Tolerance

Quality of the month for January

Dictionaries explain that tolerance is "the disposition to be patient with the beliefs, opinions and practices of others, especially those differing from one's own." Some definitions say that tolerance is "respect" for such differences, others that it is a "permissive attitude" toward them — thereby suggesting the divergent ways that tolerance has been understood and practiced.

A Worthington high school student writes that tolerance is "an ability to get along with everyone, despite race, religious beliefs, or political views." Another says it is "putting up with something even when you don't agree with it." One PCC member sees tolerance as "accepting differences; openness to new thinking out of the box; fighting prejudice." A second member considers tolerance to be "respecting diversity in all its forms, listening to other points of view, even though they don't match your own."

A wide range of views has been expressed regarding tolerance across the years:

G. K. Chesterton: "Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions."

Samuel Taylor Coleridge: "We are none of us tolerant in what concerns us deeply and entirely."

Voltaire: "What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error. Let us pardon each other's folly. That is the first law of nature."

Thomas Jefferson: "If there be among us those who would work to dissolve this union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."

John F. Kennedy: "Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own belief. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others."

Times Lit. Supplement: "The basis of tolerance is the knowledge that there may be a measure of truth in the other camp."

Parliament of the World's Religions: "We are women and men who have embraced the precepts and practices of the world's religions. We affirm that a common set of core values is found in the teachings of the religions, and that these form the basis of a global ethic . . . . We must treat others as we wish others to treat us. We make a commitment to respect life and dignity, individuality and diversity, so that every person is treated humanely, without exception. We must have patience and acceptance. We must be able to forgive, learning from the past but never allowing ourselves to be enslaved by memories of hate. Opening our hearts to one another, we must sink our narrow differences for the cause of world community, practicing a culture of solidarity and relatedness . . . . We invite all people, whether religious or not, to do the same."

What does it mean for you to be a tolerant person? For your family to be a tolerant family? For your institution to practice tolerance? For you community to do likewise?

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	G. K. Chesterton:		"Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions."

	Samuel Taylor Coleridge:		"We are none of us tolerant in what concerns us deeply and entirely."

	Voltaire:		"What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error. Let us pardon each other's folly. That is the first law of nature."

	Thomas Jefferson:		"If there be among us those who would work to dissolve this union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."

	John F. Kennedy:		"Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own belief. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others."

	Times Lit. Supplement:		"The basis of tolerance is the knowledge that there may be a measure of truth in the other camp."

	Parliament of the World's Religions:		"We are women and men who have embraced the precepts and practices of the world's religions. We affirm that a common set of core values is found in the teachings of the religions, and that these form the basis of a global ethic . . . . We must treat others as we wish others to treat us. We make a commitment to respect life and dignity, individuality and diversity, so that every person is treated humanely, without exception. We must have patience and acceptance. We must be able to forgive, learning from the past but never allowing ourselves to be enslaved by memories of hate. Opening our hearts to one another, we must sink our narrow differences for the cause of world community, practicing a culture of solidarity and relatedness . . . . We invite all people, whether religious or not, to do the same."