Care to give your own answers to those questions?Forty Two wrote:Should it be with contempt? Should religions be ridiculed and mocked?
What are the arguments for and against that?
1) Yes. At least since the age of Enlightenment anyway.
2) Depends on what aspect of it is addressed. For instance, Genesis is just asking to be mocked. "Do unto others...", while not particularly original, is laudable.
3) For: i) Millions, or perhaps billions of believers feel better for the belief that there is life after death. ii) Fear of divine punishment probably stops some people some of the time from doing some things they know is just wrong. It's not the best of reasons to refrain from doing wrong, but it does reduce its incidence.
Against: Religious views on abortion, homosexuality, the whole issue of sex, contraception. Hindu and Buddhist fatalism. Sharia. Theocratic tendencies. ... I don't know where to even start.