Beliefs - should they NEVER be criticized?

[Baron von Turkeypants]

You won't have eyes tonight. You won't have ears or a tongue; you will wander the underworld blind, deaf and dumb...

I think I read something in the God Delusion, an argument against not criticizing anyone's beliefs, but right now it's back at my home away from college and I can't find it. Can anyone paraphrase it for me, or come up with their own reasons why never criticizing another person's beliefs is wrong?

...and all the dead will know: this is Hector, fool who thought he killed Achilles.

 

[Theophrastus]

When I criticize a person's beliefs there are three reasons to it.

1 - I'm testing my own outlook to make sure it can stand up to attack and scrutiny.
2 - I'm showing them enough respect to suggest they do the same
3 - I'm providing other people an opportunity to hear and understand strengths and weaknesses to various world views.

In my eyes, criticism, when rational and well-founded, is a show of great respect to the one being criticized. After all, if what they say is true then it will stand up to inspection and I may get a chance to learn something new.  

[ProjectOmicron88]

I think "criticism" gets a bad rap, a bit like "argument" and "rhetoric", the meanings of which are not negative, as many believe them to be. I think as long as you maintain a polite and formal tone, you can criticize anything as long as you have a good argument to back it up. If people can't handle criticism, that's quite honestly their problem.  

[Levis Pennae]

I agree with ProjectOmicron88. Criticism is an important part of most human cultures. Criticism allows people to exchange ideas and impart ideas onto others, in a relatively peaceful atmosphere. When it is just the 'impart' part of it, it's a debate. When that debate goes to far between two or more powerful people or entities, it turns to war. Exchanging of ideas can turn into debates easily, because some minds will start to question themselves at certain ideas. Because the human mind does not like change, it becomes defensive and starts to fight the ideas and the source, the person.  

[Baron von Turkeypants]

You won't have eyes tonight. You won't have ears or a tongue; you will wander the underworld blind, deaf and dumb...

Levis Pennae

Because the human mind does not like change, it becomes defensive and starts to fight the ideas and the source, the person.

Oh boy have I found this to be true. I made this thread because I like going into guilds about paranormal s**t and starting fights with them. Most of their arguments degenerate into "god baron you're such a ******** douchebag a*****e" and I'm like "enuff with the ad hominemz lol"

...and all the dead will know: this is Hector, fool who thought he killed Achilles.

 

[Levis Pennae]

Yay, someone agrees with my made up stuff. And that whole example made no sense to me.  

[Baron von Turkeypants]

You won't have eyes tonight. You won't have ears or a tongue; you will wander the underworld blind, deaf and dumb...

basically they can't attack my arguments so they result to personal insults

...and all the dead will know: this is Hector, fool who thought he killed Achilles.

 

[_C r y s t a l_RB]

Constructive criticism is always nice. 3nodding Especially when I'm the one delivering it.  

[Levis Pennae]

Crystal E-B: I totally agree with that philosophy.

Baron von Turkeypants: Do you speak in such a way that you always leave yourself an out? Like saying probably and might a lot?  

[Baron von Turkeypants]

You won't have eyes tonight. You won't have ears or a tongue; you will wander the underworld blind, deaf and dumb...

When I use "probably," I use it in the correct sense - not like this:

Quote:

Your will can control your movements in the astral world, and if you seem to be going somewhere non-volitionally ('astral current') it is probably your true will causing it anyway. You might also experience heightened magical ability while in the astral realm.

I use it to actually show what probably is happening, not as a drop-in word to persuade my readers to my point of view.

...and all the dead will know: this is Hector, fool who thought he killed Achilles.