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Is it possible to respect someone while also maintaining that they're an idiot?
I think it is possible. Although I acknowledge that it's not entirely obvious.
Surely, if the words didn't have any meaning for you, then you wouldn't have written them?
Someone can have an idiotic belief and not be an idiot. I don't think that's a particularly complex concept either.
I'll allow myself a little bit of exaggeration and hyperbole. I've learned quite a bit from the Christians on this forum - surely y'all can handle a poke or two now and again.
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I think it's entirely possible to respect someone while maintaining that they have an idiotic belief. If its one quite so central as this, offense is obviously going to be taken even if the writer means it as a much smaller remark. More generally though, I have close friends that I certainly respect who I think have utterly idiotic ideas about nutrition, spending policies, cars, sports, and more. Arguing that Kobe Bryant was a greater basketball player than Tim Duncan is an absolutely retarded view, but I can still respect someone that's a Kobe fanboi.
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