Zero Intolerance?
Theme of the Week: The Truth About Tolerance
Thursday, February 23, 2006
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: Don't fool yourselves. … none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Bonus Reading:Acts 17:16-34
"I don't understand why Christians are so intolerant," a student protested after my lecture on comparative religions. After acknowledging that I can learn from non-Christians with practical wisdom or admirable lifestyles, I said that my view of tolerance is based on an observation and a definition.
The observation: No one tolerates everything. "The real issue," Daniel Taylor writes, "shouldn't be whether one is tolerant or intolerant, but what's included on one's list." To illustrate Taylor's point, I asked what actions or attitudes would be on my listeners "not tolerated" list. They responded with words such as racism, hatred, terrorism, and child molesting. We're all intolerant of some things.
The definition: "Tolerance," social critic Joshua Liebman says, "is the posture and cordial effort to understand another's beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them." We practice tolerance, I suggested, by promoting conversations in which each person is free to share his viewpoints and values. All of us—Christian and non-Christian—can benefit from considering others' beliefs. But tolerance doesn't obligate us to agree with each other.
— Tim Muehlhoff in Discipleship Journal
My Response: Do I speak truthfully with friends about our real differences?
Thought to Apply: More and more people care about religious tolerance as fewer and fewer care about religion. —ALEXANDER CHASE (journalist & editor)
Adapted from Discipleship Journal (9-10/02) by permission.
Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
Please teach me, Lord, how to remain unwavering in my allegiance to what Your Word declares without coming across as arrogant.
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