[quote] [quote]"We've all been brought up with the view that religion has some kind of special privileged status. You're not allowed to criticise it. And therefore, if you offer even a fairly mild criticism, it really does sound strident, because it violates this expectation that religion is out of bounds." [/quote]

This is an observable fact.
It's the same with other topics people are brainwashed to consider untouchable, such as patriotism. [/quote]

Interestingly, that is a local problem. Try being a patriot in germany, for example, and you'll most likely wake up in a hospital. But
what you're saying is quite generally true for democracy; even though it is a system far from being perfect we are not encouraged nor allowed to even try of thinking something new...