We’re in the 21st century, and the vast majority of us still believe in an utterly and obviously fictional creator deity. Plenty of people, even in developed countries with decent educational systems, still believe in ghosts or magic (e.g. voodoo). And I–an atheist and a skeptic–am told I need to respect these patently false beliefs as cultural traditions.
Fuck that. They’re bad cultural traditions, undeserving of respect. Child-proofing society for these intellectually stunted people doesn’t help them; it is in fact a disservice to them to pretend it’s okay to go through life believing these things. We should demand that people contend with reality on a factual basis by the time they reach adulthood (even earlier, if I’m being completely honest). We shouldn’t be coddling people who profess beliefs that are demonstrably false, simply because their feelings might get hurt.
But they don’t have a right to have those beliefs politely accepted by the rest of us. That’s my point: I don’t think they should be. I’m not advocating for secularists to actively ridicule believers; I’m saying I don’t think the societal expectation should be that we just smile and nod when someone professes a belief that is patently untrue. There should be perhaps some eyerolling and gentle correction, but not bullying.
What about the belief that a male can become a woman (which is defined as an adult human female)? It seems that belief is being pushed onto the rest of us. It seems people only hold this true when its beliefs they disagree with.