Don’t Tell Me to be Tolerant!
The word tolerate originally meant “to endure without repugnance; put up with“, regarding wrong behavior or action that was being tolerated. In other words, we would allow wrong behaviors or actions to be ignored or dismissed without punitive results or corrective actions. The word directly implies guilt of some sort, whether violations of laws or social norms. To be tolerant was to look the other way without doing or saying anything to correct the misbehavior.
But as with many terms, our liberal humanist friends have redefined the word in order to spread their liberal humanist ideology. Tolerate no longer implies guilt. The term now means to put up with anything that is different from you, to include all things that you might consider “wrong”. The new definition seeks to demonize Biblical morality. It seeks to neutralize Biblical declarations of sin and abominable behaviors. Take away the guilt factor, and everyone “can do what is right in their own eyes” (a biblical condemnation of widespread sin).
The liberal humanist has perverted the original meaning even further, by equating “tolerance” with “forced acceptance”. To see this in action, look no further than the rash of wedding cake companies and photographers who have been put out of business for refusing to serve gay weddings. These good people serve gays routinely, but were unwilling to compromise their principles by participating in a ceremony that violates their personal convictions regarding Biblical standards.
You would think that someone who is so forceful about tolerance would be tolerant themselves. But alas, their hypocrisy is blatantly obvious when they refuse to accept a decision that goes against their own convictions. (such as the will of the people to elect a President.) The inexcusable hysteria that continues even months after the election screams the fact that they refuse to be tolerant when they don’t get their way.
“Tolerance” is more analogous to “compromise” when it comes to a system of values, norms, and behavioral standards. Tolerance is not standing up for what you know to be righteous behavior. Tolerance is sticking your head in the sand while the world around you spins into depravity. Don’t tell me to be tolerant.
Frank