"Those who ridicule them, ridicule all those who hold those stories sacred."

This statement which could apply to science too, but there are those on this forum who have denigrated the work of scientists. People of honest intent who strive to make the world a better place by seeking to understand it for the common good all the people of the human race regardless of their religious belief, political opinion or the nation they belong too. I guess the difference is scientists expect to question and be questioned, whereas religious folk see questioning (and piss-taking) as a personal assault on their beliefs; I can understand this to a degree though as we all become defensive when our own worldview are questioned and I can find it hard to be objective when dealing with (or example) religious extremists.

Also, not all religions are the same. Comparing the revealed religions with those of many indigenous people is false equivalence. The more naturistic belief systems (such as those held by the aboriginal folk of Australia or the First Nations people of the Americas) emphasise humankind as needing a deep respect of the land as common treasury and a profound and personal interconnectedness to nature. This rather than the far more simplistic, "dominion" that the god of desert tribesmen gives to his acolytes and separates them (in their minds) from all other life on the planet; that is a dangerous, destructive and profoundly misguided idea.