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Tolerance

by John Shepard

February, 2002

Overview

The issue of tolerance concerns having a society that allows for a variety of different viewpoints regarding morality and ethics. It is necessary in a society such as ours in the United States which values diversity in our culture.

There are two possible options for how we can structure society:

1. Absolute Values -- Society decides morals and values. Non-conformists are rejected (via an "Inquisition"). The government legislates beliefs.
2. Tolerance -- Allows all religious and moral viewpoints. Government doesn't determine morals and values.

In a tolerant and pluralistic society that values diversity, it is clear that we must live with option two -- tolerance. In a tolerant society the government can't discriminate based on religion and morality. Laws can't exclude people based on religion and morality. This includes issues such as freedom of speech.

Unintended Side Effects | The Power of the Boycott | How to Survive | House Church Model

Unintended Side Effects

Tolerance sounds like the way to go. But when we consider the issue carefully we discover that there are two unintended side effects of the policy of tolerance.

1. Discrimination against religion and morality.
2. All members of society must tolerate the moral filth imposed on them by the other members of society who have lower moral standards. Whoever has the lowest moral standard sets the cultural norms.

Examples:

• Freedom of speech -- In a tolerant society you can't legislate the content of speech (or you will violate people's freedom of speech). Therefore, all members of society will be publicly subjected to everyone else's words and ideas. We can limit the exposure somewhat by boycotting our consumption of media, but this will not completely solve the problem. We still have to deal with speech that we can't boycott, such as billboards, and the interaction with other people in public places, etc.
• Abortion -- Since the government can't legislate morality, those who believe that abortion is murder must tolerate the practice (but they can exercise their freedom of speech rights to try to change the laws).
• Crime -- Every society has laws against certain behaviors. By necessity these laws will include value judgments (which contradicts the assumption of tolerance). There is always the risk that laws will discriminate against those with religious and moral views and that they will become criminals.
• Religion -- In a tolerant society you can't give people special privileges based on their religious beliefs. For example, (1) Jews can't insist on the right to not work on the Sabbath, (2) required religious clothing (turbans and knives for Sikhs) can't be expected to be protected by law. Maybe some are protected now, but they might not always be. If laws are enacted that no longer allow for special rights for religious practices, it will appear as a form of discrimination.
• Discrimination -- There will be laws forbidding beliefs that discriminate. An example is the Boy Scouts that forbids homosexuals from being scout leaders. But because the rights of homosexuals must be protected, people can't discriminate against them. The result is that religious institutions and institutions with a moral code must conform to the low moral standards of society. In effect this discriminates against people and institutions that wish to preserve "higher" moral standards than the norms of society.

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The Power of the Boycott

Why do we not boycott the people in our society who profit economically from their low moral standards? Things we should boycott:

• Television programs that are not wholesome
• Movies that are not wholesome
• Businesses that sell products that are not wholesome
• Public schools that allow free reign of relativistic ideals and teach low moral standards to the next generation

Certainly we can't boycott everything in our society that is linked to something unwholesome because our economic structure is too interdependent. But we should target the worst offenders and those that have the most influence in promoting relativistic ideas, particularly the media.

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How to Survive

How can those with "higher" moral standards and values survive living in a tolerant, pluralistic society? There are things that can be done.

1. All religious- and value-based organizations must join together to affect the lawmaking process to ensure that the laws are favorable. Unfortunately, many of these groups emphasize their differences, which prevents them from joining together in a coalition of this sort. But all such groups will lose as a result of this policy.
2. Organizations can restructure to minimize the exposure. An example is that the institutional church could change to a house church model as is common in China (read more).
3. Discontinue practices that provoke societal norms. Examples:
   • Jews would have to abandon Sabbath law in regards to employment (or not insist on legal protection)
   • Sikhs would have to abandon dress rules while at work
   • Muslim women would have to stop wearing their headcoverings
   • Fundamental Christians would have to hire homosexuals for church positions including ministers and pastors (but the congregations could choose to abandon their church in such a case and denominations would need a mechanism to survive such situations)
   • The Boy Scouts would have to allow homosexual scout leaders (but parents could take their children out which would likely result in the termination of that organization. But it might be possible to set up the Boy Scouts in such a way that troops with homosexual troop leaders would be scantily attended if parents sent their children to another troop instead)
   • Education. Let people know why higher moral standards are desirable for society.

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House Church Model

The house church has the ability to survive in a society that has low moral standards. Its strengths in this area:

• Can easily abandon a small group that has been influenced by leaders with low morals and start another one
• No visible institutions for activists with low moral standards to target
• No full-time employees (pastoral and administrative) to go after. For example, homosexuals can't attack a group on the grounds that they are discriminating in hiring if there are no employees in the organization.

I have written about the house church movement (read more).

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