Tonight I stopped in to work briefly to get one or two things done before tomorrow, and noticed something sitting on my desk. It was a page from one of those daily calendars with little proverbs written on each day, that I had seen on the desk of one of my more religious co-workers. This one said something to the effect of:

There is much diversity of thought in my family. I have the right to my opinions, and they have the right to theirs. Inner Wisdom guides us all.

I agree that we all have the right to believe whatever we want. I'm against banning religion and forcing people to be atheist. That would make us just as bad as our opposition.

However, I also hold the right to voice my opinion that your "opinion" is unfounded, illogical, or just plain wrong. I do this not to try to take away your rights, don't misunderstand my intention. I do this to get you to scrutinize and question your beliefs, because I care enough to try and keep you from getting sucked into a scam.

Likewise, you hold the right to accept whatever I say or reject it. I'm not holding a gun to anyone's head.

A Republican who talks negatively about a Democrat's political position on a certain issue is not taking away anyone's right to be a Democrat, or vice versa. They're simply expressing their own point of view.

I wouldn't want to force someone to do anything. I'd much rather they abandon religion on their own terms.

So, yes, we do both have the right to our own opinions. That doesn't mean we can't let them butt heads once in a while and see which one eventually comes out the victor. As a matter of fact, in the interest of truth, we SHOULD. I could be wrong about this whole "no god" thing (as unlikely as it seems). I WANT SOMEONE TO PROVE ME WRONG! Not criticizing each others' beliefs is not going to get us anywhere.

[/rant]