People are free to believe any wacko shit they want to, right? I mean, what the hell, the universe is big, and there's all kinds of crazy things happening, and well once you get your head around the idea that we evolved from bacteria, just about anything seems possible.
But when we talk about respecting others "faith," what we really mean is we tolerate people holding some really stupid, crazy ideas in their heads, and that these folks somehow think that by believing this crazy shit, they somehow get a ticket to some exclusive club where all the other good dead people go because they also believed that crazy shit too.
Some of the crazy shit includes: there's a god, a great overseer who gives a flying fuck about what we do, there are virgin births, rising from the dead, re-incarnation. The usual stuff. Then there's additionally wacko shit like Mormonism where people believe that Jesus walked around in America, Joseph Smith dug up a book buried by an angel, there is special underwear that will protect you from harm (we're not talking Victoria' Secret, are we?), men should take multiple wives (okay, supposedly they've retired that one).
Most "faiths" profess that if you don't believe what the other freaks believe, you are fated to burn in hell for eternity.
Now that's all well and good, but when we have politicians who are vying for a pretty damn important job, wanting us to take them seriously, do you think maybe we should call them out on some of this shit? And what about how some of these same bastards have demonized a religion (Muslims believe some crazy shit too, but I guess there are levels of crazy here, right?) and well if you're holding some crazy ass ideas in your head, doesn't it compromise your ability to condemn someone else's crazy ass ideas?
UPDATE: Exactafuckinzakly!