tol·er·ance noun \ˈtä-lə-rən(t)s, ˈtäl-rən(t)s\
: willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own
: the ability to accept, experience, or survive something harmful or unpleasant
Now that we know what it actually means lets take a look at how politics is using the term today. Conservative pundits are trying to make a case that liberals are the intolerant party, and liberals have been stating for decades that conservatives are the intolerant party.
It is easy to see how most people can look at the conservative agenda and see intolerance at it's finest. I mean when you claim that religion is the reason for attempting legislation that denies human's the choice to marry, no matter the sex, you have to consider that less than tolerant. Liberals are no better off as we would have to agree that we are fairly intolerant of the conservative agenda but the claim is because of the conservative intolerance in the first place.
The number of conservatives in America has not changed. Rather, it is the growing number of liberal minded people who have been rising as a result of the social exposure media allows. The changing demographics of this country also plays a huge role in changing mindsets. Social issues such as gay rights are front page news whereas in decades past it was an afterthought of an underground society. Social media such as this very page you are reading allows for everyone to speak their mind, open their hearts, and bring together vast segments of the population to gain confidence that there are like minded individuals out there ready to speak the same to the values they hold.
Social media though has also given voice to the extreme right wing conservatives such as Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin and they are using it to attack back. Conservative pundits are claiming that there is a war on religion in this country. To an extent lets go ahead and agree with that statement. There is a war on religion but not one that they could have not otherwise seen coming. You cannot suppress a group of people for too long before they begin to fight back against that which they are being oppressed for. For instance religion had made being gay a social stigma to a point where being gay could result in you being killed in some states. Homosexuality was considered, and in some respects still considered a disease, or unnatural all because of religious beliefs. Religion and the will of god has been the driving force behind this stigma since the beginning. The bible states that homosexuality is wrong. The bible also states that we must stone adulterers, and cursing out our parents is cause for death. Don't get me wrong, I felt like I was going to die the first time I cussed out my parents but alas I am still here. If we aren't killing hormonal teenagers in the streets over a few choice words then why are we waging a war on homosexuality in the name of the bible? It seems to me if we are going to take the literal word of God that something is or is not right then why not take all the words of god and live them to the full virtue as intended?
The reason we don't is because the relevance of stoning someone in a public square over sleeping with their assistant instead of their spouse is such common place that there is not enough reality TV airtime in this world to publicly display such a spectacle. It is the same reason we aren't picking off teenagers for dropping f-bombs at the dinner table, there would be no teenagers left to snipe after the first day. Conservatives say liberals are the intolerant ones for attacking religion but it was never a problem when religion attacked others.
Tolerance is a two way street. If you want tolerance towards your beliefs you need to show tolerance to other peoples beliefs. Hey look at that, sounds like something your parents probably taught you as a kid but somehow we have all forgotten.
A good friend of mine stated this quote the other day; "If you feel the need to legislate your faith, you have completely missed the mark on what religious freedom is to begin with." - Tayyib Rashid.
Religion holds a place in the world but as ideas. In America religion should not be the governance to the land of the free because if it is then the other 4,199 other religions that do not fit in within your belief system are not exactly free. Tolerance begins within everyone, either you have the ability to do it or not. Claiming intolerance when you cannot tolerate is somewhat of an oxymoron.
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