"“Gravity may be true for you, but it isn’t true for me.” Tolerance, when properly..."

“Gravity may be true for you, but it isn’t true for me.”

Tolerance, when properly understood, is a virtue. Historically, tolerance was demonstrated by refusing to punish or censure others because they held beliefs, opinions, or convictions different than your own. Two people with opposite positions on a particular matter would be civil toward one another and allow each other to express their respective viewpoint without resorting to intimidation, violence, or threat. Inherent in the very concept of tolerance though was the assumption that the other person’s position was incorrect. It implies something is actually false or offensive to the one practicing tolerance.

Tolerance, as it is popularly conceived over the last twenty years, however, is self-refuting. Today, the notion of tolerance means that you cannot disagree with someone without being criticized as “intolerant”. If you claim someone is wrong or misguided on a particular matter you will, ironically, quickly be censured. Just how did we arrive at this irrational view of tolerance?

Relativism is the notion that each person’s view concerning knowledge or morality is equal. Relativism makes the claim that you cannot insist that any belief or behavior is wrong because no one has the truth. If this were really the case, however, we could not insist on tolerance either. And intuitively, we understand that not all beliefs and lifestyles are equal.

Everyone is intolerant when it comes to his or her most cherished values. We are intolerant of murderers, liars, wife beaters, terrorists, pedophiles, thieves, gang bangers and the like. Depending on how serious a person’s vice, we either prosecute them, penalize them or avoid them—but we do not tolerate their behavior, nor should we. Isaiah 5:20-21

Tolerance, rightly understood, is a Christian virtue. Jesus would have us stand for truth and against falsehoods. Jesus wants us to practice doing good and oppose evil. This does not give us permission to harm others who disagree with us. But we cannot, in the name of tolerance, pretend to agree with those who disagree with us. 2Timothy 2:22-23 We can act in peaceful and civil ways to oppose those who oppose God’s Truth. But we cannot, in the name of tolerance, compromise either truth or righteousness.

Jesus taught us to love our enemies. Matthew 5:44 So did the Apsotle Paul. Romans 12:14 Both Jesus and Paul require a certain kind of tolerance for those who are intolerant of believers. But they are not telling Christians to lay aside their convictions and beliefs while “tolerating” those who view them as enemies.

So practice tolerance, but do not assume that tolerance means the acceptance of any and all behaviors or ideas. As Christians, we are called to stand for truth, goodness, justice, mercy, love, and righteousness. Micah 6:8