Pretty brilliant quote from Dorothy Sayers:
"In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die."I'd never thought of tolerance that way before. What do you guys think?
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Moonshadow,
I should have written: 'FUNDAMENTALIST Christian view on tolerance' above. I don't mean to lump all Christians together in with the lunatic fringe of Christianity.
There are lunatics at both fringes, unfortunately. Over the years I've gone from "tolerating" those who disagree with me to "allowing" people to bear witness to their own truth. While I'll engage the occasional joust over an issue, I'd like to think I've moved from metaphorically putting my hands over my ears to sometimes just listening, sometimes listening to something else.
"Our goal is a Christian nation. ... We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism. ... Theocracy means God rules. I've got a hot flash. God rules."
Oh boy! This is the kind of remarks I'm working against on this blog. Sometimes it's really an uphill battle and I'm tempted to give up since there is so much of this out there. One voice against a multitude!
I thought the Sayers quote was brilliant because it takes what we look at as good and turns it around and shows us the downside. The downside to tolerance is apathy.
I appreciate your labor of love on this blog, Ms. McGinty, and the quote from Dorothy Sayers above is brilliant, wisdom from God!
Let me illustrate Ms. Sayers point as follows: "Why don't we give the Philly public school students guns and knives? After all, they're going to become violent anyway! Standards in 'the hood' are different!"
The interview between the devil and Ivan in Dostoyevsky's THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is also worth reading as an illustration of Ms. Sayers' point.
You're right, Michele, apathy is the negative extreme of tolerance. But all positive personal and societal qualities have negative extremes.
To me, apathy would be saying in the 1960s, "Let me oppose civil rights, not because I hate black people, but just because one day a black guy might get elected president whose ideology I might disagree with."
(No, that makes no sense -- but neither does justifying extremism and hatred because it's too difficult to get along with people whose beliefs you disagree with.)
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