The Myth of Religious Exemption

 "Now, I'm not advocating being adversarial for the sake of it, or picking fights with people's beliefs as sport, or bullying or intimidating people simply because you don't share their particular brand of faith. But surely, when those beliefs enter the public arena, when those beliefs pick fights with all of us by trying to control our lives, and the lives of our friends and families...surely that is the time to stand up and evaluate the merits of what, exactly, it is that is attempting to control us? People have the right to say and believe any hateful thing they like; but when they say it to us, when they try to govern our and our fellow Americans' lives based on it, I suggest that is the right – and duty – of fair-minded Americans to stand up for what is right, particularly in the political arena, without deference to “religious belief”: if it enters the public arena, it's fair game. If you would criticize someone for espousing the same viewpoint sans god, what is to stop you from criticizing it inside the god framework? Any belief publicized and used to further an argument is open to scrutiny. What difference does a supernatural element make?"

Very well said, from the blog Rachel's Hobbit Hole:

http://rachelshobbithole.blogspot.com/2013/08/deconstructing-belief-free-pass.html?showComment=1377745248484#c8310744978567386804