reated a policy that forbids school sanctioned campus organizations from excluding members who do not share their particular set of beliefs<\/a>.<\/p>\nSo, for example, should an atheist inexplicably decide to join and run for office in a group like Fellowship of Christian Athletes, then according to campus policy they would have to allow that person, who holds views contrary to their own, to potentially become president of their organization.<\/p>\n
All of this, of course, is done in the name of tolerance.<\/p>\n
Tolerance has become a very popular buzzword these days. Many times, tolerance is a great and noble virtue. It\u2019s tolerance that allows us to live in a pluralistic society without constantly picking up arms and going to war.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s an ironic thing about so much of the so-called tolerance we see bandied about today.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s actually not very tolerant.<\/p>\n
Take, for example, the aforementioned non-discrimination\u00a0policy from Vanderbilt. In their attempt at tolerance, they actually end up in a position of intolerance. In effect, Vanderbilt has banned its students from holding an opinion on anything. In other words, their ideology of political correctness won\u2019t tolerate ideology.<\/p>\n
Of course, the hypocrisy of the contemporary tolerance movement extends far beyond the campus of Vanderbilt University.<\/p>\n
We may extol the freedoms of speech and religion, but if people dissent from popular\u00a0sentiment\u00a0we are quick to\u00a0vilify\u00a0those that disagree with us as being \u201cintolerant bigots\u201d. Yet, in doing so, we become the very intolerant bigots we decry.<\/p>\n
I think our problem with tolerance is that we don\u2019t really understand what tolerance means. I think, for most of us, we equate it with passive acceptance of our own or another\u2019s views. We don\u2019t require them to verbally affirm what we think, but we only consider them to be tolerant of us if they don\u2019t voice their\u00a0disagreement.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not tolerance. It\u2019s\u00a0fascism.<\/p>\n
The truth about being tolerant is that it means you have to sometimes accept that fact that people who disagree with you aren\u2019t actually depraved, ignorant,\u00a0hate mongering\u00a0bigots. They\u2019re people, just like you, who happen to disagree with you on certain things. And if we are really going to be the tolerant people we claim to be, then we have to affirm this\u00a0disagreement as acceptable, even when the disagreement centers around our core beliefs.<\/p>\n
So long, of course, as the disagreement doesn\u2019t center around basic human rights like freedom or the ability to simply live.<\/p>\n
Which leads us to the other level of hypocrisy in our pursuit to be completely tolerant people.<\/p>\n
Tolerance isn\u2019t something we should always strive for.<\/p>\n
The truth is there are many things in the world which we simply should not tolerate. We shouldn\u2019t tolerate oppression. We shouldn\u2019t tolerate injustice. We shouldn\u2019t tolerate poverty. We shouldn\u2019t tolerant senseless violence. We shouldn\u2019t tolerate hunger. We shouldn\u2019t tolerate the exploitation of people.<\/p>\n
When we reject these things as acceptable realities, then we are refusing to tolerate their existence and that makes us intolerant. But that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n
Despite what you may have been led to believe, tolerance is not the height of virtue. Certainly it plays an important role in the functioning of a healthy society, but if it stands alone as a chief and guiding virtue, then, as demonstrated at Vanderbilt University, it only ends up in an unhealthy intolerance.<\/p>\n
As Christians, we face mounting pressure from both inside and outside our churches to be more tolerant. Our critics quickly point to Jesus as a sort of quintessential example of tolerance which we as Christians should exemplify, lest we become hypocrites.<\/p>\n
But a closer inspection of Jesus, one which wades through the popular mythos in order to actually read the gospels, reveals a Jesus who was very intolerant.<\/p>\n
Jesus refused to tolerate the status quo. He refused to tolerate oppression and injustice. He refused to tolerate legalism. He refused to tolerate death as a final answer. And, like it or not, Jesus refused to tolerate sin.<\/p>\n
Jesus was certainly a man who willing to sit and eat with his enemies, but in doing so Jesus wasn\u2019t affirming the status quo which he clearly rejected. Rather, Jesus understood tolerance as a way of life in which his disagreement with the other was voiced not through condemnation and exclusion, but through his incarnating the alternative kingdom he professed.<\/p>\n
I think that if the church is to find a way forward through the\u00a0milieu\u00a0of a pluralistic society, then it won\u2019t be through a passive acceptance of the prevailing culture, nor will it be through\u00a0condemnation\u00a0and protests. The path of tolerance for the church will be found in\u00a0embodying\u00a0the kingdom life she proclaims. In that way, the church becomes a living testament to an alternative way of being, demonstrating its reality to the world, rather than wasting her time engaging in hateful rhetoric with a world that will not believe in the kingdom of God until they see it\u00a0beginning\u00a0to dawn before their eyes.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t meant that the church will no longer be\u00a0labeled\u00a0as\u00a0intolerant, for in embodying the kingdom of God she chooses a particular way of being in the world and, by extension, rejects others. \u00a0However, I think that following such a path allows the church to exist in the world with integrity, while allowing those who reject the kingdom to continue to live as they choose.<\/p>\n
This is the sort of tolerance that we see Jesus embodying in the gospels and so this is the sort of tolerance we as the church must pursue as well.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grace and peace,<\/p>\n
Zack Hunt<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Recently, Vanderbilt University, in their ongoing attempt to summit the height of political correctness, created a policy that forbids school sanctioned campus organizations from excluding members who do not share their particular set of beliefs. So, for example, should an atheist inexplicably decide to join and run for office in a group like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":6790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Intolerance Of Tolerance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" Recently, Vanderbilt University, in their ongoing attempt to summit the height of political correctness, created a policy that forbids\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Intolerance Of Tolerance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" Recently, Vanderbilt University, in their ongoing attempt to summit the height of political correctness, created a policy that forbids\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-14T17:34:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2012\/05\/1942b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"610\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/\",\"name\":\"The Intolerance Of Tolerance\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-14T17:34:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-14T17:34:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\"},\"description\":\" Recently, Vanderbilt University, in their ongoing attempt to summit the height of political correctness, created a policy that forbids\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Intolerance Of Tolerance\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\",\"name\":\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\",\"description\":\"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\",\"name\":\"Zack Hunt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zack Hunt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Intolerance Of Tolerance","description":" Recently, Vanderbilt University, in their ongoing attempt to summit the height of political correctness, created a policy that forbids","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Intolerance Of Tolerance","og_description":" Recently, Vanderbilt University, in their ongoing attempt to summit the height of political correctness, created a policy that forbids","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/","og_site_name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","article_published_time":"2012-05-14T17:34:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":610,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2012\/05\/1942b.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zack Hunt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zack Hunt","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/","name":"The Intolerance Of Tolerance","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-14T17:34:33+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-14T17:34:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226"},"description":" Recently, Vanderbilt University, in their ongoing attempt to summit the height of political correctness, created a policy that forbids","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/05\/the-intolerance-of-tolerance\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Intolerance Of Tolerance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/","name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","description":"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226","name":"Zack Hunt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Zack Hunt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/1942b.jpg\" "\\"1942b\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n