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 | Anon: "Religious tolerance is not religious indifference. It consists of valuing the right of another person to hold beliefs that you know absolutely to be wrong." |
| Anon: "Religious tolerance means to refrain from discriminating against others who follow a different religious path. Tolerance is more difficult to maintain when you know that your religion is true and their religion is wrong." |
| Bumper sticker: "Truth, not tolerance." Published by Harbor House Gifts of Fullerton CA. The bumper sticker also shows a clenched fist on the left side and a cross on the right. An interesting combination |
| Paul Copan: "Contrary to popular definitions, true tolerance means ‘putting up with error’ - not ‘being accepting of all views’…It is because real differences exist between people that tolerance becomes necessary and virtuous." "True for You, But not for Me" |
| Robert Fleishmann: "When it comes to fundamentally wrong behavior (called "sin" by the Word of God), there is no tolerance. Wrong is wrong!" |
| Hagar: "My son, always respect and honor the other fellow's point of view. Unless it's different from yours, of course." From his comic strip on 1999-MAR-3. |
| C. Everett Koop, former U.S. Surgeon General: "The American ideal is not that we all agree with each other, or even like each other, every minute of the day. It is rather that we will respect each other's rights, especially the right to be different..." |
| LuQy posted on: Unexplained-Mysteries.com's forum:... religious tolerance is basically the capacity one possesses for recognizing and respecting the beliefs of others." |
| REL Guy, posting on an Amazon.com forum "What is wrong with Christians?:" I find tolerance based on the intolerance of intolerance intolerable." |
| David Odell-Scott, professor & chair of the Philosophy Department at Kent State University. "We
value tolerance as a virtue. Yet, consider tolerance from the perspective of
the person being tolerated. Have you ever been tolerated? Or had someone say
to you that they can just barely tolerate you? The experience of being
tolerated by another – doesn’t feel like the one tolerating you is virtuous.
“
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| Many more quotes are available about religious tolerance and on religious intolerance. |
Summary:
"Religious tolerance" is a tricky phrase that leads to a great deal of misunderstanding. It is one of many religious terms that have multiple, conflicting meanings:
| To many religious conservatives, a religiously tolerant person must accept the concept of pluralism -- that all religions are equally true. 1 Most find this quite objectionable, for good reason. If you believe that God is in the form of a Trinity, you cannot accept as trute the concept that God is a unity or that God is not a personal deity. |
| To most religious moderates, religious liberals and secularists, a religiously tolerant person simply allows others to pursue their own religious beliefs and practices freely, without discrimination or oppression. This includes the freedom to change one's own religion, to assemble with other believers, and to proselytize others. Most find this a badly needed addition to culture. |
We use the second definition on this web site. Unfortunately, this means that some religious conservatives will find this section difficult to understand. Our site receives many angry Emails for this reason.
In our religious essays, we treat beliefs and actions differently:
| We are tolerant of people's theological beliefs. We advocate that others be tolerant as well. |
| We are critical of actions which harm people. We advocate that others be similarly critical. |
Unfortunately, the concept "actions which harm people" is not well defined. It leads to a question whether it is acceptable, and even preferable, to harm a few individuals in order to avoid a larger harm to the society as a whole.
Religious tolerance does not require you to accept other religions as true.
Religious tolerance does not mean that you cannot compare one religion with another, or compare religion with a secular belief system, or analyze the scientific claims of a religion.
Religious tolerance does not necessarily mean religious indifference.
We feel that the world would be a much better place in which to live if everyone were religiously tolerant. Civil unrest, mass murder, and genocide would be greatly reduced. However, tolerance is only the first step towards actively enjoying the diversity that other faith groups contribute to a society. Unfortunately, it is a step that many people have yet to take.
Topics in this section:
| Overview and definitions of "Religious Tolerance" |
Related topics on this web site:
You may be interested in viewing the following sections dealing with the opposite of religious tolerance:
| Religiously motivated hatred, animosity & intolerance |
| Religiously motivated oppression, discrimination and conflict |
| Religiously motivated violence, murder & genocide |
Amazon.com found the following books in their inventory that discuss religious tolerance:
If you see a generic Amazon.com ad, please click on your browser's refresh button.
Footnote:
- Unfortunately, the term term "religious pluralism" also has at least two meanings: One is that all religions are considered equally true, when interpreted within their own culture. Another is as a synonym for religious diversity. North America is religiously pluralistic in the sense that its citizens follow many different religions. It is not religiously pluralistic in that most citizens regard their own religion as the only true faith, and all others as at least partly false.
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Copyright © 1998 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2008-AUG-10
Author: B.A. Robinson
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