There are many beliefs of others I will not adhere to.
However, having no respect for the beliefs of others is a first step toward huge problems.
Would anyone in their right mind walk into a building considered holy by someone else and spit on the floor?
I am referring to respect as far as conversation, not physical actions such as desecration. Also, to put yourself in physical danger is folly, so if you are where it is fatal to look a woman in the eyes, don't do it. But if that woman was visiting my country, I would look her in the eyes, and if she does not like that, maybe she should not venture outside her home.
Your viewpoint gives me the impression that it has been drilled into you that questioning someone's irrational beliefs, simply because the beliefs are "spiritual" or religious in nature, is taboo. I think if you analyze this proposition, you have to concede it is nonsense. If I came up to you and said that I believe the world is flat because that is the way I was raised, and it is very important to me to preserve this belief, you probably would not say anything, being the respectful guy you are, but you would dismiss me as a big fool, and if I repeated my claims in civilized society, I would me scoffed by less polite people than you, and my theory on the shape of the world be marginalized.
Yet if someone comes to you and says they believe that a cracker actually turns into the flesh of a man who died 2000 years ago, just because some latin words are spoken, you would respect this, and think this is all fine and good? And what if they tell you that you must participate in this ritual and many like it, or after you die, you would be tortured eternally in hellfire? Would you let this person teach this nonsense to your children, or would you demand some evidence before your kids are brainwashed in this crap?
This is what I mean by not respecting. If someone spews outlandish nonsense, you dismiss it unless that person has some good evidence to back it up. Why would you waste your time trying to "understand" it, unless you are some kind of anthropologist.
I understand that when traveling - when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Certain behavior is expected of a guest/tourist, and I am not proposing looking for trouble. I am arguing for a complete freedom of intellectual debate, with no topics to be taboo, just because they are "faith-based".
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