Tolerance- What Does It Really Mean?
In reading a few of my favorite blogs this week, the talk has turned to a recent murder of an innocent doctor shot down in front of his wife, his family and his church. His crime? He worked at an abortion clinic. One blog in particular has been particularly harsh on Christians, specifically Christian conservatives. My thoughts on this are as follows:
Not all conservatives are Christians. Not all Christians are conservatives. Not all Christians are anti-abortion. Not all Christians, conservatives, or anti-abortionists are murderers. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Yet people of both religions have done terrible things in the name of their faith. And hey- what about the people who proclaim no faith at all, yet drive by and shoot someone over a gang-related issue? Where do they fall in this line of thinking?
Bottom line: taking the life of another human being is murder, and our society says that murder is a crime. Upon this, we all agree. Murder- it’s not a “conservative” issue, and it’s not a “Christian issue” either, because I am pretty sure our jails are not filled with only Christian conservatives.
It’s tragic that the doctor was shot to death in front of his wife and church, for no reason other than some wacked-out person, claiming to represent a certain segment of our society, thought he should be punished for practicing his occupation. If we define tolerance as an attitude which is respectful of practices or group memberships that may be disapproved of by other groups, then this is in my opinion, intolerance at it's purest form.
However, pointing fingers and condemning an entire group of people for the terrible things one person does- even if that person claims to represent an entire group of people-- is unfair, and to use the “I” word- intolerant. Tolerance swings both ways- condemn the act, condemn the person, but to condemn a whole group in society is irresponsible, inflammatory and undermines the whole process of tolerance. Taking the life of another human being is wrong, and unacceptable, and it must stop. On that we can agree. It is my opinion that tolerance, true tolerance- begins at the very point upon where we can agree.
