Tolerant...to a point, at least
Touting their "niceness" and "tolerance" someone I know had been attending a Unitarian Universalist group. At least until the "preacher" proclaimed the "truth" that Jesus was just a man and that his later followers turned him into a "god." (gee...now what popular and best-selling work of fiction does that remind us of?)
Rightly so, this person recognized the extent of UU tolerance and that is not extended to those who believe Jesus is God incarnate, and cheers to them for deciding they could no longer attend.
Tolerance is a curious thing. What exactly does it mean? Does it mean we must abandon the notion of truth?
The Episcopals have certainly done so in order to maintain a spirit of tolerance, for you see you may remain in communion with them and believe that Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, but rather He ascended into godness or some such nonsense. A quick and easy way to appease those who have a difficult time believing that dead people can be made alive again after a few days - and thus they too can come for a sip of wine, a crumb of bread, and coffee hour!
Tolerance might also mean that we reduce truth to the lowest common denominator and then label that truth as being the most important thing. This could be the name "Jesus", regardless of whether said name referred to a prophet of God, a wise man, a God-filled human being (as the UU website claims), or God enfleshed.
Tolerance is quick becoming a civil god - especially as defined above. But, what stagnation will arise in such an environment of "agree to disagree and pass the coffee." Where is the free exchange of ideas...even conservative ideas? Where is the spirit of discussion and debate? Why is diversity seen as a default virtue, while unity and being in one accord is scoffed at?
In my mind, tolerance means that we all have the right to believe what we want to believe and one person cannot seek to pass laws to prevent another from doing so. And no one will seek to have another's views suppressed. But, none of this means that I am not allowed to say: YOU ARE WRONG. Just as anyone else is allowed to tell me: YOU ARE WRONG. Let us cast off the fog of stupidity (the god of tolerance) and tolerate and respect one another by DISCUSSING it, arguing it, debating it, wrestling over it. STOP PRETENDING WE ALL AGREE!
Ahhh...but that will offend people. Well, as that person I know opted, you needn't remain at the Unitarian Universalist gatherings if you decide that Jesus is in fact God. But maybe someone should tell the UU's that they are being terribly intolerant of traditional Christians...so how does that make them any better than the traditional Christianity THEY are so quick to label as intolerant? Well, reflect on my understanding of tolerance and I think we can see who is REALLY be intolerant.
neyner neyner neyner!
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Comments
Why don't you come over to my blog and express some of your views on the things I post about?
"At least until the "preacher" proclaimed the "truth" that Jesus was just a man and that his later followers turned him into a "god." "
This "preacher" did not claim that this was the truth. This preacher was simply discussing another person's view point. UU are very liberal and don't spend much time proclaiming that what they say is the "truth". It was simply a discussion.