What's so bad about tolerance?
“We are in a transitional period where there are two totally distinct definitions of tolerance: one known by parents, the other by kids. And what is being taught to our kids is totally different than what is in your mind as a parent. Traditional tolerance (as we know it) is now referred to as negative tolerance. This is defined as ‘respecting others beliefs and practices without sharing them,' or ‘to bear or put up with something not especially liked.' The new tolerance is called positive tolerance, which says this: every single individual's beliefs, values, lifestyle, and truth claims are equal.” -Josh McDowell
New York City Police Recruiting Sadomasochists!
The New York City Police Department recruited at a festival for advocates of violent sadistic sex and degrading “masochism.” A police recruiter defended the outreach to sadomasochists, saying the department can't “discriminate” and “just because they use whips in the beds doesn't mean they can't be good police officers. -Lambda Report Online, July 11, 1999
Professor of Intolerance?
In the Fall 1998 semester, Princeton University appointed Pete Singer as the Chairman of its “Center for Human Values.”
Regarding Christian values:
“Many of our moral institutions are formed for religious reasons, which were once strong but are now outdated.”
Regarding disabled children:
“Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Sometimes it is not wrong at all.”
Regarding newborn babies:
“No infant has a strong claim to life as a person.” -Columnist Don Feder, “Professor of Death Will Fit Right in at Princeton,” 10/28/98
All Truth Is Relative?
“A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.” -Ingrid Newkirk, President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
What's the solution?
“True compassionate love that seeks to provide for and protect another person's health, happiness, and spiritual growth could not comply with the cultural call: ‘If you love me, you'll endorse my behavior.' Because real love – true love – grieves over the inevitable results of wrong behavior.” -The New Tolerance, p. 92
Does tolerance have an effect on truth?
In 1991, and again in 1994, pollster George Barna asked a random sampling of adults, and then a sample of Christians whether they agree with the statement, “There is no such thing as absolute truth; two people could define truth in totally conflicting ways, but both could still be correct.” His results: In 1991, 67% of all Americans, and 52% of Christians agreed. In 1994, those numbers increased to 72% and 62%, respectively. -Chuck Colson, “Why Christians Are Losing the Culture War,” Christian Research Journal, Summer 1996
Tolerance: “Free Speech for Me, But Not for Thee”
Ann Hacklander-Ready and Maureen Rowe were searching for some roommates to share their house. They turned down several prospects, including one woman who “wore her religious beliefs on her sleeve,” and another who was “too boring.” They also turned down Caryl Sprague, a lesbian. Ms. Sprague sued on grounds of discrimination, and won. Hacklander-Ready and Rowe were ordered to pay Sprague's legal fees of over $10,000. -Richard Carelli, “Woman Loses battle before Supreme Court for right to reject lesbian as housemate,” Associated Press, May 12, 1997.
While riding a public bus home from work, 25 year-old Michelle Shocks of Bothell, Washington, was sharing her Christian faith with a fellow passenger. The bus driver told them to stop, and when they didn't, they were removed from the bus. Shocks, who was five months pregnant, was forced to walk the last mile home in the rain. -“Religious talk is bus-stopper, woman says” Seattle Times, April 7, 1999
Dean Gregg, the former dean of religious life at Stanford University pressured evangelical Christian groups on campus to stop “proselytizing other students.” What angered Gregg was not the content of the message that was being shared, but the practice of sharing itself. He believes that in approaching someone with the Gospel, you are implying that the person's beliefs are inferior to your own. According to the dean, this is self-righteous, biased, and intolerant. -“Truth or Tolerance?” by Scott Scruggs, Probe Ministries International, Copyright 1996
How tolerant are they?
In their own words…
“Anyone who violates these orders, no kidding, is going to wish that he or she had died as a child when this court gets through with it.” -U.S. District for Southern District of Texas Judge Samuel B. Kent, May 5, 1995.
From the text of his statement which disallowed any mention of the name of Jesus in a graduation prayer. In 1996, evolutionist Richard Dawkins was named “Humanist of the Year” by the American Humanist Association. In his speech, he compared the threat of AIDS and “mad cow” disease to the threat posed by faith. According to Dawkins, faith is “one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.” - “Is Science a Religion?” by Richard Dawkins, The Humanist, January/February 1997
“These rulings are the law and must be obeyed. A person who chooses not to abide by the Court's orders could soon hear the knock of federal marshals on his or her front door with a free ride to a very unpleasant place.” -Robert French, DeKalb County School Attorney, on Judge Ira DeMent's ruling which forbade prayer in the public schools, October 21, 1997
Good and Evil: There is a Difference
In January 1999, the web page of CNN ran a story on the Church of Satan, and how it's fallen on hard times. At the end of the story, CNN provided a link to the Church of Satan. When contacted about this, their spokesperson said this was to “to provide information.”
“(Satanism) has cropped up in a number of these incidents where students who have shot other kids, they've been worshippers of the devil...These kids were obsessed with death, they wore black, that's the only thing they wore. There's darkness and there's light. They wore darkness, they were followers of Satan.” -Fred Barnes, Fox News Channel, in response to the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
Suggested Reading
The New Tolerance , by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler. (Tyndale) Offers a compelling look at how the doctrine of “tolerance” is sweeping our culture, how it affects our children, where it actually leads, and what can be done to stop it.
Legislating Morality , by Dr. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. (Bethany House) This book resoundingly defeats the proposition that truth is relative, and confirms that all laws are based upon morality. The only question is, whose morality will be legislated?
Understanding The Times , by David Noebel. (Harvest House) Details the three worldviews that are competing for dominance in our culture today: Christianity, communism and secular humanism. A wonderful resource for Christians who seek to understand why there is a culture war today, and how it can be won with a clearer understanding of the competing worldviews.
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