Philosopher Stephen T. Davis on Tolerance

"There is no necessary connection between being an objectivist on truth and being intolerant.  Of course, there is a historical tendency that can be disturbing--a sense of absolute certainty does lead some people to intolerance and imperialism.  Still, relativists who try to make this point don't seem to realize that there can be moral systems that are taken to be objectively true and that teach or even require tolerance...The Christian motivation for tolerance is not that nobody has the objective truth but that Jesus told us to love all people and especially our enemies.  And we Christians try to practice tolerance and respect for people precisely because we believe that Jesus' teaching is true (i.e., objectively true)."1



Courage and Godspeed,
Chad


Footnote:
1. Stephen T. Davis, Rational Faith, p. 20.

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Comments

bbrown said…
This seems confused. It is not loving to tolerate a whole host of things. It might seem loving to some, but can be quite harmful and, in retrospect, white hateful. Indeed, it is Christ-like to be intolerant of sin. Perhaps it is just semantics and the way that Davis worded things. Perhaps it's a matter of perspective.

--Wm. Francis Brown
Forest, VA