[humanrebar]

> [Religion is] a matter of opinion and all opinions are in my book welcome to be challenged.

Religion is a strange word that means different things to different people. It's worth mentioning that whether God actually exists is not a matter of opinion. If everyone was omniscient, agnosticism would be moot. We'd all be atheists or deists.

With that in mind, the religious don't see God's existence as a matter of choice any more than someone's ethnicity is a matter of choice. In fact, many sooner believe they'd change their ethnicity before their relationship with their God (Galatians 3:28).

That being said, healthy challenge and discussion are good things.

[sheepdestroyer]

If you were right, apostasy would not be a thing. Obviously it is always possible, and it does happen, for religious people to stop being so.

Because of this, equating religion and ethnicity is can of wrong and (dare I say) "bigoted". You should think of people who are attacked because of their ethnicity (say) and as such touched in their inner human nature. That is the worse attack one could have to sustain.

Now, show me someone technically changing his ethnicity to keep its relationship to god, and I would admit that we live in a different reality than I thought. Of course they may not want to, but the possibility, therefore the choice, of apostasy, is always present. For anyone.

[humanrebar]

You're still not seeing reality as a believer would. It's not a matter of choice whether God exists any more than it's a matter of choice whether gravity exists. And, in fact, gravity could cease to exist before God could.

> ...it is always possible, and it does happen, for religious people to stop being so.

But it's not possible for people to wish God in or out of existence. It's easier to wish yourself into being a parent. Or married. Or disabled. But we protect those classes. And rightly so.

You mention inner human nature, but in Judeo-Christian teaching, humanity was created in the image of God (imago dei). To deny that everyone was not created in the image of God actually does attack their nature. Though Christians are taught not to retaliate in kind, it is reasonable for them to insist that others are treated with dignity and respect.

So there's a lot there, some of it subtle at first glance:

1. believers don't believe God's existence is a choice 2. God created us in His image so it is a question of identity and human nature 3. mature Christians aren't supposed to be offended if they are mistreated for their beliefs 4. ...and they certainly don't need codes of conduct since God will enforce justice at the end of time 5. though it's also good for Christians to make sure people are not mistreated because of their beliefs