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I think the most respectful thing you can do for a person is to tell them the truth, even if they won't like it.
Every time you see a fat person walking down the street, do you feel compelled to announce "Hey, you are fat." just because it's "the truth"?
No but nor do I yell "Hey, you have a mental disorder!" at passing nuns just because it's the truth. If it comes up in conversation though, you can bet your ass I'll give it to them straight.
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Again, I don't espouse any particular religious views, so don't try the old "aggravate the christian" routine on me. It simply won't work. However, what I am talking about is COUTH. Respect. You know ... live and let live.
People don't respect it when a schizophrenic believes that there's an alien in the sky watching him and in fact, to do so would probably cause much harm; why do they act differently when a Christian tells them likewise? "When one person suffers from a delusion, we call it insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion we call it religion." "Naturally, anyone who shares such a delusion does not recognize it as such."
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There is a time and place for such things, and like it or not, we do live in a society that allows freedom of religion. And yes, you do have freedom of expression. You CAN say whatever you want, but at times, you may want to evaluate your motives for saying certain things, with a certain tone, in certain settings. With freedom comes responsibility.
We are entirely determined by a combination of environment and biology. What is, is and could never have been any other way with us still being around to see it. There is no free will, only an unbreakable illusion that walks hand in hand with human consciousness. But, all that aside, you cannot laudably claim that what society approves of is automatically right, society once proved of slavery, oppression, female circumcision and any other number of things that I'm sure you find abhorrent; were they right? Do you believe we now live in a perfect society?
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All I am saying is that I respect the views of athiests, therefore I don't go around calling them nuts, stupid, or wrong. Can you say the same for your behavior?
I assume you mean my attitude toward Christians/the religious, in which case: no. I have no respect for religion and no tolerance, nor do I perceive this to be a flaw.
Also, as a response to one of your earlier posts: Muslims are religious nuts, they just tend to be less "in my face" than the Christians.