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Religious tolerance
Books dealing with intra-faith
& inter-faith religious tolerance

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Notes:
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Some of these books are specialty publications; a few are rather
expensive. However, they are often available used or surplus at much lower
prices from Amazon.com. |
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Quotations are taken from the Amazon.com web site. |

The rise of tolerance, mainly in the West:
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Ole Peter Grell & Bob Scribner (Editors), "Tolerance and Intolerance in
the European Reformation," Cambridge University Press, (2002). The book explains "...advances and declines in
tolerance and intolerance in Reformation Europe" between the years "...1500,
when northern humanism had begun to make an impact, and 1648, the end of the Thirty Years War."
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John Christian Laursen, Ed., "Religious Toleration: 'The Variety of
Rites' from Cyrus to Defoe," Palgrave Macmillan, (1999).
"This book brings to light a substantial portion of religious history by
reviving the heritage of toleration, and it is the first to juxtapose early
theories and practices of toleration in a global comparative perspective."
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John Laursen & Cary Nederman, "Beyond the Persecuting Society: Religious Toleration Before the Enlightenment," University of
Pennsylvania Press, (1997). This book studies the first indications of religious tolerance in Europe.
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Stephen L. Longenecker, "Piety and Tolerance," Rowman & Littlefield, (2000). "This book examines the influence of religion,
particularly Pietism, among Pennsylvania Germans during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries."
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Cary Nederman, "Worlds of Difference: European Discourses of Toleration, C. 1100-C. 1550," Pennsylvania State University Press, (2000). This book studies the sources of religious toleration in the Middle Ages.
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J.L. Taylor, "Bullheaded Black Remembers Alexander: The Story Of
Alexander The Great's Invasion Of The Middle East," Trafford
Publishing, (2004) This book describes the attempt by Alexander the Great to
promote freedom of religion and racial equality in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Asia
Minor, Persia and Bactria.
Read reviews or order this book See also the author's web page at:
http://www.bullheadedblack.com/
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Perez Zagorin, "How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West," Princeton University Press, (2003). Reviews the vicious
persecutions of minorities within European Christianity and the emergence of the concept of religious toleration in the 16th and 17th century.
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Multi-faith tolerance:
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Martin Forward, "Inter-religious Dialogue," Oneworld Publications (2001). "Drawing
on a wide array of sources, this accessible guide examines the past, present and
future possibilities of inter-religious dialogue." Read reviews or order this book
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Louis Hammann & Harry BuckReligious, "Traditions and the Limits of Tolerance," Anima Publications, (1988). "A fantastic
collection of essays and insight that really gets at the meat of how we balance individual belief systems and subsequent faith with holistic world views.
" Read reviews or order this book
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Nancy O'Meara & Stan Koehler, "The Cult around the Corner: A Handbook on Dealing with Other People's Religions,"
Foundation for Religious Freedom, (2002). "...this sensible guide addresses
the concerns that arise when a loved one joins an unfamiliar religious group." Read reviews or order this book
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Stan Koehler & Nancy O'Meara, "Tolerance 2000 : Practical Answers to Questions of Bigotry or Hate," Foundation for Religious
Freedom, (2000). "This book has answers to questions of what to do when someone you love joins a group you think you hate....This book is full
of practical answers, and examples that will enlighten and inspire."
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Richard &
Michele Steckel, "Faith: Many Beliefs, So Much in Common," Milestones
Project, (2007). The Bemis Public Library in Littleton CO wrote: |
They traveled the world "... photographing children who practice
their faith in many ways. ... The Steckels believe that if we learn more
about other peoples’ faiths, intolerance can be replaced with
understanding. Richard Steckel has an international reputation as an
author, consultant, speaker and photographer. His photographs were
recently exhibited in London where 120 leaders of religious
organizations met to discuss mutual cooperation. He and his wife have
also received recognition from Prince Charles for their work and in 2003
they received the global Tolerance Award from The Friends of the United
Nations." 3,4
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Steven Smith, "Getting over Equality: A Critical Diagnosis of
Religious Freedom in America (Critical America Series)," New York
University Press, (2001). "Smith delineates a way for us to tolerate and respect contrary creeds without sacrificing or diluting our own beliefs -- and
without pretending to believe in a spurious "equality" among the variety of diverse faiths."
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Richard Wentz, "Why People Do Bad Things in the Name of Religion,"
Mercer University Press, (1993). "Wentz deconstructs religion to its elements
and examines how fanaticism and wrong doing in the name of religion have
developed. The book explains how all humans are in some way religious and how
people allow that religiousness to be imprisoned within walls of their own
mind's making."
Read reviews or order this book |

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Brian Trent, "Remembering
Hypatia," iUniverse, (2005). This is a historical novel about Hypatia, a
woman teacher, inventor, and scientist at the Museum of Alexandria which was near or in
the Great Library of Alexandria. She was assassinated in 413 or 414
CE (sources differ) by a
Christian mob on orders of the Archbishop who was later made a saint.
According to Wikipedia, "Hypatia clearly lived during a power struggle
between pagans and tolerant Christians on the one side, and dogmatic
Christians who demanded the final destruction of paganism on the other.
Hypatia herself was a pagan..."
This event more than any other marked the descent of Europe into the Dark
Ages.
Read reviews or order this book
1,2 |
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Josh McDowell & Bob Hostetler, "The New Tolerance: How a
Cultural Movement Threatens to Destroy You, Your Faith, and Your Children," Tyndale
House, (1998). This is an interesting book which defines the "new religious
tolerance" as requiring that one accept all religions as equally valid. It
assumes that Christianity is exclusively true, and that all other religions are
false. Many reviewers at Amazon.com give the book a maximum, 5 stars, rating.
One writes: "A subtle reign of terror has descended upon America and
America's conservative Christians and few are prepared to endure, much less
counter the hate and pseudo-tolerance... sweeping our society." The rest mostly
give it the minimum rating of 1 star. One writes: "McDowell attempts to
convince that reader the tolerance of difference is the same as tolerance of
evil."
Read reviews or order this book.
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Graham N. Stanton & Guy G. Stroumsa (Editors), "Tolerance and Intolerance in
Early Judaism and Christianity," Cambridge University Press, (1998). This is a
rather expensive book which considers issues of tolerance and intolerance faced
by Jews and Christians between approximately 200 BCE and
200 CE.
Read reviews or order this book. |

Concerning Islam:
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Barry Van Driel, "Confronting Islamophobia in Educational
Practice," Trentham Books, (2004). "Contributors from the US,
Europe, Australia and Israel show how schools, teachers, and students
are coping with the stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination that are
building up against Islam and its followers."
Read
reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store.
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Khaled Abou El Fadl, et al., "The Place of Tolerance in Islam,"
Beacon Press, (2002). "Through a close reading of the Qur'an, Khaled
Abou El Fadl shows that injunctions to violence against nonbelievers
stem from misreadings." Eleven experts respond to his belief.
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Irshad Manji, "The Trouble with Islam: A Muslim's call for reform
in her faith," St, Martin's Press, (2004). The author is a feminist
lesbian Muslim television journalist in Toronto, Canada. "Intolerance
for dissent, especially women's dissent, is one of her main complaints
about Islam. Clearly, her goal was not to write a scholarly critique,
but rather to speak from her heartfelt concern about Islam....Manji also
speaks with passionate love and hope for Islam, believing that democracy
is compatible with its purest doctrine."
She has received death threats because of her book.
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Abu Hamid Al Ghazali's Faysal L Tafriqa. "On the Boundaries of
Theological Tolerance in Islam: (Studies in Islamic Philosophy, V.
1)," Oxford University Press, (2002). The author attempts to promote intra-Islamic tolerance.
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Abdullah Saeed & Hassan Saeed, "Freedom of Religion, Apostasy
and Islam," Ashgate publishing, (2004). This book contrasts the Qura'n's requirement that
anyone who leaves Islam be executed, with other passages which promote religious
freedom, and with modern concepts of religious freedom.
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Kathleen M. Moore, "Al-Mughtaribun: American Law and the Transformation
of Muslim Life in the United States (Suny Series in Middle Eastern Studies),"
State University of New York Press, (1995). The book "...examines pluralism
and religious toleration in America, viewed from the vantage point offered by
the experiences of Muslims in the United States, a significant and growing part
of an increasingly pluralistic society."
Read reviews or order this book |

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