Tolerance - A Tough Nut to Crack

tol·er·ance
ˈtäl(ə)rəns/

noun

1. the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.

"the tolerance of corruption"

synonyms:  acceptance, toleration;
open-mindedness, broad-mindedness, forbearance, liberality,liberalism;
patience, charity, indulgence, understanding 

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It amazes me the number of nice people I run into that consider themselves "tolerant" and will freely state such, just prior to launching into an intolerant tirade on a culture, religion, or belief system of others of which they have little or no real knowledge.  I hear folks that keep mistaking Sikhs for Muslims as they spew hateful rhetoric toward all of Islam for the actions of a few heretics.  Do we constantly confuse people and their beliefs?  How many times I have heard people confuse Shakers, Quakers, and Amish as being one and the same.  I actually heard someone in Walmart confuse an Amish woman with a Muslim.  My goodness!  The dress isn't even close!  But, this was Walmart after all.  I always tell people, if you want to study a great cross section of our society, our successes and our failures, visit Walmart.

"Religious wars are not caused by the fact there is more than one religion, but by the spirit of intolerance... the spread of which can only be regarded as the total eclipse of human reason."

-- Charles de Secondat (1689- 1755), French philosopher

The events in Ferguson, Missouri,  inflamed attitudes toward black America.  Instead of finding peaceful means to voice grievances, they chose a contrarian action to that which Reverend Martin Luther King would have recommended.  They set race relations back 50 years.  I heard a woman, at the 50 year anniversary of the Selma march, comment how proud Martin would be at how far we have come.  Martin is probably rolling in his grave over how badly black America has practiced what he preached.  The fact that the majority of black America seems to not recognize this, is a large part of the problem we still face as a nation.  We need another Dr. King to continue the good work.  We are in dire need of a meaningful successor to teach the history of the past as a means to move intelligently forward.  This world we live in faces a real threat of falling into a third World War, and we can't even seem to move forward with tolerance in our own country, much less throughout the rest of the world.

The subjects of morality, gays, Muslims, illegal aliens, women's equality, politics, and the definition of marriage, are all laced with our own societal and personal intolerance.  What will it take to focus our attention on the real threat?  What will it take to sharpen our aim?  Do we need another horrific attack, with tremendous loss of life, to get us away from our petty arguments, like a teacher in an unruly classroom that slams a book down on her desk to get the students attention through the shock and awe of a loud noise?  Are we truly this infantile?  We can't even let go of the killing of a young criminal attacking a police officer in front of witnesses when their testimony clears the officer and upholds our own rule of law.  Where is the tolerance toward those that protect and serve?  The sad fact is they will continue to respond when these ungrateful people call, and they will continue to die doing their jobs.

What will it take to make us all stop, shut the hell up, and be tolerant and respectful of each other, our country, our laws, and what we have earned?  We have lost respect for our flag, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and the rule of law.  Is it any wonder we have lost respect for each other?  Maybe this new socialist ideology we're leaning toward really doesn't set well with us.  Maybe we expect more of each other than to fall, screaming, into anarchy.  Maybe we expect each other to actually get out of the cart and pull our own weight instead of expecting others to do it for us.  Could this be part of our intolerance?  Maybe we are intolerant of people for other reasons than race, culture, religion, or politics.  Maybe we need to ask ourselves, "Why?"

Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
Do not go gentle into that good night.

-- Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

Why is tolerance such a tough nut to crack?  At the end of the day, we seem content to tacitly accept it as a norm instead of raging against it, or we rage against it without really knowing the target of our discontent.  What makes it so hard for humanity to wrap our feeble minds around it?  I mean, really, tolerance isn't rocket science; all we need do is exercise the concept!  Yet, we constantly hear even the "righteous" as seemingly incapable of coming to grips with ones of the Christ's major lessons.

I shook my head this morning as I listened as Reverend Franklin Graham was, once again, blaming all of Islam for the actions of a few.  It is his kind of hateful rhetoric that fans the flames of intolerance throughout the world, and he seems to make no apologies for it.  Unlike our politicians, he has no problem using the appropriate words for the evil currently attacking innocence of all faiths; his problem seems to be one of self-education and poor aim.  He seems to be ignorant of Islam so he uses a sawed off shotgun with a wide spread to aim his hateful speech.  A "reverend," really?  I wonder what his own Christ would have to say about his attitudes.  When your own hypocrisy becomes evident from the pulpit, perhaps it is time to admit your failings and take time for meditation and self-reflection.

"A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends."

-- Henry A. Wallace (1888-1965)  33rd Vice-President of the United States

"The ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with."  It would see that some of our religious leaders lack the ability or willingness to see the greater forest of peaceful Islam for the trees of heretical terrorism which uses Islam as an excuse for their barbarism.  My mother always tried to impress upon me, if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything.  Reverend, I would ask, with all due respect, that moderate your comments, because my tolerance for your hate-speak is wearing very thin.  But, I will continue to tolerate your opinion in hope that you find, by the grace of God, that understanding and tolerance which will allow you, as a "man of God," to sharpen your aim, with a scoped sniper rifle, to the appropriate targets of our combined concern.

What makes the most humble of us seemingly more righteous, understanding, and tolerance of others than those we look to exhibit these traits?  Is it the way we interpret the very word tolerance?  Unlike Reverend Graham and his ilk, there are those of us that label ourselves "interfaith ministers."  We do this because we have come to learn understanding and tolerance for that which we may not agree or accept.  We do not gratuitously assume an inferiority of other faiths.  This is not to say that tolerance is this easy; it is, for some, the difficult ability to constantly remind ourselves what tolerance is, what it means for mankind, and why we, all of us, as peaceful ministers of peaceful faiths and spiritual beliefs, are here on this earth.

Tolerance is a tough nut to crack, of that there is little argument.  It is constantly evidenced by learned people making stupid comments that inflame hatred toward the wrong people; comments that group all people into one category simply because of a label.  All Christian are the same.  Really?  And yet there are many sects of Christianity that interpret their faith differently enough to have deemed it necessary to split off from the original concept.  Is Judaism or Islam any different?  I think not.  There will always be those free thinking individuals that disagree the greater body of acceptance,  this is how we grow and learn.  I encourage people to question that which they believe, but do so in peace as those others are just as free to continue their own peaceful journey, their own peaceful spiritual path.

I think tolerance is the ability to have an argument and, in the end, be able to look at the opposing party and say, "I think you're a dumbass, and I disagree totally with your opinion, however it is your opinion and I respect your right to freely and peacefully express it.  Let's go have a beer and a hot dog, and discuss monster trucks."

Sometimes I just want to curl up and enjoy the warm fuzzy that comes from snuggling up with a friend that doesn't judge me.  Now, where's that cat?

"If there's any message to my work, it is ultimately that it's OK to be different, that it's good to be different, that we should question ourselves before we pass judgment on someone who looks different, behaves different, talks different, is a different color."

-- Johnny Depp, actor

Editor's Note:  

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion.  It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other.  An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth.  After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human.  God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.
  

Pastor Frank Anthony Villari

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."