Sweet Land of Tolerance

“Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” John 14:6

From Chuck Colson –
“Survey Shows U.S. Religious Tolerance” was the headline of a New York Times article about the Pew Forum’s survey of America’s religious landscape. It found that Americans have a “non-dogmatic approach to faith.” In fact, 70 percent of American’s who claim affiliation to a religious body - including Christians - agreed that “many religions can lead to eternal life.” Nearly the same percentage said that “there’s more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.”

What’s true of faith is also true of morals. Seventy-eight percent say that there are “absolute standards of right and wrong.” But only 29 percent say that they “rely on their religion to delineate these standards.” Instead, more than half of the respondents said that they rely on “practical experience and common sense.” As the Book of Judges put it, “every man did what was right in his own eyes.”

Not surprisingly, the media repeatedly used the word “tolerant” to characterize America’s religious beliefs.

But to be regarded as “tolerant” today no longer means extending “full rights of free speech and free expression” to those of all faiths. Instead, it appears that “tolerance” now requires what journalist Terry Mattingly calls a “certain doctrine of salvation,” that regards all “religious paths” as leading “to the top of the same eternal mountain.”

So, it is not possible anymore to debate religious truth claims respectfully. Instead, the new “tolerance,” which has become our ultimate civic virtue, requires abandoning all truth claims lest we “offend” somebody.

.....continued tomorrow