trocchi with whom I identify a lot. She's a secularist like me. A rationalist like me. A fan of French Enlightenment like me.

Well...she basically says that certain beliefs, since Enlightenment took place, don't deserve respect..and tolerating them is an insult to the values of the European Civilization.

What is "witchcraft"?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

One day science will be able to explain miracles too...
Witchcraft basically says that ritual processes can change the nature of things, which is wrong and irrational, as Professor Gatto Trocchi says

Many Christian denominations believe the same thing.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Failing to respect others beliefs is intolerance.

Disagree. Intolerance doesn't arise until there is active resistance or oppression.

You do not need to believe in them but should respect the fact that other people do have such beliefs.

Why?

How does one respect a fact or a belief? That seems like a misuse of the word - a category error. Respect is reserved for people and other sentient creatures, not abstractions. Ideas one only holds or doesn't hold.

I accept (not respect) that the fact that the faithful have such beliefs, that they are entitled to hold and express them, and that they deserve to be treated civilly. Nobody is entitled to more. I feel free to consider various ideas unfounded and to disregard any claim that cannot be adequately supported, and to express those opinions at times. We are constantly disagreeing with the beliefs of the fundamentalists as well as the method they employed to come by them - faith. That in and of itself is not disrespectful or intolerant.

Since beliefs in Christianity can be seen as non rational then can we politically call Christianity as nonsense and not respect Christian beliefs?

I reject Christianity because there is insufficient evidence to do otherwise. It is a faith-based worldview, and I reject the claim that faith is a path to truth and knowledge. How can faith be a path to truth or knowledge when any idea and its mutually exclusive, polar opposite can be believed by faith, and at least one of them is wrong?

I think that most unbelievers here treat the believers respectfully, even when disagreeing with them and how they determine what is true about reality.