Sobre a tolerância religiosa (e não só)

Keith Burgess-Jackson

Religious toleration is one of the West’s oldest and most cherished institutions. Unfortunately, the concept of tolerance is widely misunderstood, in large part because it has been commandeered by multiculturalists. To tolerate something is not to accept it, agree with it, endorse it, embrace it, or affirm it. It is to put up with it. Toleration is the practice of not persecuting those who have different beliefs. A tolerant person says, “Your beliefs are false, and you are going to burn in hell forever; but I’m not going to burn you at the stake (or otherwise harm you) for having them.” Some people think that tolerance means not being judgmental. This is exactly backwards. Tolerance presupposes that some beliefs are true and others false. To tolerate another is to judge that his or her beliefs are false.