Religious Tolerance

Posted on April 24, 2004 in Crosstalk Folly Watch Journalists & Pundits Liberals & Progressives Morals & Ethics

An enemy can hurt an enemy, and a man who hates can harm another man; but a man’s own mind, if wrongly directed, can do him a far greater harm.

The Dharmmapada

It’s become fashionable to call upon “liberals” to be tolerant of religion. Kathryn Cramer weighed in after Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Kevin Drum (who is always looking for a way to get the Democrats elected) made what seem to be partisan calls to stop picking on Religion.

Readers of this blog know that I have maintained what appears to be a curious stance: on one hand, I proclaim myself to be agnostic and on the other, I speak a great deal and with great affection of scripture. I am critical of Fundamentalists but I do not draw final conclusions on Christianity based on their false teachings.

As an agnostic, I remain uncommitted on the question of God. I can no more abide in the certainty of the atheist than I can in that of the fundamentalist. But then I realize that Faith is very similar to agnosticism: you realize that you cannot prove or disprove the existence of God, but you continue to do homage.

I choose to meditate and to read spiritual texts from many religions. In my experience, the intolerant find intolerance and the tolerant tolerance when they look at other religions. (Islam is the favorite bash here in America today.) I number myself in the latter, seeking good reading in Christianity, Buddhism, Sufism, and elsewhere.

If we set cultural differences aside, allow all religious and philosophical texts some room for error, I think we can profit from reading them and doing our best to live their precepts.

I do criticize Christianity on my blog because that is the dominant religion of my society. But this is criticism coming from an insider, one who is familiar with much of the texts upon which the dealings of many so-called Christians are based. I categorically reject Fundamentalism as heretical as do Christian friends of mine such as doug and Blaugustine. For all their talk about tolerance, what are Patrick and Kevin doing to support the Christian Left? Their talk seems to be more “don’t offend the Right”. I prefer to give my energies to those voices for Christian ecumenicalism and tolerance across religions, including Camassia and my own wife Lynn, both of whom are resident on this site. It’s important to show the Left and the Center that there are alternatives to Christianity other than those offered by the likes of Reverend Lou Sheldon, to know the history of the Church, and to offer passionate rebuttal and correction of false doctrines.

I don’t see this happening. It’s more of Kevin’s usual appeasement of the Right. In other words, a veiled attack on those of us who hold out for Christianity as Christ urged us to live it.