In a free society, people may be entitled to their belief, but they are not entitled to bigotry. To the bigots, this may seem like tyranny, but it's an absolute necessity, just like it is absolutely imperative that psychopathic murderers are kept off the streets.
People are what matters to me the most, and if they need their religion to cope with their struggles of life, then I'll defend their right to faith with all the might in my veins, no matter how many intellectual scholars speak ill of me.
Politics is not going to save this world, science and technology are not going to save this world, religion and spirituality are not going to save this world - what will is our understanding of which belongs where and to what extent.