Yes, we’ve all seen the bumper stickers on the tailgates of Subaru Outbacks: “Coexist”, and among others, “Tolerance”… and whatever else is trending in the liberal world. And it’s spelled with different sacred symbols, suggesting equality among people from every religion.
It’s cute.
But wrong.
We live in a culture obsessed with the idea of tolerance. (And I don’t just mean religious tolerance). In classrooms, students will no longer answer questions directly, when posed by professors. Instead, they will either ask another question or they will form their answer with the inflection of a question. Rather than holding the confidence that certainty allows, students will answer even the most obvious questions with a timid air of skepticism. Many will preface their responses with, “This could be totally wrong but…” or “I might be way off but…”
Why?
Because we are afraid of being wrong.
In our culture, it is better to be uncertain than wrong. People who confidently express their views are seen as arrogant, close-minded, and bigoted. This is manifestly demonstrated in our obsession with the word “like”. Nobody wants to commit to a statement fully, so everything is “like” something else. This isn’t very noticeable until you remove the word “like” from your vocabulary. Then, you’ll hear yourself actually committing to statements in ways that aren’t comfortable, because too much certainty is expressed. “Like” dilutes our language. “Like” is like a spice to our sentences that like adds ambiguity rather than leaving us like fully committed to what we’re actually saying.
Yet, in a world where no one is wrong…
No one is right either.
Promoting religious tolerance is admirable in some senses. I understand that I would much rather live in a world where people from different religions don’t behead their opposition, participate in genocide, or excommunicate their family members for believing differently. I always seek to love my enemies and treat people from all different worldviews with the respect they deserve as rational human beings. Yet, if we are all right, then no one is, since some say that others are wrong. Obviously, someone can’t be right about someone else being wrong while that person is also right (at least in a world where logic works). Moreover, if I posit full ideological tolerance, I’ve undermined my own belief. The moment I begin to preach tolerance, I’m expressing my own intolerance for intolerant people. So I’m being intolerant.
And while this belief seems harmless, it stands as one of the most difficult forms of persecution that the church deals with today.
In many ways, Christians are united under a common call to spread their belief (and this is common in most religions). Yet, the tolerant culture answers this call with a plea for silence. If a Christian (or a Mormon, or Jehovah’s witness, etc.) attempts to evangelize, it is seen as an intolerant act. “Who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn’t believe?” is the typical response. (Even though this line of thought falls victim to the same regressing problem that universal tolerance faces, it is, at its foundation, self-defeating and warrants no serious consideration). This has bred a generation of churchgoers who believe firmly that others ought to be evangelized, yet, they are too afraid to do anything about it for fear of offending those who hold different views. It has led to a church full of cowards, buckling beneath the pressure of society. The culture screams at the church to be tolerant, and the church responds with morbid paralysis, too afraid to offend a lost generation so desperately searching for truth, who fall deeper into confusion while demanding silence from those with whom the truth lies.
This is why, as a Christian, I cannot accept the doctrine of tolerance. (And if you are tolerant of me, you’ll understand). According to Christianity, Jesus came to save sinners through His sacrifice, and salvation lies only through believing in Him. If you don’t believe in Him and embrace this reality, you go to hell forever. It’s a pretty simple concept, but carries weight no one was ever meant to fully process. Yet, if it is true, then my highest calling as a Christian is not to be tolerant of other religions, but to ensure that the people I love deeply realize their need for salvation and turn to Jesus. In fact, I can’t do both at the same time, because they’re in direct opposition to one another. I have to choose between offending you (and possibly spending eternity with you) or remaining quiet (and watching you possibly go to hell while I sit back and say nothing)…
May that ellipsis stand as the granddaddy of all ellipses, the most emphatic, reverent silence in existence…
Don’t you see? There is no greater love from a Christian than for him to share his belief with you. He isn’t judging you (unless he’s doing it improperly); he’s loving you! Even if you don’t believe it, he does. And for him to preach to you is love. He would rather create an awkward moment and risk offending you than watch you perish eternally. Tolerance, for the Christian, is the deepest kind of hate there is. For a Christian to believe such ultimate truths and not act on them, watching the world perish while he does nothing, is the worst kind of hate.
It’s like evil.
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