We’re hearing a lot about respect, especially now, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. This kind of respect seems more of a requirement than a request, just as a public display of grief by her subjects, for a woman who died at the age of 96, is deemed to be almost compulsory. I have decided that, as a mark of respect, I shall refrain from touching myself below the waist until she is six feet under.
We’re supposed to respect religious beliefs too. But if I really respected the tenets of Christianity, then I would be accepting Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. And if I really respected Islam, I’d be a Muslim. The fact that I can see, all too clearly, the faultlines of faith, is why I'm an atheist. I respect the right of anyone to have religious beliefs - this is what freedom of expression means - but I don’t respect the tenets of any particular faith. And I don’t care to be told what I must respect; respect, in both the religious and secular realms, should be earned, not demanded.
Licenced today: cottages overlooking the village green, in Groombridge, Kent…
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