THE NEW TOLERANCE

THE NEW TOLERANCE
It's politically correct, but does it hold danger for followers of Christ? Is love the same thing as tolerance?

Not long ago, the word 'tolerance' meant 'bearing or putting up with someone or something not especially liked'. However, now the word has been redefined to 'all values, all beliefs, all lifestyles, all truth claims are equal'.1 Denying this makes a person 'intolerant', and thus worthy of contempt.

Where does this leave Christians? Jesus said,

'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me' (John 14:6).

And the apostle Peter said,

'It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved' (Acts 4:10-12).

The new definition of 'tolerance' makes the Christian claims to exclusivity 'intolerant', which supposedly justifies much of the anti-Christianity in the media and the education system.

But this argument is glaringly illogical and self-refuting. That is, if these 'tolerance' advocates reject Christianity, then they are not treating this belief as 'equal'. So, in practice, to paraphrase George Orwell in Animal Farm, all beliefs are equal, but some beliefs are more equal than others. The result is extreme intolerance towards Christianity from people who talk so much about tolerating all views. In short, they are intolerant of intolerance, so logically they should be intolerant of themselves!

The hypocrisy of the new tolerance was shown recently at two universities. At Texas Tech University (Lubbock), Michael Dini, professor of biology, said he would not recommend any students for medical school if they did not believe in evolution. Dini's university rushed to defend him on the grounds of 'academic freedom'.2

Contrast that with what happened at Sydney University in Australia. A number of top academics signed the following statement in a full-page student newspaper advertisement:

'On any criteria, Jesus Christ is one of the great figures of history. More than that, his claims to be the Son of God, who has made God known and taken away the sins of the world, bear up under the closest scrutiny. This is our conviction, and we urge every student to thoroughly investigate this unique figure, Jesus'.

This evoked hysteria about religious intolerance and misuse of academic freedom. Some anti-Christian students even raised paranoid fears about discrimination.3 Yet the above statement said nothing of the kind, unlike Dini's overt intolerance and discriminationagainst biblical Christianswhich was happily tolerated.