Religion is given too much respect

My opponent's points:Religion taken as a whole & What is religion? I agree with these points. Religion is a very broad term that includes Secular Buddhism to Extremist Islam. Buddhism being considered more of a "philosophy" than a "religion" and Extremist Islam killing others in the name of their god (Allah). I am not arguing that Religion should be disrespected, but not "respected" for the sole reason that it is a "religion". Internal Religious DisrespectAgain, this point I will agree with. Much of today's world conflict revolves around religion, this can be seen in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. You also can see a similar conflict in the United States close to the "Bible Belt" where Christianity is valued and other beliefs and views are rejected. Because a group is disrespected does not necessarily mean that they should, in turn, be respected to make up for said disrespect. External DisrespectAtheism is simply the lack of belief of a deity. Antitheism is the opposition of theism (the belief in a personal deity). Not all who lack the belief in a deity will disrespect religion. On the other hand, those who are antitheists generally will as they are in opposition to theism which makes up a large degree of what we consider "religion". My pointsFirst of all, I think it is important to define "respect" in order to get rid of any ambiguity that may exist. Respect (as a verb [1]): 1: a : to consider worthy of high regard : esteem b : to refrain from interfering with 2 : to have reference to : concern — re·spect·er nounRespect (as a noun[2]): 1 : a relation or reference to a particular thing or situation 2 : an act of giving particular attention : consideration 3 a : high or special regard : esteem b : the quality or state of being esteemedc plural : expressions of high or special regard or deference 4 : particular, detail — in respect of chiefly British : with respect to : concerning — in respect to : with respect to : concerning — with respect to : with reference to : in relation to I am arguing "Religion is given too much respect" with 1a of the verb form and 3a of the noun form. Religion, simply due to the fact that it is a "religion", is automatically highly regarded. A common reason we do this is that we do not wish to insult someone indirectly by insulting their beliefs. I do not believe this is a good reason to respect ones belief. These beliefs are passed on in the family, from one generation to the next. These beliefs were not the conclusion of an investigation of facts that exist in the world, but simply because the parents and/or friends believed the same thing. The respect that we give to religion is detrimental to societyUsually when someone is presenting information and incorrectly states a fact, they are promptly corrected and generally will learn from that mistake in the future, thus becoming wiser. It is "taboo" to do the same with a religious belief. This respect that we give religion causes more damage by being expected by the believer of said religion. When it is a social norm to respect religion, we are training society to accept the ignorance of others. If we had trained our youth to do the opposite and correct the source of this ignorance, this kind of respect would not be accepted and problems that have roots in religion would slowly fade away. If we were to quickly change our behaviour today, this would spark a massive amount of violence in the world and would simply put, cause war. The kind of change I stated above would require a very slow change to be effective. Respect for religion is self-destructive and detrimental to society because it respects ignorance of others and stymies progress. Resources:[1]: . http://www.merriam-webster.com...[2]: . http://www.merriam-webster.com...