The other day, I got a question from a friend...

"Did you really say that you 'respect people too much to respect their beliefs', or something?"

So here's how that went (more or less):

"I did, yes. Kind of." I replied, grinning. "It's a quote from a guy called Johann Hari actually; 'I respect you as a person too much to respect your ridiculous beliefs' is what he said, I think."

"Isn't it a bit -"

"Mean?"

"Yeah..."

We both paused. I broke the silence.

"I don't think so.  There's a distinction, a line between disagreeing with someone and hating them... Put it this way; there's no reason to unconditionally 'respect' a belief that's, say, overtly homophobic or otherwise wrong."

'Wrong' raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, again, I respect each and every person's right to hold whatever beliefs they want, but that doesn't mean I have to respect the content of those beliefs."

"But... Don't a person's beliefs shape who they are?"

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