Lately I’ve been watching the political news coverage of the Presidential race. What I have found to be very interesting is the pressure that is placed upon each candidate to demonstrate the virtue of tolerance. It seems as if tolerance has become the supreme virtue of our culture. Don’t get me wrong I see myself as a pretty tolerant person, but I guess my concern is with the unspoken change in the way we define tolerance. Webster’s Dictionary defines tolerance as the act of enduring opposing opinions. My personal research shows me that tolerance historically has meant the act of disagreeing civilly with those of opposing viewpoints. This seems to be something that Christians have promoted and role-modeled very well for the most part. However, the popular cultures definition of tolerance seems to be accepting and submitting to viewpoints that you personally disagree with or see as being dangerous. So I guess my question is where is the room for being able to disagree civilly and respectfully. Can I hold on to my convictions and feel that yours are wrong. Is it intolerant for me to say that Christianity is a better belief system than Islam? Am I being intolerant if I say that homosexuality is wrong? Am I being intolerant for teaching my congregation to avoid certain Pastor’s preaching because their message is heretical? If I am than I guess I question whether or not we as Christians should be trying to live up to the popular culture’s definition of tolerance. Now I know that these opinions of mine my get me in trouble with some but I am tremendously concerned with the watered down message that I feel far too many Christians are embracing in order to not seem as if they are being intolerant. I feel that we are called to speak the truth in love and I believe love doesn’t mean that truth has to be sacrificed. So what do you think should Christians be tolerant?
