christian anime what!!!!!!!?

[Andromeda18_]

And to directly answer the quote, they don?t deserve respect because they are devoutly Christian, they deserve respect because they are human beings. Everyone deserves respect, until they do something not to. Having faith in something, yeah that?s not generally something that is going to take it away.

I think of respect for others in terms of 'innocent until proven guilty'. Basicaly I agree with what you said, "Everyone deserves respect, until they do something not to.". As far as religion goes, even though I'm an atheist, I respect people who aren't, but I have to admit I have very little respect for those preacher-like people who knock on your door or harrass you on the street trying to convert you. They're annoying and persistent as hell and even though I always dismiss them in the nicest possible way (honestly), I can't help disliking them. The same applies to people who aren't preachers, but treat you like a heretic once they learn you're not a believer, and go round and round trying to make you believe. As far as I'm concerned people can believe whatever they want but please, keep it to yourselves!

Yup, pretty much. But I've got to wonder sometimes what makes two people in similar situations, that were raised in almost identical situations, act so differently under certain circumstances? That's why life is awesome and fate and destiny are BS. I feel more free when I think about how life offers endless resolutions and that everyday I wake up, I can chose what I am about that day. I mean, you don?t even know the consequences ahead of time for sure when you screw up. Life is not random, but it is un expected?opps rant?

Well, I didn't mention this before because I didn't want my post to get to long, but studies with twins who lived apart since birth have showed there's more to one's personality than simple upbringing. In a documentary I watched about the subject they showed two sisters who had been apart since birth, had completely different upbringings, lived in completely different environments yet shared a number of similarities. They got married in the same day, with similar men, wearing similar wedding dresses, they chose the same college major, etc. These things don't exactly show similarities in terms of behaviour/values but they do show a similar taste, that they're alike when it comes to more unconscious actions. And then there are those very primitive biological "choices" we're not even aware of most of the time. Like men liking women with curvy figures because it's a sign of good health and fertility, that sort of thing.
It's also a proven fact that many criminals have abnormalities in their brains which were caused by being beat up repeatedly when they were children. What it means is that children who are victims of violence might turn out to be violent adults not necessarily because a bad environment turned them into bad people, but because of the brain abnomalities caused by the violence they were victims of (more likely because of both).
The way I see it our choices are influenced by all these things. I agree we make our own choices but we can't deny the constant influence of our genes and upbringing.