I don't have to respect your religious beliefs!

Ahem. Attention please! If I hear the phrase, "Well, you have to respect all religious beliefs" one more time, I think I'll scream. I decided to write this article to explain why I don't have to have respect for your religious beliefs.

Why are religious beliefs more precious than any other belief? Why do they deserve "special" protection, as if *gasp* they would ever be challenged. Let's take islam for example. Ever tried Googling "muslim riots?" Oh my. They call for the death of the pope because he made a statement about islam that was not flattering. Duh. he's a christian. If he had all that much respect for islam, he would convert to your religion. In Malaysia, muslims are burning churches because they dared to use the word allah. In Pakistan there is a small population of christians that are terribly persecuted, and have been thrown in prison falsely under blasphemy charges. They rioted and killed a man who made a video claiming islam is violent (go figure?) and 100 people died in riots over the Danish cartoonists. There are hundreds of examples of this type of intolerance. Yet there are so many PC types that still use the empty and tired cliche "Well, you have to respect all religious beliefs."

Respect is earned, it's not automatic. You can have any belief you want, it doesn't mean I'm "required" to respect it. You can believe little fairies are living under your couch, your dog is spying on you for the CIA, and have an imaginary friend that you talk to on a regular basis. I can accept that you believe that, but I don't have to respect it. I might laugh at you as well. In case you're wondering by now, yes, I'm agnostic. I don't think I'm better than you, or smarter than you. I just think that my beliefs are every bit as valid as yours, and no, I'm not going to ask you to have respect for them. So why ask that of me? I won't tip toe around your beliefs, and I don't think anything is so sacred that it can't be challenged. For those that do not want to be challenged, it's because they know their beliefs are weak and will crumble under scrutiny. I don't think all religions are equal either. One way I judge them, is how much damage are they doing in the world today. If you take out the 700 club, and evangelicals, it's probably christians that I like the best. That's based on the niceness factor. The doctrine is a lot of malarkey though. Anyway, that is my rant today. Sorry for wasting five minutes of your valuable life!