This month’s Briefing from Matthias Media has a good article on tolerance by Philip Jensen. I especially appreciated the way Jensen contrasted tolerance with relativism and how the two are sometimes confused. Jensen writes,
Tolerance is often confused with relativism. The error starts with the assumption that tolerance is an intellectual activity. Seeking to treat each other tolerantly, we listen to and respect other people and their opinions. But this can lead people into an intellectual belief structure that accepts all views as equally valid – that is, relativism. While relativism is tolerable, it is both intellectual and moral suicide.
Tolerance is not an intellectual position, but a social response. It is the willingness to allow, endure, or suffer different things or ideas, or even people with whom we disagree.
