DoubleoFive said
As a Christian, I appreciate your respect. I have my beliefs and even went to Bible College, but I'm not going to run around screaming that everyone else is wrong. I doubt many people have come to believe through picketing, yelling, and being holier-than-thou. Its all about relationships, not preaching at people.
But you think it, right?
Lets pretend for a moment that I'm a Leprechaunist. I worship Leprechauns. Each morning I wake up and do my devotionals over Lucky Charms, exchange my paycheck to buy gold coins so I may one day have my own pot of gold, and I beleive that anyone who isn't a Leprechanist is going to be tortured for all eternity by the Leprechaun from "Leprechaun in the Hood." I am also raising my children to be devout Leprechaunists, and don't want them to play with non-Leprechaunists or engage in any secular actvities that distract them from chasing the rainbow.
Coud you really 'respect' that? And if I genuinely beleived in that, could I be expected to 'respect' your ridiculous beleifs in science, YHWH, Ganesh, or The Force?
Picture the following:
DEVOUT FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIAN: Hello, I'm a Christian.
GODLESS ATHEIST: Hello, I'm an Atheist.
DFC: Well, I deeply believe that the nature of all creation dictates that you're going to burn in hell for all eternity for denying Christ, but I wont mention it, because I respect your beliefs.
GA: That's great, because I think you're a deluded fool basing your life on bronze-age mythology and 18th century revivalism, and backwards people like you are harmful to progress, but I'll let it slide because I respect your beleifs.
DFC: If I didn't respect you so much I might mention that God allowed 9/11 and Katrina to happen because of people like you. But I'm not here to judge.
GA: It's a good thing I have so much respect, otherwise I'd bring up all the suffering that religion has caused in the whole of human history and now. But I'm no bigot.
HINDU: Hey guys! I think you're both wrong on every single level, and will be reincarnated as worms because of it, but I sure do respect you!
ALL: Go respect! (group high five. curtain)
Are we actually talking about respecting beliefs, or do we mean "let's just ignore it because it's too fundamentally difficult to interact if we don't."
EDIT: I quote DubOh5, but this post isn't meant as a direct coment on his.