Tolerance

According to dictionary.com tolerance can be defined as:

1.	a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.

2.	a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.

3.	interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.

4.	the act or capacity of enduring; endurance

A fellow church goer has repeatedly accused me of being intolerant and disrespectful when discussing a conservative approach to faith. But I think he is very wrong. I have a very undogmatic view of the extreme right and I have endured ... more than I probably should have (see definitions 3 and 4).Yet, the more I ponder on it, the more I think that I shouldn't be tolerant.

Tolerance has enabled the protestant middle to fill churches with socialites rather than a change agents. Tolerance has left the inner cities to give birth to a generation of children who are uneducated and stuck in poverty through no fault of their own. Tolerance prevents same sex marriage and domestic partner insurance benefits. Tolerance prevents us from interfering when an acquaintance is being abused. Tolerance lets church leaders drive Jaguars when parishioners cannot afford school supplies -- or nutritious meals. Tolerance is the buzz word for a society of pansy-ass middle class Americans who are afraid to take a stand for anything.

So, if refusing to participate in a small group that uses popular "christian" propaganda as study material makes me intolerant - so be it. If getting passionate about my view of church and faith is considered disrespectful - so be it.

Let's shake things up a bit. After all, Malcolm X's radical views made Martin Luther King look reasonable. So if I wander too far into the radical, it just emphasizes the reasonableness of sane folks.