I've got my own set of beliefs about most things, and I believe that I have very good reasons for having them. Other people have different beliefs, and I believe that they are wrong, but that they have their own reasons for those beliefs, which are good enough for them. So I respect those beliefs, as long as those others don't try to stop me acting in accordance with my own.

And this is where it starts to get complicated. Some of my beliefs clash in serious ways with those of other people. We have many discussions, often fairly rancorous, about the the various expressions of these... Vin Garbutt and abortion was one recently.

The problem is that certain beliefs seem to leave no middle ground. Some in the Catholic Church (it's the official line; many who style themselves Catholic do not follow it) believe that all abortion is a crime and an obscenity, regardless of the circumstances. Many others agree with me that to force a raped woman to carry the foetus to term is itself a crime and an obscenity.

There are many other friction points like this; for example, the position of so- called "apostates" in Islamic communities, social customs like forced marriage, the status of science education where this clashes with revealed religion; and so on.

Generally, the beliefs which I find it hard to respect involve people coercing someone to do something against their will, and it's easy to mount the moral high horse here. But hang on... there are many cases in which I am the one who wants to make someone do something they don't like, or stop them doing something they want to do. Radical genital mutilation? I'm against that- even when it seems to be undertaken voluntarily. Educate your child according to your beliefs? Not if that means indoctrinating the child that non- believers are hateful.

So what I am waffling about, is that I want to have respect for other beliefs, but I also want that respect to be mutual, and that those with different outlooks must be prepared to consider "in the bowels of Christ" that they may be mistaken.

We need to achieve this, if pluralistic societies are to survive. The question is, how do we go about it in the face of so much intransigence and hate?