Tolerance: Some Clarity

Greg Koukl, a Los Angeles based author, professor, talk show host, and Christian apologist, speaking at a recent conference in Monroe, LA, gives us some important clarity on the issue of tolerance. He points out that the classical idea of tolerance is being supplanted by a post-modern view. The classical view of tolerance is defined as treating each person with respect regardless of his or her ideas. The post-modern view is that no idea or viewpoint is more wrong than another.  History, life experiences and common sense tell us that some ideas are better than others: Some are right, wrong, good or better.  “We should have the freedom in public discourse to figure out which is which.  True tolerance applies to how we treat people, not how we treat ideas.” We should always treat people with dignity and respect. But we must not define tolerance as the consideration that all ideas are equally good.  The end result of this post-modern definition of tolerance would seem to be that no one could take issue with any idea without being considered intolerant. This would suppress  public discourse. The challenge facing Christians is our ability to walk the narrow pathway of having the courage, in the face of the accusations of “intolerance”, to speak the truth of the Scriptures; and the self-control not to “lose it” and react in anger or disrespect when we are treated as “bigots” or the like. As always, the primal enemies are fear and anger. May God give us grace to walk this pathway and be the light that Christ, in His Love for ALL people,  has ordained us to be.