The Rise of a ‘New Tolerance’ – your beliefs and my beliefs are equal and all truth is relative, however there are some exceptions!
The ‘New Tolerance’ movement, aka diversity and inclusiveness, has a religious fervour all of its own. There is a creed and those who refuse to worship at its altar are branded as intolerant, fanatical, bigoted people who are a danger to society. This new age tolerance goes far beyond the traditional definition and use of the word. The dictionary defines the word tolerate as ‘recognising and respecting others’ beliefs, practices etc. without necessarily sharing or agreeing with them. Another definition describes tolerate as ‘to allow something, even if it is not your practice or something you like’. Traditional tolerance involves respecting and protecting legitimate rights of others even those with whom you disagree and those who are different from you.
Today, however, ‘new tolerance’ teaches that all beliefs, values, lifestyles and truth claims are equal. Apparently it is now not enough to uphold another person’s right to believe or say what he thinks is true. It is not enough just to allow another person to disagree with what you believe or do. The new creed of tolerance demands that you must agree that another person’s beliefs are just as valid as your own.
According to this new doctrine, in order to be truly tolerant you must give your approval, your endorsement, your sincere support to their beliefs and behaviour. (Of course some people’s convictions don’t count, for example one particular rugby player’s views.) The agenda behind making all behaviours equally valid and praiseworthy stems from today’s current multicultural mindset. Today it is all about diversity and inclusiveness. The argument goes that there are a lot of people on the margins of society because of their ethnicity, class, gender or sexual orientation and therefore we must validate their experiences. This may mean endorsing homosexuality, abortion, misogyny, or other behaviours that might be abhorrent to you. Not to do so (particularly if you are a Christian) is to risk being labelled a narrow minded bigot, an extremist and hatemonger. Do you see the irony here? These adherents of the ‘new tolerance’ doctrine want us to accept that all beliefs and behaviours are equal; unless of course your beliefs and values are not part of today’s popular politically correct culture!
The ‘new tolerance’ has created an environment in which people can no longer express disagreement with others’ beliefs, for fear of being branded intolerant and promoting so called ‘hate speech’. We need to be clear about this: that there is an agenda, and it is important in a so called free society, to remove the veil that shrouds this dangerous cultural ‘new tolerance’ movement.
The real problem with ‘new tolerance’ is that it makes no distinction between who a person is and what a person does. Therefore ‘who I am’ is inseparable from ‘what I do, think and believe’. It is my identity, and if anybody expresses disagreement with my beliefs, they are judging me, criticizing me and disparaging me. They are criticizing my very identity, the core and essence of my being and who I am as a person. A classic example of this is the relatively recent dispute involving a Christian cake shop owner and a homosexual couple wanting a wedding cake for their upcoming ‘marriage’. Masterpiece Cake shop owner, Jack Phillips, refused to make a wedding cake saying “Sorry guys, I don’t make cakes for same sex weddings”. A lengthy on-going legal battle followed.
There are ominous implications that come with this ‘new age tolerance’. The first casualty is truth itself. We often hear, in today’s debates, such statements as; – “No one has the right to tell me what is right and what is wrong”, “It is wrong to impose your morals on someone else”, “Look … that is just your opinion”. Under this new regime all truth claims have equal merit; they are just relative and subjective. ‘Right’ and ‘wrong’ differ from person to person and from culture to culture.
‘New tolerance’ means we are witnessing the diminishing value of virtue. Such things as honour and integrity, respect, humility and compassion have become less important and without meaning in a culture dominated by individualism and the new creed of tolerance. If all truth claims are equal, who can say that humility is more acceptable than arrogance and that honesty is better than a lie?
‘New tolerance’ also leads to a lack of conviction. If you accept the mantra that everyone’s beliefs and truth claims are equal, that there is no truth more ‘true’ than any other truth, then you are just left shrugging your shoulders rather than standing up for your convictions. This is a sad state of affairs for New Zealand as a democratic nation, where we are supposed to value and protect the freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
I am like many New Zealanders; I have strong beliefs and convictions about right and wrong, truth and error. You see, I am a Christian and, like many Bible believing Christians, I feel marginalized under this ‘new tolerance’ creed. What am I to do? Well I am called to be ‘an ambassador for Christ’, sharing the truth of God’s love and forgiveness in Christ for mankind. I am called as a follower of Christ to imitate his example. Traditional biblical tolerance demonstrates a loving acceptance of people as individuals, while not necessarily accepting their beliefs or behaviour.
At the heart of the gospel message is God’s love and grace toward His creation and His call to repentance and faith for all people and all nations.