The Foolishness of False Tolerance
Or, "I'll be tolerant, as long as I want to be"
by: Jeff Piepho
A very wise business man began his day in the brand new Power Tower, located right downtown in Capitol City. The new building had literally gone up overnight, and any growing business wanting to bloom was now located in this amazing new building. When time came for the wise business man to eat lunch he stood from his desk and saw a man standing in his doorway.
"Hello? Can I help you?" the wise business man asked.
"Oh no, I'm John I just stopped by to see my work."
"John? John Royt?"
"Yes, thats right" he replied.
The business man became very excited almost shouting, "Youre the architect you built this! You are simply magnificent!"
"Oh well thank you, I appreciate it. Would you like to see my design?" Well the businessman could not pass this up and sat down with John, the architect. As the architect began to show the businessman his plans and how he built the structure they now sat in, concern started to overwhelm him.
"Excuse me, John, Im not an architect but here on the load bearing walls it seems like your math was wrong."
The architect looked and replied, "Well, I just felt like using the two foot blocks rather then the ten footers because they are so much prettier." About this time the businessman lost control.
"Are you insane? The building will fall! You didnt do your math right!"
"Are you judging me?"
"No, I mean yes your wrong, but Im not judging you," the businessman replied.
"This conversation is over," the architect walked out, quipping, "I cant believe the arrogance in this room!" Ridiculous? Perhaps, but everyday the public square of our nation has a conversation quite similar. Tolerance has become a good in itself. To claim that your belief is right is fine, but if you claim that anothers beliefs are incorrect the most grievous sin has been committed. Of course, non-tolerance is the only sin.
Spiritual and Religious beliefs are specifically under fire. Ask any person on the street what is true and the answer is likely to be, "I feel" or "Well, what I believe is" or some other answer denoting that their belief is valid but so is yours. Nobody cares to claim exclusive truth anymore, for fear of being intolerant!
But what is tolerance? I would argue that it is entirely possible to be tolerant, while holding that a belief is wrong. However, this is not what our culture teaches tolerance is we are taught that tolerance is not trying to change other peoples beliefs because they are just as valid as yours.
Well the truth is, not all beliefs are valid. Just as the building in our story above would collapse without proper math, many other beliefs would collapse with the right analyses. However, that is not the point - the point is to make the building stand! Not to tear buildings down! If we wont accept tolerance in our architects because it risks hundreds of lives, we should not expect "tolerance" for being wrong in religion. Why? Because, if a religion is the only one right, millions will have eternity to pay.
|
