Reply #54: Often times, people confuse "respect" with "accept"

[varkam]

in that if their beliefs are rejected, then somehow they are not being respected. I consistently reject pretty much all metaphysical belief, but I fully respect everyone's right (my own included) to be wrong, wrong, wrong. For instance, if you want to believe that all wind is caused by a giant eagle sitting atop a mountain at the north pole flapping it's wings (as was the viking belief, I think), then I respect your right to do so - but I might just think you're a fucking loon (apologies to anyone here who does actually believe that).

Also, as Heaven and Earth posted, I think people get too tied up in letting their beliefs become who they are such that if their beliefs are threatened, then they are too. For my money, I don't care what you call me - atheist zealot, scientific fundamentalist, that I have no morals, that I'm emotionally lacking because I don't have a personal relationship with Jesus - whatever. I'm fine with that because I welcome challenges to the things I believe because they don't comprise who I am as a person. I guess that's why I don't really have a problem with my beliefs being rejected by others, because I realize that it's not a rejection of who I am.