TOLERANCE – MISUNDERSTOOD, MISAPPLIED
A gloating Islamic
fundamentalist in Italy, peeved with the sight of the crucifix in a classroom,
initiated a court case. In today’s
secular, post-Christian Europe the court yielded to the drift ruling in favor
of its removal. The verdict stirred
perturbation in the country. Anyone in
touch with Muslims will find himself audience to the frequently recited
self-congratulatory vociferation: “Islam is a tolerant religion!” The word tolerance much in vogue, but
often misappropriated, needs to be re-evaluated. What lies behind the thought of tolerance as generally embraced
by the ordinary person? Among a number
of dictionary definitions the shortest is worth quoting: The act of allowing
something.
In
a world of varying beliefs and conflicting creeds, the act of tolerating is
treated as a meritorious generosity. To
put it into simple language: “Basically I am at odds with your persuasion, but
am allowing its existence. I will put
up with it.” The exercise of tolerance
is apt to be strained and elongated or conversely contracted, tightened as a
person deems fitting. Any observer of
what is happening in our world can attest the oscillation of tolerance in balance
with its giver’s verdict. It can be
commensurably bent according to the wish or pleasure of the one of stronger
position. Tolerance is nothing short of
inconspicuous disallowance.
The
strings are in the hand of the dispenser with the ever-present reminder: “As long as it suits me I tolerate you and
your belief. However, I hold the right
to disallow it. Don’t forget my
predominance. I am the giver and taker
of what you are allowed to enjoy.
Therefore, be careful!”
Christians with minority status in Islamic lands often live under the
aegis of this subtle tactic and are ever cognizant of it. Asia Minor, lands of the Middle East, the
whole of North Africa-- stretching to the Atlantic coast-- constitute an
emphatic repudiation of Islam’s gloating tolerance.
Islam
is now extending its measuring stick to lands where it cannot claim any
historic roots, unless perchance by past conquests. The day is not very far away for newcomer Muslims to democratic
lands to determine and dictate what is to be tolerated or not tolerated. Norms and practices in lands not their own
are becoming their concern. Quite
disturbingly, the right to tolerate or not is being availed to them. The masses who appropriate tolerance to their
liking are hard at work. These
self-complimenting imperious persons ought first to examine their inner life
under God’s higher light in order to discover how many intolerable practices
are tolerated within!
Talking
about toleration, the topic carries us to another domain. This age prides itself with post-Christianity
and post-modernism. The principles of
divinely-oriented ethics and morals have been jettisoned. Instead, we are urged to heed the changing
epoch and the necessity of being tolerant.
The current requirement for toleration cannot be contested by those who
disagree. The new reality is
fixed. One has no right to frown at or
attempt to alter the pace. The show
must go on while everyone acts with the mien of toleration regardless of
his/her liking or disliking. If you
don’t like them, mind your own business!
Everyone
has the right to act as he deems beneficial to him/herself. Let no one assume the prerogative to dampen
his/her practices. It is called the new
morality, the current trend, the new life style, etc. The choice can stretch from what are repulsive art forms all the
way to sexual innovations that will bring greater pleasure to the doer. This arresting mindset is contrary to the
ancient notion of hedonism, which taught that anything ultimately
causing pain ought to be discarded. Our
age has surpassed the old Greek pursuance of pleasure. Having discarded God’s principles, what have
we brought as a substitute for them?
Before
us are two puzzling concepts about tolerance, stretched to two extremes. Let the deft individual seek to reconcile
them! Both betray the absence of the
basic qualities: love, respect, ethics, morals, peace, etc. At the root of all lies the selfish,
conceited, complacent human heart in need of regeneration. The Beatitudes projected by Jesus Christ explain
the basic need of the strutting mind: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall
inherit the earth. Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall
obtain mercy” (Matt. 5:5-7).
Those
explained in the first category ought to be reminded: Where did you obtain the mandate to tolerate, or not, the belief
and creed of the other person? From
where do you receive the right to curtail the tolerance of which you are
holding the strings? No, thank
you! Whether you are Muslim or Hindu,
or something else, I don’t need your tolerance to exercise the command of my
God and my conscience. My freedom is
not contingent on your approval or disapproval. I am prepared to safeguard it to the death. Did you ever hear what Voltaire (1694-1778)
once said to a Christian who was explaining to him what the faith of Jesus
Christ is all about? At the end he
responded, “I do not agree with an iota of what you are telling me; however, I
am prepared to defend till death your right to say it.”
Let
us move on to the other aspect of tolerance and ask them: Who gives you the privilege to alter
long-standing moral-ethical principles and go on to establish contrary effects
in lieu of the former? Where do you
receive the mandate to place the seal of approval on those who rewrite the code
of ethics? How do you justify yourself
to blatantly uphold offenses against long-held rules of justice, propriety,
beauty and true liberty? By what
authority do you seek to impose on me and so many others the constraint to
tolerate acts which ravage our soul and violate our principles?
No
one will wink his/her eye at charlatans who contravene the laws of mathematics,
physics, chemistry, etc. Any person
contriving his/her own formulas is apt to become a pariah. But ours is such a slippery age that we are
told to behave imperviously to any sort of misbehavior for tolerance’
sake. Christians believe in a God who
is holy and set against sin in any form.
He is the God who loves the sinner and obstinate person. He is longsuffering, pleading with the
sinner to turn to him. He came to this
world and suffered to rescue sinners.
Under no circumstance, however, is he tolerant toward sin in any manifestation. He speaks severely in his word: “These
things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like
yourself” (Psalm 50:21)… “Though they know God’s decree that those who
do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who
practice them” (Romans 1:32).
The
person priding himself on his tolerant behavior must look at the matter from
another standpoint. He may be surprised
to discover that Christ does not tolerate any wrongdoing. Because He did not tolerate sin—either
imputed or executed—He took on Himself our sin, paying the due penalty by His
own precious blood in order to reconcile sinners to a just God, His
Father. He does not act whimsically,
but judges in all fairness and uprightness.
He deals with sin regardless of man’s tolerance because he is the only
one who will ultimately cast his verdict on right or wrong. He is the one who will judge every human
action. He will only be tolerant and
forgiving of the transgressor who honored his sacrificial death. His invitation is extended to everyone,
including you. Don’t be enticed by
artificial fantasies of tolerance; conversely, believe in God through his son,
Jesus Christ, who is ready to offer you forgiveness and a brilliant life that
is endless.
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Copyright
© 2003 by Thomas Cosmades. All rights
reserved