I fail to see why I should be respectful of views that I find ridiculous or abhorrent, be they political, social,educational, OR religious beliefs....
I contrast that, however, with respecting a person's RIGHT to hold such beliefs...
Who said it...? "I find your views repulsive, but I will defend with my last breath your right to say it"...or words to that effect.....
Biggles, respecting someone's beliefs does not mean you must agree or embrace it. Nothing like that at all. respecting someone's religious beliefs means not doing *whatever* with the specific intent to offend or intentionally infringe on their faith. Please allow me a chance to explain this using myself as an example.
For example, a perfect one I feel, is my belief that eating pork is wrong. I base that on a number of scriptures in the Old Testament. Ok, no problem. Not like it's a major event. However, when I go into a restaurant and order a breakfast, I always have a choice of sausage or bacon. And those are...pork. I will ask if there is something they can replace it with, and either it's yes or no. When I worked in the restaurant/hospitality industry we could. A hamburger patty usually sufficed. Or better yet, turkey bacon. I never saw a need to add any extra cost to replacing the pork with something else (when I was cooking).
However, in that as a customer I have also dealt with waitstaff and cooks that would literally get upset or uncooperative. "Dude, it's just bacon! It's not gonna kill you and you're not going to hell!" is one such comment. THAT is being disrespectful. One truck stop I was even asked to leave, and that was later resolved (turned out the manager had at one time worked in the Coure d' Alene area and dealt with members of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian Identity that have a similar claim, and she was relieved when I assured her I am not of that belief). Many times it is merely a simply misunderstanding. Other times it's arrogance and laziness.
In some instances people may have requirements for their faith/belief that may seem unreasonable to us. Having a foundation argument in our opinion of unreasonableness depends on more of the inconvenience and expense of respecting one's faith.
Another example, is from back in 1995 when I was in college. One kid took note of my dietary preference, and he followed me around the cafeteria. I would sit at a table, and he'd sit there telling me that my presence at "his table" was offending his faith. So I got up and went to another table. He followed me and did it again. After the third table I threw the lunch away and filed a grievance with the dead of student life.
If that isn't a clear case of harassment, then I don't know what is. And in that case, yeah, that's very disrespectful.
Another example is if I am invited to a family BBQ and all they have is baby back ribs, which is pork, will I make such a demand? No. In that case I pray to Jesus and ask Him to forgive me. Was it Peter that said that it is not what we eat that makes us sinners, or something like that? In that case, which really did happen (back in 2005 & 2008), I have the choice of accepting the invitation or not. In the 2005 case, I kindly declined the invitation.
That is my view on the matter from my own experience. So I guess take it as you wish. However... keep in mind that depending on your circumstance and role, you could put yourself in a compromising situation. There are a variety of laws that may be used, such as the "Civil Rights Act of 1967" and the "Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act", are two excellent examples. And even if you are not a landlord or neighbor, the Fair Housing Act can also take a role.
In the end, respecting someone's faith does not mean you must like it, nor does it mean that you must agree with it. Just show the person respect.
