INTOLERANT WITH TOLERANCE

Pastor becoming intolerant with tolerance...

I don’t know if I can tolerate one more letter or article on tolerance. This word has lost all meaning. It’s a been relegated to the status of a swear word. You know, the four letter type used by bar-hopping, dope-smoking, baby-making adolescents whose acumen of the English language is equivalent to that of a Neanderthal. The only problem is there are too many letters. But really, this word is used to justify every licentious practice under the sun, so it may as well be a swear word.

Tolerance, as a judicial concept, interestingly enough finds its origins in Christian jurisprudence. Tolerance refers to the discretionary acceptance of an opposing religious view. For example, the English parliament of 1689 passed a law that granted partial freedoms of worship to dissenters from the established Church of England. They called it the Toleration Act.

Now, I’m not here to argue the merits, or non-merits of that Act, but I want to point out a very important point, tolerance means: limited and discretionary acceptance. To be tolerant of something or someone doesn’t mean acquiescence and it doesn’t mean that you can’t speak out in opposition.

But based on the flurry of articles all decrying the rhetoric of the religious-right and calling for toleration, it’s clear that this word has been co-opted by some of the least discretionary people. To add insult to injury, many of them are indiscreetly propagating their immorality and insisting that traditional Christians turn a blind eye, shut off their minds, empty their hearts, flush their moral and religious views down the toilet, and Shut up! Tolerance to them means total capitulation to their view.

The irony is that while they’re clamouring for us to zip it up, they’ve got every Christophobic pundit out there preaching about their god-given rights. "If a man wants to sodomize another man – tolerate it!" "If a woman wants to terminate an inconvenient child – tolerate it!" "If the public schools are going to be used for the purposes of homosexual propaganda – tolerate it!" "If tax dollars are used to promote Queer causes – tolerate it!" With one accord the hue and cry is: "Tolerate it, or else!"

Tolerance they say? Well, tolerate this. I don’t have to agree with you’re lascivious and self-destructive lifestyle. And I, and every other Christian, has the right to openly express our opinions, judgements and god-given wisdom – tolerate that. And, just like homosexual-activists, we have every right to promote our religious views and influence an uninformed populace – tolerate that! And if a homosexual embraces Christ and rejects his lifestyle all because we, by the grace of God, intervened, well, I guess you’ll just have to tolerate it.

Yes, tolerance. I believe in tolerance. I believe in it so much, I won’t harass people just because they disagree with me. In fact, I won’t use the Human Rights Commission to impose my moral disposition on those who propagate views and lifestyles which are inherently sinful and self-destructive. I don’t sue those who promote perversion. I don’t threaten. I don’t harm in anyway. No, I tolerate.

And I’m not alone, many others do the same. We tolerate. Our tolerance is a fait accompli, because we believe in the rule of law and respect for human life. We believe in civility and we believe in due process. But we keeping hearing the same tired song – "if only we would learn to tolerate each other." Folks, our tolerance IS tolerance!

But, our tolerance stops far short of complete capitulation. Toleration, doesn’t mean we’ll empty our minds and suddenly be overwhelmed with warm fuzzies for the opposition. It does not mean that we’ll shut up, zip up and go away. And tolerance does not mean we’ll stop being political and use the democratic process to gain the upper hand, influence society, and see the dawn of civility return to Canada.

Let’s get something straight. Toleration doesn’t mean that traditional Christians will hide in the closet, which I suspect is what all Christophobs want.

Tolerate that!

 Pastor Tristan Emmanuel