Tolerance

[Spiritlight]

I was thinking after a conversation today with a friend about intolerance and fighting in the world past and present. A lot of finger pointing goes on. " Its the Muslims fault. "Its the Christians or atheists fault" etc and the fighting goes on.

If you want a tolerant peaceful world to live in you need to be a tolerant peaceful person. It starts with us right now! Not once we have sorted everyone else out.

It might mean calling someone with completeley opposing views to you neighbor and friend. You may neither of you accept each others views as your own, but that is not important. It does not matter.

What do you think?

 

[Gracchus]

I was thinking after a conversation today with a friend about intolerance and fighting in the world past and present. A lot of finger pointing goes on. " Its the Muslims fault. "Its the Christians or atheists fault" etc and the fighting goes on.

If you want a tolerant peaceful world to live in you need to be a tolerant peaceful person. It starts with us right now! Not once we have sorted everyone else out.

It might mean calling someone with completeley opposing views to you neighbor and friend. You may neither of you accept each others views as your own, but that is not important. It does not matter.

What do you think?

Well, some people just can't tolerated neighbors who shoot at them, and fly airplanes into the office buildings where they work.

Some people are funny that way.

 

[variant]

I was thinking after a conversation today with a friend about intolerance and fighting in the world past and present. A lot of finger pointing goes on. " Its the Muslims fault. "Its the Christians or atheists fault" etc and the fighting goes on.

If you want a tolerant peaceful world to live in you need to be a tolerant peaceful person. It starts with us right now! Not once we have sorted everyone else out.

It might mean calling someone with completeley opposing views to you neighbor and friend. You may neither of you accept each others views as your own, but that is not important. It does not matter.

What do you think?

It's easier to tolerate others when your plate is full, and no one much interferes in your life either (and we still aren't very good at it), but much of the world lives in poverty and opression.

 

[dies-l]

It's easier to tolerate others when your plate is full, and no one much interferes in your life either (and we still aren't very good at it), but much of the world lives in poverty and opression.

I have known a lot of people who were in or came from destitute poverty. I find that Americans can be much more intolerant, despite our wealth than many very poor people.

 

[variant]

I have known a lot of people who were in or came from destitute poverty. I find that Americans can be much more intolerant, despite our wealth than many very poor people.

It depends on the people.

But, you're right, you do have to have a certain sense of cultural or economic entitlement to learn to hate others.

 

[lordbt]

I was thinking after a conversation today with a friend about intolerance and fighting in the world past and present. A lot of finger pointing goes on. " Its the Muslims fault. "Its the Christians or atheists fault" etc and the fighting goes on.

If you want a tolerant peaceful world to live in you need to be a tolerant peaceful person. It starts with us right now! Not once we have sorted everyone else out.

It might mean calling someone with completeley opposing views to you neighbor and friend. You may neither of you accept each others views as your own, but that is not important. It does not matter.

What do you think?

I think that works fine until you encounter someone who doesnt wish to be tolerant. What happens then? I dont think there is any way to be tolerant of people who believe that force and violence is a proper way of dealing with others. And there are a lot of those people out there.

 

[Resha Caner]

All good comments.

Like most any word, by itself "tolerance" is meaningless. I get the impression that what most people really mean by it is "leave me alone and let me do whatever I want to do." The problem, as many have pointed out, is what happens when someone won't leave you alone. Sorry to say it, but there is evil in the world.

So, "tolerance" doesn't mean anything until it is rooted in a world view of what is tolerable and what isn't.

 

[KrimsonDraegon]

I think that works fine until you encounter someone who doesnt wish to be tolerant. What happens then? I dont think there is any way to be tolerant of people who believe that force and violence is a proper way of dealing with others. And there are a lot of those people out there.

Yet Jesus and Peter were tolerant and forgiving of their tormentors.

As a fundamentalist who follows a more literal translation of the Almighty's Words I must say that tolerance is one of my favorite pieces of nonsense, as understood by the world today. What we have is tolerance for the sake of tolerance. We allow people to get away with the most asinine of things solely because we must and we cannot be viewed as heathens or intolerant hate-mongerers.

As an example: God condemns homosexuality. Few sins are treated with as much vicious and violent animosity from Heaven as homosexuality. Yet Christians, these days, who do not tolerate openly homosexual couples are intolerant and bigotted, holier-than-thou heathens. We are being mocked and despised for refusing to open our Churchs and allow them to violate the Holy Rites of Marriage. In many places the law in intervening and commanding we must marry homosexual couples despite our Church doctrines and our Holy Commandments. Is this tolerance? What about us and our beliefs?

The idea behind tolerance is that we must accomodate everyone when, in truth, you cannot accomodate everyone. You cannot make everyone happy all the time. Tolerating one thing is to be intolerant toward another.

Yet now I come across as a hate-monger. Are we cursed to live in hate? Absolutely not - some of my best friends are homosexual. Does this mean I tolerate them being wed before the eyes of the Lord? Absolutely not, for my part. Tolerance is not the same thing as acceptance. I will accept them being openly homosexual, I will not tolerate them being wed in a Church.

Please do not think I am attempting to turn this thread into some gay-bashing monstrosity. I was simply using homosexuality as an example.

The Lord commands that we are to love thy neighbor as thyself. This can be perfectly practiced while still condemning certain things.

~ Shaeykh

 

[Notedstrangeperson]

We'll blame huge groups of people for something a few of them commited back in the depths of time. We'll blame the entire population of Japan for Pearl harbour, we'll blame the whole of Germany for Nazism, we'll blame Christianity (or Islam) for seemingly any past, present or future disaster. I think we certainly need a lot more tolerance here.

And yet ... in the 'Society' section we have threads which see nothing wrong with necrophilia, which thinks imprisoning a war criminal is wrong simply because he's old, and which thinks male circumcision is child abuse.
Similarly in the 'Christian Only' sections we have a racist who thinks Christianity is only for white people, a thread saying the Japanese tsunami was a punishment from God, and another which calls the death of Osama Bin Laden unjust.

The impression I get is that it's OK to blame a whole group for something only a few of it's members commited but we aren't allowed to judge individuals, no matter how bigoted or plain stupid they may be. Seems a bit odd.

 

[Spiritlight]

I noticed some of you guys mentioned about your financial situation being a factor in deciding your tolerance level. That is possibly true for some. I would have thought displaying tolerance and love was a sign of a spirit filled heart, not a money filled wallet.

Hatred has never once cured hatred. It is only cured by love

Matthew 22:36-40 (New International Version)

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I guess if can hate ourselves and can be intolerant of our own selves it then would be also acceptable to do this to others. we dont seem to be asked to hate anyone.. and shouldn't


1 Thessalonians 5

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.



If we dont want our children and our childrens children killing each other becauseof stupid things we have to be an example of love to this world.
People are repulsed by our faith because of the bigotry they see in places.

 

[Received]

Tolerance is palatable in inverse proportion to how herd-minded a person is. We're intolerant because something doesn't fit our group.

 

[bricklayer]

Tolerance is acceptable imperfection. In my profession, we work within set tolerances.
Tolerance implies the intolerable. Tolerable equates to an absence of the intolerable.
There is that which is intolerable.

 

[NvxiaLee]

It might mean calling someone with completeley opposing views to you neighbor and friend.

Bravo... not for how much you value tolerance, but for knowing what tolerance is. So many people think "tolerance" is approval. But, it's impossible to tolerate something you approve of. So, logically, for example, Liberals have no tolerance for homosexuals. The KKK has no tolerance for racists.

 

[Spiritlight]

Tolerance is palatable in inverse proportion to how herd-minded a person is. We're intolerant because something doesn't fit our group.

Sounds about right good observation. People who wont attempt to learn about the world around them outside what their peers tell them who may never have learned either. how can you ever tolerate that which you do not know how to evaluate properly.

 

[ToHoldNothing]

Bravo... not for how much you value tolerance, but for knowing what tolerance is. So many people think "tolerance" is approval. But, it's impossible to tolerate something you approve of. So, logically, for example, Liberals have no tolerance for homosexuals. The KKK has no tolerance for racists.

Tolerance is more acceptance of something's existence, it seems, rather than approving of it on a moral or ethical level. I can tolerate obnoxious Christians in my own relative family on my mother's or father's side, but I don't have to approve of their evangelism and general apparent intolerance for anything that doesn't jive with their myopic sensibilities about how the world should be.

Tolerance is like forgiveness in some sense in that it's a two way street. Tolerating intolerance and forgiving unforgiveable. And yet those intolerable and unforgiveable people might not be so willing to tolerate or forgive you.

 

[Spiritlight]

Bravo... not for how much you value tolerance, but for knowing what tolerance is. So many people think "tolerance" is approval. But, it's impossible to tolerate something you approve of. So, logically, for example, Liberals have no tolerance for homosexuals. The KKK has no tolerance for racists.

Thank you. My best mate is a Buddhist he is dark skinned. My new friend is an Atheist girl. Can we just be friends for years without converting each other..yes. Of the 3 of us who will have the biggest impact on the others. Its fairly simple its the one who does these things.

The one who shows unconditional love

The one who does not show intolerance or hatred to others with beliefs unlike themselves.. or the people you would least like to associate with! Associating with a person does not mean accepting their beliefs, it gives them an opportunity to see yours in action.

The one who does what Jesus said in the Beatitudes

The one walks the walk and isn't all talk about what they say.

The life example is the loudspeaker of your faith.

A kind caring Atheist will help spread the message of that belief more than a narrow minded bigot christian ever could about his faith.