No, they do not deserve respect for their beliefs. Nor does anyone have to respect mine. In this country we are only legally required to allow them to express and practice their religious beliefs. And I have the right to publicly say they are sick and wrong.

i see... so your right, and they are wrong... glad you clarified that for me... maybe you start a war or a fight over it, since you are so right. but you are a hypocrite, since you seem to think everyone has rights except for those you don't agree with...

Where's the respect for her beliefs???

i never said she was right or wrong, just a hypocrite... but read the post she responded to, and there is your answer.

She didn't ask for, nor demand respect.

"Respect" was your idea, so that makes you the hypocrite for not respecting her beliefs...

I respectfully disagree...
children are not born with hate in their hearts...NO!

We, the all knowing adults in their lives TEACH hate.
This kid is what 3 or 4? He is only love and his innocence has been taken away. This little boy probably has NO idea what a 'homo' is. He has just been taught it is a fellow human that is evil.
That IS teaching hate.

you didn't answer the question!

Hate, closed mindedness and xenophobia are major contributing factors to the survival of our species. Our societies may have outgrow their usefulness, but our genetics still make many of us naturally hate the unknown.

Not so long ago, strangers brought only new diseases or war. Most of our ancestors developed a natural closed mindedness and an aversion to strangers in order to protect our tribes. Additionally, our brains are only wired to manage close relationships with around 100 people. Another factor that limited primitive tribes in size and ensured that outsiders rarely found a warm welcome.

People who are open to strangers lack the necessary genes to protect the tribe from outsiders. Maybe you would have jeopardized the tribes survival, because you are so open to new things. Thankfully, the closed minded tribe members kept civilization alive, so that today, the norm is to be more accepting of different people and cultures.

Do you hate black people for being black? Tall people for being tall? If not, then why reject as simply wrong the naturally xenophobic people, without whom, we may not even exist today.

I'm not saying that we, as a society, need to hold onto xenophobia. I'm just saying that we need to see it for what it is, a survival trait that helped us get to this point, but is no longer as useful, rather than thinking of the xenophobic as purely wrong headed.

I hear ya.
I don't believe hate is natural, it is easier though, for some.

I disagree with this as well. Children learn hatred from their role models.

Respectfully, you are both wrong. Xenophobia, racism, fear of the unknown are all genetic survival traits. You can believe as you will, you can dismiss xenophobia's past benefits to society if you want.

You can disagree, spider. However, from what I've seen, children are taught to hate. Many learn it from their parents.

Can we just disagree or do we HAVE to be "wrong?"

There is no such thing as a bad Child, only bad parents.

Hate is not a natural emotion it is learned and mostly taught.

Love is a natural emotion...Love is a good thing.

The child in question more that likely hasn't a clue what homo means.

He thinks it's funny because the Air-Headed adults laugh.

What is really scary is the adults reaction in that video..

An individual that is homophobic is bad enough

but when there is a group gathered in the name of religion.. .....speechless

Hate says you're wrong, love says we disagree...

Unfortunately, yes. When the facts refute a hypothesis, those who hold to that theory are simply wrong. It's nothing personal about it, everyone is wrong from time to time. The research done in this field clearly refutes the belief that you have to be taught to hate those who aren't like you.

That's the nurture side and nobody is refuting that. My point is that most children don't have to be taught to reject "outsiders". Seriously, did you and Ladylid2012 go to the nicest grammar and high schools in the world? There were no cliches? There were no "outsiders" who were mistreated or avoided by most other students? Do you guys honestly think that all of that originates from the parents?

Just because you have interpreted some information somewhere to fit into your thoughts doesn't mean it's FACT spider.

Because you believe that one of us MUST be right and one of us MUST be wrong, doesn't mean it is..

But if you must make me wrong to make yourself right, so be it.
It doesn't matter that much to me.

Science cannot prove a theory to be absolutely true, but it can prove theories to be false. The evidence shows that children naturally mistrust and are fearful of people (particularly men) of other races. Children don't have to be raised to be xenophobic, they just have to be human.



Don't you think it's a bit disingenuous to play the "maturity card" and then offer a flower? If it didn't matter to you and if you did have philia or agape for me, wouldn't you have ended your post without the last three lines? I think so.

I'm not saying I'm right (although I am saying you are wrong), just that I'm more correct, because I'm on the side of the research.

I was trying to be nice spider...
take it for whatever you think it's worth.
I won't leave flowers anymore..k..better!