When do you believe "right to beliefs" crosses the line?

Question

One of the favorite arguments among the opponents of homosexuality is "I have a right to believe what I want to believe." The question is, what is considered a belief, and what is crossing the line?

Today in my LGBT/Straight alliance meeting at my college, we were discussing issues when it comes to "beliefs". Beliefs about LGBT people, beliefs against and beliefs for LGBT people, and beliefs about where LGBT people stand in society.

One of the things that was brought up, was a story where not too long ago, a father murdered his son because he was g*y in our area. When police arrested him and asked him why he did it, he said, "My son was g*y and I hate q****s." When the officer told him that that isn't an excuse for murdering someone, he replied, "Why are you trying to get me to accept homosexuality? I have a right to believe what I want to believe, don't I?"

To me, that was a very ignorant statement. Then we were talking about how, in our schools, g*y and L*****n students are harassed because they are homosexual, and many times, disciplinary action is not carried out on the grounds of "the students had deeply held beliefs".

My question for all you fine people (who care to answer seriously) is, when do you think defines a belief and when do you think a "belief" crosses the line?

Answer 1

My US Government teacher once said "Yes you have your rights, but your rights end where my nose begins."

You can have all the freedom you want, you can believe what ever the fudge you want to. But as soon as your beliefs start infringing on my freedoms, that is when we have a problem.

As for the case above, when you break the law you give up your rights based by that law. The father killed his son, he violated his son's right to life. Now he does not have the right to believe what ever he wants to, he gave that up when he killed his son.  

Answer 2

My favorite color is blue, while my sister's is green.

I am right-handed, while a niece is left-handed.

I am sexually attracted to the same-s*x, while most of my family is sexually attracted to the opposite s*x.

Most people prefer the color blue, but that does not make me any better than someone who likes green.

Most people are right-handed, but that does not make my niece wrong for being left handed.

And just because I am sexually attracted to the same s*x does not mean that my rights should be determined by the beliefs of another person.

I don't tell others which colors they should like or which hand they should write with...  and others should not tell me whom I am supposed to love.

If a person does not believe in homosexuality, then they should not have s*x with the same gender. Their beliefs do not give them the right to tell others what to do. The father who murdered his son may have said "Why are you trying to get me to accept homosexuality? I have a right to believe what I want to believe, don't I?" but he failed to realize that his son had the exact same right to have his own beliefs.

Beliefs are what a person thinks is best for themselves, while rights are the freedom to practice these beliefs free from the intrusion of the beliefs of others.

Answer 3

I think I can safely say murder and physical abuse is crossing the line. When your beliefs harm someone physically or emotionally, that is the line. Hurting someone's feelings is not the line. We hurt people's feeling all the time, regardless of the subject.  

Answer 4

A belief crosses a line when it becomes harmful to another person. People can believe whatever they want to believe, but they have no right to force their beliefs on others, nor to harm another person in the name of their belief.

Belief is not an excuse for a hate crime.

The fact that disciplinary action is not taken against discrimination is ridiculous and unfair to those being discriminated against.

I'm sure n***s had very deep beliefs... and their mission was to purify their society. Our society isn't helping its own cause through discrimination by "belief."

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P.S. Sign this petition for marriage equality:

http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/...