1 : forbidden to profane use or contact because of what are held to be dangerous supernatural powers
2 a : banned on grounds of morality or taste
All of us have taboos, things that we think should not be done because of morality or taste. I think most of us have no problem calling Glenn Beck an odious moron, but would have quite a problem if our mothers, wives or children were called the same, regardless of the truth of the matter. The thing is, should we have taboos, or at least should we have as many taboos?
I posted the entire dictionary definition of the word taboo because I think the second part, what I am talking about, derives from the first part. The original meaning of taboo would have been the first definition, that of something being forbidden to be used because of its dangerous supernatural powers, curses and such. This is directly derived from perhaps the most visceral and powerful of human emotions, disgust. Disgust is important because it stops us from eating diseased meat and drinking poisonous water. It is as basic to us as flinching, another survival instinct. But people's brains make new connections, they expand the meaning of things, and this is what happens with taboos.
A culture associates wrong behavior with disgust in order to have consequences for that wrong behavior. In some cases this is clearly excellent, such as having revulsion for child molesters and other rapists. On the other hand, it isn't all that long ago that a young lady expressing an opinion on a political issue would have brought about reactions of horror, disgust and humiliation, often even from other young ladies. The question is whether the taboo is helpful or harmful.
There are a group of people called New Atheists. Here they are sitting around a table talking about basically this subject. What constitutes the difference between old Atheists and New Atheists? The difference consists essentially of the New Atheists being rude enough to say that they are Atheists. After all, what being an Atheist means is that you think all religions are wrong, and if you think they are wrong it would be a rather odd person who then thought that people should continue to be religious. Now, it is interesting to look at the characters of these individuals. From my point of view Christopher Hitchens is a deeply revolting personality, brash, pompous, contemptuous. Dan Dennett seems to be a charming person. It isn't the personalities themselves which are problematic is that it is a taboo to say that you are an atheist and therefore you think religion is wrong and people should stop it.
Right now there are probably readers of this blog who are uncomfortable with this point, that I write in here that their most important beliefs are nonsense. However, think about if I said that the best economic system is barter and so everyone should stop using money. It is a position that says that the basic system that we use, that we all believe in to a large extent is simply wrong and we shouldn't use it. But would anyone be offended if I said it? Would acknowledging that I had that position publicly be considered rude?
Then, consider the world in which I live. Any time I drive from one place to another there are public statements in the form of churches, often with literal statements in front of them, which tell me I am wrong about my basic beliefs on the subject of religion. If you travel around the world you will be hard pressed to find a place that doesn't have a building specifically designed to support the view that I am wrong, with symbols all around it, that is treated as more special than other buildings. Pretty much everywhere the opinion that I am wrong has special status.
Why I am I writing about this? It is because in my friend Dade's excellent and thought provoking blog he wrote a post stating "that Islam is not your enemy." Now, I do agree with the idea that Islam isn't in general a religion bent on invading everywhere and forcing conversions on people, although that certainly has been true in the past, as with Christianity. I don't think Islam makes you a terrorist and I think a mosque at Ground Zero is a great idea, if there are going to be mosques at all. But I do think that Islam as a religion has a set of ideas that they would like everyone in the world to agree to. I'm opposed to that because I think the ideas are wrong. I basically wrote this is a comment, which you can see at the link. So, I'm opposed to Islam. I want less of it because I think it is wrong. The following post to it said my comment borders on bigotry.
So, I say that I think Islam is wrong and I want there to be fewer Muslims and this makes me a borderline bigot. Why is this? Because there is a cultural taboo against Atheists. An Atheist is someone who is simply saying that they are opposed to the idea that there is a God. If I said I was against communism because I think it is wrong, and I want there to be fewer communists as a result would I have been called a bigot? Of course not. Now are the demonstrators against the "religion of the Devil" bigots? I think so, but here's the problem, if you are the sort of Christian who takes The Bible seriously, a false religion is of the Devil. So the people are bigots because they sincerely follow their own religion and tell people about it. The reason I think these demonstrators are bigots and why I am not is because I think my position has come about by reason, while the demonstrators' position has come about by unreasoned faith.
So, is this taboo worth it? Should we link our disgust emotional response with the statement by somebody that their beliefs are that there is no God so people should stop believing in God? Or would it be better if culturally there was as much right to say that there is no God as there is to say that there is a God? Clearly I think so. Part of the reason for this is because the taboo came about to stop people questioning and thinking about what they were told. I think thinking and questioning are important.
This doesn't mean that I think Christians and Muslims and so on can't be nice people, or you can't be married to them, or that they aren't smart, or that they are all going to kill people. Not at all, I just think Christians and Muslims are wrong, and since it's wrong people should stop believing in these religions. I think I should be able to say so without this being an offense, and without being thought of as a bigot.
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