WE are being asked by the powers-that-be to respect religion.

Ought we to do so? The answer hangs on us making an important distinction.

Of course, all liberal-minded people ought to respect the right of others to propagate any view, provided that it is not a direct incitement to violence. It emphatically does not follow from this that we should necessarily respect the actual content of all such views.

It is in no way contradictory utterly to condemn, mock or parody religious beliefs and yet to defend the right of the believer to propagate and practise his or her religion. Of course, attacking or parodying religion, or denying "deeply held articles of faith", may, and probably will, cause offence.

But the mere causing of offence ought never to be punishable by law or in any other way.

I am frequently offended by the bigotry, irrationality or hypocrisy of "true believers" but my sense of offence doesn't justify my attempting to censor or punish the offenders (nor should they try to censor me).

Toleration means allowing others freely to express their opinions. But this does not entail that one should remain cowardly, uncritical or mealy-mouthed in the face of irrationality and error.

This is all the more necessary to state, when, as now, freedom of expression is under threat not only from the religious, but from the very government itself.

Keith Dixon,

St Hilda's Street,

Sherburn,

Malton.

Updated: 11:25 Saturday, February 11, 2006