Pete Stark (D-CA) "Comes Out"

Rep. Pete Stark has come out with a shocking confession: he's an atheist. The lawmaker is the first member of Congress to publicly announce their atheism. While this has made him the target of several attacks, I think it's important to realize one thing. No matter what faith (or non-faith) you choose to practice (or not practice) the most important thing to remember is that respecting someone else's right to believe what they want to believe is the only thing that earns you their respecting of your right to believe what you want to believe. That poorly structured sentence basically is saying if you don't respect my right to make my own decisions, I won't respect yours. Pete's beliefs should have nothing to do with his duties as a member of Congress and therefore should be a non-issue in the minds of his constituents and his peers. Yeah, right...