On my run this morning, I passed by a car with this bumper sticker. While I affirm that we should treat people who do not share our religious views with respect and civility, my guess is that the bumper sticker is intended to mean more than simply living respectfully with those of differing views.It's probably intended to make a statement: Whether you get excited about the Cross, the star of David or the crescent moon, it's all basically the same anyway, so don't act like your particular view of the truth is THE right view. That would be narrow-minded and intolerant, and contrary to the call to "coexist."
Of course there is a built-in contradiction in such a view, isn't there? Because the statement that all religious views are basically the same, and that God doesn't really care about which way we worship, is a particular view of who God is. And by putting the bumper sticker on their car, aren't they suugesting that their view of God is the right view, and that other people should abandon their view and adopt that one?
So even those who call for coexisting argue for a certain view of religious truth. They have a hard time coexisting with people who don't support their plea for coexisting. And so, the call for "tolerance" (if tolerance means not saying that your view is superior to another) is inherently intolerant.
Larry,
ReplyDeleteThey showed us the same thing on our first day of teacher meeting. This is the agenda that the schools are pushing on the teachers and students, and one of the things that led to the decision for us to homeschool. This is deeply offense to committed Muslims and Jews as well, I imagine.
The one presupposition that is allowed is that of tolerence (falsly defined as making no judgements about another person's religious views unless they exclude the possiblity that someone else's religious view is correct)
I think that our society has become a living illustration of Romans 1.