When someone begins a statement with ‘You’re entitled to your opinion’… the actual message there is usually something like this: that they feel perfectly entitled (by their beliefs) to shut you up. The real translation is ‘I know you’re wrong, and though I hold the superior position, I will be kind to you.’ This kind of muted condescension is at best insulting, and at worst, egregiously false.

(Made obvious today by Sonia Roman’s reply to my post on ‘God, Religions, and the Difference’).