The five "R"s that probably inspired the invention of god and religion:

[smax]

The freedom to choose certainly is important, and I value that as much as you appear to. And, I'm okay with people having different beliefs and values so long as they don't harm others or prevent the same freedom.

However, it's been my experience and observation that religion simply cannot accept the same conditions.

Do you disagree?

There's no problem if theists keep their beliefs privately. It's when they try to bring these beliefs into public policies that we can't remain silent.

This is exactly how I feel. To use a fictional example of a type of religion that is non-intrusive, I would point to the Jedi in the movie Star Wars. The Jedi believe in a supernatural power, but they don't force (or even care) if anyone else believes in that same power, and they don't expect the government to create and enforce policies around their religious beliefs.

Buddhists, in general, seem to take a similar approach. They don't appear to have some hidden agenda of ridding the world of all other religions and non-believers. They appear to be comfortable and secure within their own beliefs.

The bottom line is, if religion does represent some sort of personal relationship with a higher power, then religious people need to stop trying to force it on others.

Simple as that.