Religious tolerance

How many of you think people of non-mainstream beliefs think that religious tolerance
Is practiced? In this forum I haven’t seen any fire & brimstone sermons, so far & I hope not too. But out there in the real world how much of it do you really see?

Tolerance of other faiths is practiced by the major religions amongst themselves, especially when it is politically expedient to do so, but that doesn't mean there isn't animosity there and possibly outright hostility beneath the surface. Fundamentalists disagree with version of their own faiths and all others and generally disdain tolerance but luckily they are in the minority.

AS for here on RF, few would have the stones to declare themselves infalliby right or sermonise other members. There is too much diversity, which is not a criticism @ all, only rather that this diversity ensures that either everyones opinion counts or almost no-ones opinion counts in the end, depending on your opinion. Ironic, but true.

Clearly people here have some fairly intolerant views.
This is fine.
It only becomes a problem when it leads them to flame other members.
The mods see that this does not happen very often and even then for not very long.
The balance seems to be just about as right as you can get it.

I think it is fair to say that there are different levels of tolerance. In my rl I find that the most common form of tolerance is avoidance, the “don’t ask don’t tell” form of tolerance. For the most part religion is just something you don’t discuss in mixed company. And I am fine with that.

But I think that on this forum people aspire to a higher form of tolerance, a kind of tolerance where you don’t just avoid the issue, but embrace it. The point is not simply to allow other people their own point of view, but to try to learn from them, to understand, and perhaps even to grow in your own faith by understanding others.

This kind of tolerance is sometimes a little trickier. Sometimes people are inadvertently offended. It is impossible to learn without exposing our own ignorance, and that can lead to the occasionally unpleasantness. But people here seem to deal with it quite well and I believe the result is well worth it.

Wether you beleive in Hell or not doesn't make it non-existant. You may beleive what you want, that is what God wants, he created you a free moral agent, but jehovah also created you to serve him, not those whom he created and turned aginast him to decieve mankind into thinking they were gods.

Romans 1:[FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Exodus 34:[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

But of course mankind will do their own thing.
[/FONT]

Kcnorwood said:

How many of you think people of non-mainstream beliefs think that religious tolerance
Is practiced? In this forum I haven’t seen any fire & brimstone sermons, so far & I hope not too. But out there in the real world how much of it do you really see?

Click to expand...

For the most part, I think that religious tolerance is practised in most areas that I tend to be in. What I might take as a slight against my tradition is usually just something the other person assumes without thinking. (Something I've certainly been guilty of!) Even when the other person is trying to blatantly get my goat, my goat remains ungotten. On here, I've seen 'fire and brimstone' sermons by people of all paths, including non-theists. It seems less based upon a particular belief and more upon the posters' mindset or attitude. I'm especially thankful for our forum rules about prostelytizing (sp) then.

Jerrell said:

Wether you beleive in Hell or not doesn't make it non-existant. You may beleive what you want, that is what God wants, he created you a free moral agent, but jehovah also created you to serve him, not those whom he created and turned aginast him to decieve mankind into thinking they were gods.

Romans 1:[FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Exodus 34:[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

But of course mankind will do their own thing.
[/FONT]

Click to expand...

To quote the great Mick Jagger, "You can't always get what you want." *shrug* He may want me to be a servent, but wanting something and having it aren't the same thing.

Kcnorwood said:

How many of you think people of non-mainstream beliefs think that religious tolerance
Is practiced? In this forum I haven’t seen any fire & brimstone sermons, so far & I hope not too. But out there in the real world how much of it do you really see?

Click to expand...

Where I live, religious tolerance lacks real merit.

A lot (I won't go as far as to say most) of people here think religious tolerance is all about being able to declare yourself something different than a Protestant without going to jail.

Just for the record, I don't consider unwanted proselytizing "tolerance". I wish I could put people like that on an ignore list. "Thanks for the offer, but like I said the last three years, I'm not interested." :cover: