Christians, Be Tolerant

Tolerance -- what is it? We're not entirely sure although most people are pretty sure they know. One thing most people are quite sure about, however, is that Christians are intolerant and need to be tolerant.

Okay, let's try first for a definition. According to Webster's, "tolerance" is defined as "indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own." Of course, there are lots of variations. FreeDictionary.com says it is "the capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others." The thesaurus there says it is "a disposition to allow freedom of choice and behavior." You'll also find "allowing the right of something that one does not approve." Interestingly, in many disciplines, "tolerance" refers to the range of allowable deviation from the standard. To illustrate, you could say, "This meter is accurate to +/- 0.2 volts."

That should give us a feel for the term. Let's look, then, at the very first component that you find in the term "tolerance" -- judgmentalism. "What?" you say. "It's specifically not judgmentalism!" No, that won't work. You see, it can never be said that you "tolerate" beliefs and practices that are in agreement with your own. It makes no sense to argue that a homosexual, for instance, should be tolerant of homosexual behavior. When there is no variation from the standard one holds, tolerance is not needed. You have no need to tolerate allowing others to do things of which you approve. You don't tolerate a wonderful day at the beach. You don't tolerate a great meal. Tolerance requires judgmentalism, the belief that something is different from your beliefs, preferences, practices. Indifference eliminates tolerance because indifference doesn't require it. Tolerance demands that you find beliefs or practices that vary from and, in fact, disagree with your own beliefs and practices sufficiently for there to be a question as to whether you will allow it.

Now, given this judgment, the second aspect is "allow." That is, first, I recognize something that significantly differs from my views and then, second, I allow it. Tolerance demands that I do not terminate the difference. It is a given in tolerance that I do not approve, but tolerance says next that I still allow it. I exert no force to stop it. I don't pass laws to eliminate it. I let it go on. Tolerance, then, is the recognition that a belief or practice significantly differs from my own and the decision to allow it to continue.

What, then, can we eliminate from the concept of tolerance? Tolerance does not mean approval. Try as they might, just because many in society argue that tolerance entails agreement and approval, it makes no sense. If you approve, you don't tolerate. Nor does tolerance preclude disagreement. For me to argue against a viewpoint that differs from my own is not intolerance. Intolerance is attempting to force agreement or force those who disagree to stop. So, when a Christian argues against the views of atheism, it isn't intolerance. On the other hand, when religious views are banned from the public square, it is intolerance.

There are lots of things I cannot tolerate. I cannot tolerate my wife. Why? Well, because she's a great wife! What's to tolerate? "Tolerate" requires disagreement or disapproval, and I wholly approve of my wife. So all the things of which I approve I cannot tolerate. It's a contradiction in terms. On the other hand, I cannot tolerate murder. Why? In this case it is something with which I disagree, something of which I disapprove. However, this activity is so egregious that I favor laws that prohibit it and favor forcibly preventing it. There are some things that we ought not tolerate. And I pick these two things to illustrate the problem with the idea of tolerance. There are some things that are not tolerated because we already approve. That's not tolerance. There are some things of which we disapprove that must not be tolerated. "Be more tolerant" is used as a blanket term to suggest "You should approve of what I approve" and "It's wrong to disapprove of things with which you disagree." Both ideas in absolute terms are patently wrong.

We've abused tolerance for too long. To too many, tolerance is "you must approve of whatever I do and I can disapprove of whatever you do." To too many, tolerance means "no recognition of differences of opinion." Let's begin to shift that opinion because, well, it's just wrong. And Christians, we need to be tolerant. We need to be able to recognize that beliefs and practices differ from ours, to speak out against them, and to still allow them to be. Because, well, that just makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, using force to make people Christians doesn't make any sense at all. We know that.