Tolerance: does it have any limits?
January 2002

A vital ccfwebsite.com briefing

· Tolerance means accepting other people's right to hold different views; it does not mean agreeing with them.

· Every decent person must set limits to tolerance; who, for example, would tolerate rape?

· The accusation of 'intolerance' is increasingly used to demonise those who believe in truth or 'right' and 'wrong'.

· Christians should respond by proclaiming the Gospel clearly, but with love and compassion.

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What is tolerance?

We are right to rejoice that we live in a tolerant society. Tolerance has always, quite rightly, been a celebrated characteristic of British life. This is something we should be proud of and is part of what makes Britain a pleasant place to live. Tolerance means accepting other people's rights to their views and treating them with generosity. It does not mean necessarily agreeing with other people's views, but it does mean respecting their right to hold them. Amongst other things tolerance means that Christians are free to worship publicly and in peace - something that does not happen in many parts of the world.

Some people seem to treat tolerance as an end in itself but it is really one of those values that Aristotle defined as helping us to find balance between the two opposed vices of excess (tolerance of such things as rape) and deficiency (inadequate tolerance of free speech in such areas as religious or political beliefs). Our society has to define the range of its band of tolerance and that range has to be based upon some moral rationale.

Tolerance: an abused word

Yet 'tolerance' has recently become a much-abused word - its meaning has sometimes been stretched so that it carries a quite different import. To tolerate something does not mean to condone it. However, those with deeply held views, who refuse to agree with a secular or liberal worldview, are frequently labeled intolerant simply for proclaiming their beliefs.

The Revd Lyndon Bowring, the Chairman of CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) wrote of the problems Christians can face when tolerance is held up as the highest virtue of all, meaning that all truths are equally valid. In this climate, Christians who argue for God's standards are often accused of prejudice and being intolerant. It is easy for Christians to feel embattled and isolated in these circumstances. How then, should we respond, as Christians, to those around us that are not living as God intended?

The Christian response

We can do no better than look to the example of Jesus, when presented with the woman caught in adultery in John 8:2-11. The Pharisees who brought the woman to Jesus were looking for justice according to the law to be applied.

They wanted condemnation of the woman leading to her painful and violent death. Jesus' response was to come alongside the woman, befriend her and offer her mercy not justice. The law demanded its penalty. Jesus offered friendship and acceptance of the woman as she was. It was only after she had seen his amazing grace that Jesus then told her the truth, that her adultery was a sin and that she should persist in it no more. Acceptance, compassion and truth: in that order.

Jesus did not seek to impose his will. He knew that we cannot legislate ourselves into the Kingdom of Heaven - let alone other people. He told the woman the truth, but left it to her to decide how she would live the remainder of her life.

Proclaiming the Truth today

In his outstanding book Issues facing Christians Today, John Stott examines the issues facing us, as socially and politically-concerned Christians, in a pluralist society in which the influence of the churches has declined and Britain has become a multi-faith society. The imposition of Christian values is considered and discounted having examined the effects of the Inquisition and of the Prohibition of alcohol in the USA (which was proposed by church leaders). So too today, we must realise that we cannot force people to believe what they do not believe or practise what they do not want to practise. Christian convictions and standards cannot be forced on to a free people.

The opposite approach is of a complete 'laissez-faire' attitude towards the values and behaviour in society. Christians have often adopted a laissez-faire attitude in the name of tolerance, on the basis that they would leave others to mind their own business in the hope that the rest of society would leave them alone to mind theirs.

This indeed is very much the prevailing orthodoxy of our times. How dare any of us challenge anyone else as to how they conduct their lives? Stott points out that the failure of the German churches to speak out against the Nazis' treatment of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and communists was, with honourable exceptions, a terrible indictment of Christ's call for Christians to be salt and light in the world.

It is also often forgotten that in this country the concept of eugenics (the elimination of disability and low intelligence through selective breeding) was supported in some sections of society. Today, we would be proud that the churches opposed this practice. At the time the churches were no doubt criticised for expressing their opposition. What will future generations think of the church's silence on the big moral issues of our day?

We are not loving our neighbour if we are indifferent when we see him damaged by his own behaviour or by market, state or cultural forces.

Salt and light, seasoned with grace

So if the imposition and laissez-faire approaches are not the way, what is left to us? Stott argues that persuasion, education and rational argument, all done in a spirit of love, are the way forward. Christians cannot impose from above, but neither must they remain silent in a fallen world. The challenge is to make a constructive contribution to the public debate, in order to influence public opinion so that there is a demand for legislation which would be more pleasing to God. As John Taylor, the former Bishop of Winchester has written, "It is in the area of public opinion that this battle has to be fought. Nothing can achieve the change of policies which our very salvation demands but a profound reorientation of public opinion."

Christians can also make use of the growing body of evidence that demonstrates that the Biblical worldview is not just another theory or ideology, but works in practice. To take but one example, studies increasingly show that children born and reared within marriage do better than those outside marriage. Christians can say with confidence: 'Marriage is not only right - it works.' This should come as no surprise to us - God knew what he was doing after all. However, we can now rely on secular evidence to win over the sceptics.

As a final word, we need to remember that it is as much the spirit in which we argue our case, as what we say, that matters. Lyndon Bowring again: "...surrounded by slogans, sound-bites and pressure groups, each weaving a sophisticated web of opinions, statistics and darkness dressed as light, it can be all too easy to strike back, think negatively and begin to despise those we feel are against us. Jesus challenged us, "Love your enemies, do good to those that hate you." It is by grace that we have been saved and with grace that we should treat others."

FURTHER READING

The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man - particularly chapter 3 - by J Budziszewski (Spence Publishing).
Issues Facing Christians Today, by John Stott
The Vision of the Anointed by Thomas Sowell
Moral Evasion, by David Selbourne (Centre for Policy Studies, 1998)