You are completely right. The rights of the minority are to be protected in a democracy.
As far as democracy being treated as "holy" -- that is not the same as being a "god". Democracy is holy in a sense, in that it is a good thing.
Problem 1. As I said before, its "holiness" is often used to limit debate. As in the example of the Democrat claim that Al Gore should be president because he won the popular vote.
2. Like "Civilization", "Democracy" has two sides, a dark and a bright. When people say "Civilization" they think of great art, music, literature, science - which are indeed products of "Civilization". They think also of public safety, health protection, protection against the vagaries of fate, which are perhaps somewhat more illusory aspects of civilization. Om the dark side of civilization is: war and syphillus, as Edward Abbey would say, contagious disease in general, and, above all, TAXES. - The fundamental character of civilization, the forced division of society into a productive class that labors (redundancy intentional) and a nonproductive class that lives off of that labor.
I won't hold forth similarly on the dark side of democracy but simply say: from the point of view of the governing class, democracy is the cheapest means of oppression.