don't have to respect those beliefs and I don't have to treat those beliefs as
if they're sacred.
I won't tolerate a snake in my home. If you're willing to de-fang the snake
so that it isn't a danger any more, then we can talk. But as long as that
snake can bite and is full of venom, I'm going to attack it. Because the best
defense is a good offense. I'm going to offend people with the things I say
and write, because people are often offended by the truth, and it can be a
hard pill to swallow when someone tells you that everything you've been
raised to believe is absolute fantasy. I know I was certainly very adverse to
that idea at first.
Just Think About It
So I want to leave you with a final idea, a little something to consider.
The KKK and Aryan Nation as well as the Nation of Islam are all federally
protected religious groups in the United States. They have parades and
rallies and are able to openly spread their message to all who will listen. And
the message these groups are spreading is hatred. Now, they have every
right to speak their minds, but I'll be damned if anyone is going to tell me I
have to just sit back and tolerate it. I don't have to invite them in my home.
I don't have to sit quietly while they pontificate on the virtues of hatred
wrapped in a religious cloak. I don't have to respect their ideas in the least. I
only have to respect their right to have and speak those ideas. Just as they
should respect my right to say with conviction that their ideas are pure
lunacy.
For me it boils down to a simple idea:
If I am tolerant of an ideology that perpetuates hatred, then I am complicit
in the acts of hatred that arise due to that ideology. It makes me a facilitator
and an accomplice, and I simply can’t accept that position. I won’t accept
that position. I don’t care how much good some religious people have done,
or how much some religious groups have contributed, as long as religion is
being used as a divisive tool against humanity and society as a whole, then
we are at odds with each other. Because quite honestly if I’m tolerant of this
insanity, it’s the equivalent of walking by a woman being raped and looking
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