RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE:

INTRODUCTION

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Topics covered in this essay:

What is Religious Intolerance?

Types of Religious Intolerance:

We divide religious intolerance into four types, depending upon the perpetrator and the intended target:

1. Inter-faith intolerance (e.g. a Hindu - Christian conflict)
2. Intra-faith intolerance (e.g. Shi'ite vs. Sunni Muslims)
3. Intolerance by from a faith group against a secular group (e.g. Christian Fundamentalists vs. the homosexual community)
4. Intolerance by a secular group against a religious group. (e.g. feminists vs. some organized religions)

A given instance of religious intolerance may be considered inter-faith by some groups and intra-faith by another. For example, some Fundamentalist Christians do not consider Roman Catholicism, the Mormon church, liberal Christian denominations, etc. to be a legitimate part of Christianity. Thus, an attack by an Evangelical group on Roman Catholicism might be considered inter-faith by the Evangelical and intra-faith by a Roman Catholic.

We consider the following actions as exhibiting religious intolerance:

We define a group as being any identifiable organization, or any subset of humanity as defined by their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, language, nationality, political beliefs, age, or economic status....and we probably missed a few.

What do religions teach?

Unfortunately, throughout history, we see examples of such rules being applied only to members of one's own religion. People of other faiths (and even those of other denominations in the same religion) are sometimes actively discriminated against. The most vicious civil disturbances and wars often have a religious basis (as in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Middle East, Sudan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, and East Timor).

Religious intolerance in the Bible:

Jesus sometimes promoted religious tolerance of non-Jews by his words and actions. He is also recorded as having been severely intolerant of the religious beliefs and practices of Pharisees and Sadducees. There are many specific references in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), by St. Paul, and by the author of Revelation which teach intolerance:

On the whole, the Bible promotes intolerance of other faiths. There are only a few passages which promote religious tolerance.

Copyright © 1997 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Last update: 2006-SEP-07
Author: B.A. Robinson