It's not your beliefs I respect. It's you.
Some people believe(d) Athena sprung fully formed from the head of Zeus. What would it mean to respect that belief? Am I supposed to say I find it plausible? I don't. Am I supposed to protect your feelings by keeping my skepticism to myself? Because I don't apologize for doubting Athena's birth myth... or the immaculate conception of Jesus... or that predatory lenders will face karmic consequences for their inhumanity.
But follow me below the orange design - which any pastafarian could tell you is an abstract depiction of the FSM in loving contemplation - and I'll tell you what I can offer you.
1. Courtesy. I may not respect some of your beliefs. I may find them downright silly. But I'll be as nice about that as I can be. No unnecessary roughness.
2. Recognition that you're your own person. I won't blame you for the acts of some other theists. I won't ask you to atone for things other people have done to me. I won't be all chilly until you demonstrate you're "one of the good Catholics" or whatever the case may be. If you say something ignorant, then I may form judgments of you on that basis. But I won't do it just because I find out you identify as a Catholic. (In a similar vein, a few Muslim terrorists have not dominated the way I relate to Islam and to every single Muslim in the world.)
3. Supporting you in sharing sincere beliefs. If you think I'm going to hell, you can go ahead and say that out loud. If you think God intended every man to marry a woman and vice versa, that's fine. I'm not saying I want to listen to your beliefs for any length of time, or that I won't have opinions about them. But I won't say you're wronging people by voicing your beliefs. I won't pressure you to hide or change them, in the interest of protecting anyone's feelings or keeping the peace.
4. Making space for you. As a progressive atheist, I expect to work together with a bunch of theists, other atheists, and everything in between. So I'll do what I can to make our community a welcoming place for all of us. If someone's making it un-welcoming, I'll confront them. If some political campaign or event isn't inclusive, I'll push for that to change. If I'm not doing a good job of making space for you, I'll listen to your feedback about that. And so on.
Now, sometimes these 4 commitments may be in conflict with one another. If your sincere belief is that everyone's delusional except you, and we're all to be pitied for it, that's all well and good. But if you broadcast that 24/7, guess what. That doesn't make for a welcoming community for the rest of us. So, in my efforts to make a welcoming space for all of us, I may tell you to quit taking up so much space.
This doesn't mean I've suddenly betrayed #3, "Supporting you in sharing sincere beliefs." It means I'm treating you like an adult who's responsible for what you do and the consequences that will have for others.
Thanks for reading... We now return you to your previously scheduled programming.