Is It Rude To Question?

This is a question that I first came across reading Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion. He asked why is it that you can question everything that someone believes, aside from their religion? You can question why someone believes a certain political, economic or moral point of view, but when it comes to the question of why they believe in a certain deity, well that's just not done, it's impolite. Why is it that asking someone to support their assertion of a supernatural power is off limits, when everything else is on the table? Personally, I think this taboo has emerged due to the lack of any evidence of these gods. You can rationally debate politics, (though it is getting harder these days) But when it comes to religion, there is no rational justification for these beliefs, and to someone who considers themselves an otherwise rational person, this can poke a rather large hole in their beliefs. So I think it's become rude in this day and age to question religion dues to the embarrassment these questions create.

Now, I say it's considered rude to question people's religion, but that's not strictly true. Really it's only considered impolite to question the beliefs of people who subscribe to the major religions. It's perfectly acceptable to question those who believe in Zeus, Ra or Enki. In fact most major religions scoff at these so-called lesser religions and will constantly call into question their validity. So just to get this straight, in today's society, it's okay for a christian to question the faith of a worshipper of Athena, but it's not okay to in turn question the christian's faith. Seems rather hypocritical to me. If you're so confident in your faith, shouldn't you welcome questions, rather than avoiding them by creating a social stigma around asking why?

To illustrate my point, let's take smokers. In our democracy we allow people to smoke. It's been proven beyond any doubt that smoking is extremely dangerous to your health, yet we believe that people should be able to smoke if they so choose. That being said, smokers are one of the most ostracized members of society. It can be argued that while not as dangerous as smoking, religion has been responsible for countless acts of violence and murder. If we can call someone to task for smoking due to its dangers, shouldn't we question religious folks for the exact same reason?

In our world there is so much that you can get away with simply by claiming religious belief. Women can be beaten for showing skin in some Muslim countries, yet if the same were to happen in a secular society, it would be a criminal offense. And let's not pat ourselves on the back for living in a more open minded culture. In most western countries we allow Christian Scientists and Jehovah's Witnesses to get away with refusing medical treatment to their children due to religious beliefs.

These are behaviors that would outrage any among us if a secular person were to display them.
I think it's time to hold all religion up to the same scrutiny that we do everything else. We don't accept medication on faith alone, we require rigorous testing to prove that it's safe.

Isn't it about time we did the same with religion?